methods and methodologies, structure of EIA, sustainable development.

1. Environmental impact
assessment
Presentation author:
Ms. G. Tejasri
Faculty of Engineering Sciences,
NIT AP – 534101.

2. Sustainable development
• Development that meets the needs of
today’s generation without compromising
those of future generations

3. EIA
• The environmental impact assessment is
an innovative process recommended by
different international agencies as a valid
environmental protection tool and
endorsed by the experience gained in
developed countries that have
incorporated it into their legal systems.

4. •It is an early warning process that
verifies the enforcement of
environmental policies.
•It is a preventive tool used to evaluate
the negative and positive environmental
impacts of policies, plans, programs, and
projects.
•The EIA proposes measures to adjust
impacts to acceptable levels.

5. • EIA is a tool used in planning development
strategies and projects, and its use has
been adopted into planning regulations in
a number of countries, and by a number
of regional groupings and multilateral
agencies

6. •Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is
a process of identifying, predicting,
evaluating, and mitigating the physical,
chemical, biological, cultural, social, and
other relevant effects of proposed projects,
plans and programs prior to major
decisions and commitments being made.
•The objective of EIA is not to halt the
projects but to bring about project design
changes for reducing negative
environmental impact.

7. • EIA can be defined as the systematic
identification and evaluation of the
potential impacts of the proposed project,
plans, programs or legislative actions
relative to the physical-chemical,
biological, cultural and socio- economic
components of the total environment.

8. Principles of EIA administration and practice
Three core values on which the EIA process is
based:
• Integrity– the EIA process should meet
internationally accepted requirements and
standards of practice;
• Utility– the EIA process should provide the
information which is sufficient and relevant for
decision-making; and
• Sustainability– the EIA process should result in
the implementation of environmental safeguards
which are sufficient to mitigate serious adverse
effects and avoid irreversible loss of resource
and ecosystem functions.

9. Purpose of EIA
• To encourage productive and enjoyable
harmony between man and his environment
• To promote efforts which will prevent or
eliminate damage to the environment and
biosphere and stimulate the health and
welfare of man
• To enrich the understanding of the ecological
systems and natural resources important to
the Nation

10. • To implement a strategy of sustainable
development, prevent adverse impact on the
environment after the implementation of plans
and construction projects, and promote
coordinated development of the economy, society,
and environment.
• To allow government officials, business leaders,
and all concerned citizens to understand the likely
environmental consequences of proposed
actions, and to cooperate in making wise
decisions that restore and maintain the quality of
our shared environment for future generations.

12. Important parts of the EIA
process
• To decide in advance whether an environmental impact assessment is necessary.
• To analyze only the actions that may have a significant environmental impact.
• To incorporate beforehand significant impact criteria, such as:
–Air and water pollution.
–Deterioration of protected natural and ecological resources.
–Undesirable impacts such as landscape deterioration, generation of noise, and
others.
–Discharges of toxic or hazardous substances or waste generation.
–Cumulative adverse effects.
–Negative socio cultural impacts.
–Significant public controversy.

13. Limitations of Environmental
Impact Studies
• It is not always possible to emphasize the interdisciplinary
character, although this is essential.
• They use predictive methods based on scientific
information that is not always available.
• They use abstract concepts which cannot always compete
with sciences that incorporate quantifiable data.
• They need data that are all at the same level and
exchangeable on compatible scales.

14. • Since they have a varied methodological framework, it is necessary to know the
land or place affected in order to define its use.
• They use the fragility and quality analysis of the affected land, for which there are
often no baseline data available.
• They require detailed information that is not always available or is not compatible
with the study requirements.
• They have to improve the methods of appraisal for analyzing environmental
impacts in the same way as economic and social impacts.
• Some environmental components are difficult to address, such as quality
analysis, fragility of the land, and landscape value, among others.

15. Benefits and flaws

16. EIAprocess

18. Screening
• Screening is the first key decision of the EIA
process.
• Screening is the process used to determine
whether a proposed project or activity requires an
EIA and, if so, what level of environmental review
is necessary.
• The purpose of screening is to determine whether
a proposal requires an EIA or not.
• Some type of screening procedure is necessary
because of the large number of projects and
activities that are potentially subject to EIA.

19. Scoping
• Scoping is a critical, early step in the preparation
of an EIA.
• The scoping process identifies the issues that are
likely to be of most importance during the EIA and
eliminates those that are of little concern.
• Typically, this process concludes with the
establishment of Terms of Reference for the
preparation of an EIA.
• A quality scoping study reduces the risk of
including inappropriate components or excluding
components which should be addressed in an
environmental assessment.

20. Preliminary assessment
• The preliminary assessment is useful
insofar as it reviews the required
environmental coverage and provides
decision makers with background data.
• It helps identify requirements that need to
be met if environmental sustainability is to
be achieved.

21. • A good preliminary assessment requires the
following information:
– General description of the project
– Applicable environmental legislation
– An estimate of significant environmental
impacts
– A general description of the area of influence
– Mitigating measures to manage potential
impacts.

22. Mitigation
• Mitigation is the design and execution of measures
to reduce, mitigate, or minimize the negative
impacts of a project, work, or activity on human or
natural environments.
• Mitigation can restore one or more environmental
components to pre-impact quality; if this is not
possible, it can reestablish the basic properties.
• Mitigation is the avoidance, elimination, reduction
or control of adverse effects of a project.
• May require changes in planning, design and
engineering, location and timing, and project
management to mitigate adverse effects.

24. Environmental management plan
• The environmental management plan identifies
measures to mitigate and compensate significant
environmental impacts.
• It ensures mitigation measures are implemented
• It establishes systems and procedures for this
purpose
• It monitors the effectiveness of mitigation
measures
• It takes action when unforeseen impacts occur

26. Public involvement/ participation
• Public involvement is a fundamental principle of the EIA
process.
• Process through which people who will be affected by or are
interested in a decision, and who have a stake in the
outcome, get a chance to influence its content before it is
made.
• Timely, well planned and appropriately implemented public
involvement programs will contribute to EIA studies and to the
successful design, implementation, operation and
management of proposals.
• Specifically public involvement is a valuable source of
information on key impacts, potential mitigation measures and
the identification and selection of alternatives.

27. Environmental impact assessment
methods
• a) Meetings of experts: This method is useful when the
impact to be studied is specific and limited. If it is not
so, neither speed nor thoroughness can be demanded
because of interdisciplinary conflicts.
• b) Checklists: Detailed lists to identify impacts rapidly.
There are merely indicative lists and quantitative lists
that use standards to define the main impacts (for
example, air pollution according to number of
households)
• c) Simple cause-effect matrices: They are limited
matrices that relate the affected environmental
variable with the human activity that induces it.

28. • d) Graphs and flow charts: They seek to
determine chains of primary and secondary
impacts with existing interactions and are
used to define the types of impacts expected.
• e) Environmental cartography or map
overlay: Set of maps that represent the main
environmental characteristics.
• f) Networks: Expanded flow charts with
primary, secondary, and tertiary impacts.

29. • g) Geographic information systems:
Computer programs that do not identify
impacts, but rather attempt to assess their
importance.
• h) Matrices: Double-input tables with
environmental characteristics and
expected activities of the project. The
corresponding impact is identified by
intersecting each row with each column.