‫‪Environmental Impact Assessment‬‬

‫‪EIA‬‬

‫ﺗﻘﻴﻴﻢ اﻷﺛﺮ اﻟﺒﻴﺌﻲ‬

‫دراﺳﺔ اﻟﺠﺪوى اﻟﺒﻴﺌﻴﺔ‬

‫ﺑﺴﻢ اﷲ اﻟﺮﺣﻤﻦ اﻟﺮﺣﻴﻢ‬

‫"ﻇﻬﺮ اﻟﻔﺴﺎد ﻓﻰ اﻟﺒﺮ واﻟﺒﺤﺮ ﺑﻤﺎ آﺴﺒﺖ اﻳﺪى اﻟﻨﺎس ﻟﻴﺬﻳﻘﻬﻢ ﺑﻌﺾ اﻟﺬى ﻋﻤﻠﻮا ﻟﻌﻠﻬﻢ ﻳﺮﺟﻌﻮن"‬
‫ﺻﺪق اﷲ اﻟﻌﻈﻴﻢ – اﻟﺮوم اﻵﻳﺔ ‪41‬‬

‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪MIAI‬‬
 Air Pollution
Development Plans

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 Water Pollution

Oil Spill

River, Lake & Sea

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Industrial Waste water
 Environmental Impact Assessment
EIA
DEFINITION
Environmental Assessment (EA) has become established
worldwide as an environmental management tool used by
government agencies, companies and other organizations to
identify, predict and evaluate the potential biological, physical,
social and health effects of projects and other development
actions.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in Practice introduces

what constitutes practice in EA and demonstrates the use of
methods and techniques for impact identification, prediction
and evolution.

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 COMPONENTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Environment may be defined as all the external conditions

and factors, living and non-living (chemical and energy),
that affect an organism or other specified system during its
life-time.
A. Physical Environment
1. Abiotic component: nonliving, physical and chemical things
and processes.
2. Biotic component: organisms and biological processes.
3. Ecological component: living and non-living things and
processes that interact in a way that maintains a distinct
dynamic system, for example, wetland, a rainforest and so
on.
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 COMPONENTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT

B. Social Environment
1. Personal compartment – specific individuals.
2. Interpersonal compartment – interacting individuals
and groups.
3. Institutional compartment – assemblages of cultural
rules of behaviour that influence dynamics of social
systems, for example, political institutions, legal
institutions, religious institutions, and so on.

These subdivisions are not separate, nor are they independent.

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 COMPONENTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT

C. Physical and Social Environment

These interplay as a highly dynamic and interactive
phenomenon in which society shapes its environment,
and is shaped by its environment.

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 Aims and objectives of EIA

EIA can:
• Modify and improve design
• Ensure efficient resource use
• Enhance social aspects
• Identify key impacts and measures for
mitigating them
• Inform decision-making and condition-setting
• Avoid serious and irreversible damage to the
environment
• Protect human health and safety
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 Environmental impacts

Type - biophysical, social, health or economic

Nature - direct or indirect, cumulative, etc.
Magnitude or severity - high, moderate, low
Extent - local, regional, transboundary or global
Timing - immediate/long term
Duration - temporary/permanent
Uncertainty - low likelihood/high probability
Reversibility - reversible/irreversible
Significance - unimportant/important
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 Environmental impacts

Impact characteristics

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 Integration within EIA

EIA process addresses the following

environmental effects:
9 Biophysical and resource use
9 Social and cultural
9 Health, safety and welfare
9 Economic and fiscal (well-being)
9 Landscape and visual
9 Indigenous peoples rights and traditional
areas (Subsistence )
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 US National Environmental Policy
Act
(proclaimed in 1970)

NEPA called for:

• Consideration of environmental values in decision
making
• Use of a systematic, interdisciplinary approach
• A detailed statement on:
- the environmental impact of proposals
- any adverse effects which cannot be avoided
- alternatives to the proposed action
• Making the statement available to the public
This process became known as
Environmental assessment (EA)
Environmental impact assessment (EIA)
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Environmental statement (ES)
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Environmental impact statement (EIS)
 Evolution of EIA

early 1970s – initial development

1970s to 1980s – increasing scope
mid to late 1980s – process strengthening and
policy integration
mid 1990s – towards sustainability (SEA,
Biodiversity)
Sustainable development: development that does not cost the Earth:
development which meets the needs of the present generation without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. These
needs are not only “man-made capital” such as roads, schools and historic
buildings and “human capital” such as knowledge and skills, but also
“natural/environmental” such as clean air, fresh water, rain forests, ozone layer
and
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 Evolution of EIA

Four cornerstones of the Earth Summit

The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development – a set of
principles which provide guidance on achieving sustainable
development.
Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992)– an international
treaty to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the
atmosphere.
Convention on Biological Diversity (1992)– an international
convention with three objectives: the conservation of biodiversity,
the sustainable use of its components, and the equitable sharing of
benefits from genetic resources.
Agenda 21 – a global programme of action for achieving sustainable
development to which countries are ‘politically committed’ rather
than legally obligated.
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 Evolution of EIA

• Rio Declaration on Environment and Development calls for use of

EIA as an instrument of national decision-making (Principle 17);
other principles also relevant to EIA practice (e.g. Principle 15).

