Tier approach of EIA in

Bangladesh
• Generally, EIA is conducted in tiers.
• These tiers are identified in terms of the level of details necessary to
appraise a project from the environmental angle so that a decision to
implement a project or otherwise can be taken at the earliest, before
significant efforts and funds are committed for implementation of the
project
• In Bangladesh the EIA procedure pass through three tiers in order to
optimize the resources required for conducting EIA studies.
• These three tiers are:
Screening
Initial Environmental Examination (IEE)
Detailed EIA
• Screening decides whether the EIA process should be applied to a
development project, and if it is required, its type, that is IEE or EIA
• IEE helps in understanding the potential extent of environmental
changes and in finding ways to mitigate or enhance them by
considering the available information, or the past experience or
standard operating practices.
• The EIA procedure carries out a detailed examination of impact, by
conducting relevant surveys and monitoring studies, applying more
rigorous impact prediction tools where necessary and ensuring
effectiveness of the mitigation and enhancement measures.
• In the above mentioned tiered process, EIA can be carried out only
upto a tier at which environmental aspects of a project become clear,
or otherwise for proceeding to the next tier.
 Advantage of tiered approach
Optimum use of resources
Increased efficacy
Better focus
Extent of enquiry or examination expands with the advancing
development of the project plans.
• Thus the tiered process becomes a ‘concurrent’ EIA process; and
ensures that impacts are examined at a very early stage in project
planning and not later when sites or designs are already decided by
other factors.
• The EIA process thus, gets truly integrated with the development
process.
 Screening of projects
• First and the simplest tier of project evaluation
• Helps identify the type of projects which are not likely to cause
environmental problems
• Screening may be carried out based on several criteria such as type of
project, its size and location.
• The exercise itself can also be of analytical type or normative type.
• In Bangladesh, normative screening has been preferred, according to
which industries have been divided in 4 categories viz: Green, Amber-
A, Amber- B and Red
Steps involved
in
environmental
clearance
Project planning, its implementation and EIA process
 Criteria for locating industrial plants
• Proper siting of an industrial plant is often crucial for an effective environmental
management.
• Plants with significant potential for environmental impacts only EIA will indicate
suitability of a location, selection of candidate sites for orange and red category
of industries should be done keeping view the following criteria.
Initial Environmental Examination (IEE)
Checklist of typical activities
Checklist of environmental components
 Steps for conducting IEE
• Collection of baseline information
• Setting of boundaries of an IEE by identifying the significant issues
(i.e. scoping)
• Impact assessment, suggesting mitigative measures, environmental
management plan or alternative sites or other project modifications
• Preparation of IEE report for submission to DOE
• Review of the report by DOE
 Collection of baseline