EGYPT , KSA, Yemen

• UN Conventions on Climate Change and Biological Diversity
(1992) cite EIA as an implementing mechanism (Articles 4 and 14

?
respectively refer)
• Comprehensive reform of long-established EIA systems; e.g. New
Zealand (1991), Canada (1995), Australia (1999).
• New or revised EIA legislation enacted by many developing and
transitional countries; e.g. Vietnam (1993), Uganda (1994),
Ecuador (1997).
• EIA requirements and procedures applied by international
financial and aid agencies to loans and projects in developing
countries.
 Evolution of EIA

• Amendment of EC Directive on EIA (1997) required all member

states to be in compliance by 1999; also being transposed into the
EIA laws of certain countries in transition, which are in the process
of accession to the European Union.
• EC Directive on SEA of certain plans and programmes (2001)
which is to be implemented by member states by 2004.
• UNECE (or Espoo) Convention on EIA in a Transboundary
Context (1991) entered into force in 1997 as the first EIA-specific
international treaty.
• Doha Ministerial Declaration encourages countries to share
expertise and experience with Members wishing to perform
environmental reviews at the national level (November 2001).

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 Evolution of EIA

Major environmental issues in developing regions

• Africa
• Asia and the Pacific
• Eastern Europe and Central Asia
• Latin America and the Caribbean
• Middle East: Most land is either subject to desertification or
vulnerable to deterioration from saline, alkaline and/or nutrient
deposition. Water resources are under severe pressure and
groundwater sources are in a critical condition. Rapid and
uncontrolled urbanization has caused worsening air and water
pollution in urban centres.

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 Key operating principles of
good EIA practice

EIA should:

• be applied to all proposals with significant impacts

• begin early in the project cycle
• address relevant environmental, social and health
impacts
• identify and take account of public views
• result in a statement of impacts and mitigation
measures
• facilitate informed decision making and condition
setting
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 Benefits of EIA

Benefits of EIA include:

environmentally sound and sustainable design

better compliance with standards
savings in capital and operating costs
reduced time and costs for approvals
increased project acceptance
better protection of the environment and
human health
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 EIA Delay

Delays are caused during EIA when:

The EIA is commenced too late in the project

cycle
The terms of reference are poorly drafted
The EIA is not managed to a schedule
The EIA report is inadequate and needs to be
upgraded
There is a lack of technical data
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 Fairness in the EIA

Ensuring fairness in the EIA process

Register consultants’ names and terms of
reference
Name consultants and their expertise in the EIA
report
Publish the terms of reference in the EIA report
Make EIA reports available to the public
Publish lists of screening and final decisions
along with conditions for approval
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 Steps followed in EIA

In the environmental impact assessment, certain steps should be

followed:
1. A draft EIA report should be prepared, containing:
A. A description of the proposed action and its purpose, place of
implementation, resources to be employed.
B. A description of the environment expected to be affected by the
action.
C. Project activities and their possible impacts.
D. An assessment of the magnitude and significance of the probable
environmental impacts of the action. Including an assessment of
the compliance of the action with approval environmental plans
and policies and a discussion of measures for mitigating impacts.
E. An assessment of the environmental impacts of the alternatives to
the action.
F. A non-technical summary.
 Steps followed in EIA
(continued)

2. There should EIA report should be available prior to the

first significance stage in the relevant decision-taking
process.
3. There should be public participation and wide
consultation in the consideration of the draft report.
4. A review of the draft EIA report should be prepared
(perhaps in the form of a final EIA report) which should:
A. Summarize the main comments received.
B. Include modifications to the actions originally
proposed.
C. Accompany the proposed action through the
remaining stages of the public authority’s decision
procedure.
D. Provision should be made to post-audit the EIA.
 A generalized procedure for EIA (compartment of EIA system)
PROJECT PROPOSAL
Screening
Is an EA required

Define issues
Scoping

Identify impacts

Predict impacts Impact evaluation

process
Assess impacts

Identify monitoring and

mitigation

Prepare draft EIA Review EIA

Preparation
Prepare final EIA
Reject

Approve

Implementation Monitoring
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Monitor
Audit
 The EIA process

The EIA process comprises:

1- Screening - to decide if and at what level

EIA should be applied
2- Scoping - to identify the important issues
and prepare terms of reference
3- Impact analysis - to predict the effects of a
proposal and evaluate their significance
4- Mitigation - to establish measures to prevent,
reduce or compensate for impacts
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 The EIA process
Continued:

5- Reporting - to prepare the information

necessary for decision-making
6- Review - to check the quality of the EIA report
7- Decision-making - to approve or reject) the
proposal and set Condition
8- Follow up - to monitor, manage and audit
impacts of project implementation
9- Public involvement - to inform and consult
with stakeholders
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 Benefits of EIA
• Better environmental planning and design of a proposal. A
well-designed project can minimize risks and impacts on the
environment and people, and thereby avoid associated costs of remedial
treatment or compensation for damage.
• Ensuring compliance with environmental standards. Compliance with
environmental standards reduces damage to the environment and
disruption to communities.
• Savings in capital and operating costs. EIA can avoid the undue costs of
unanticipated impacts.
• Reduced time and costs of approvals of development applications. If all
environmental concerns have been taken into account properly before
submission for project approval, then it is unlikely that delays will occur
as a result of decision-makers asking for additional information or
alterations to mitigation measures.
• Increased project acceptance by the public. This is achieved by an open and
transparent EIA process, with provision of opportunities for public
involvement that are appropriate to the people who are most directly
affected by and interested in the proposal.
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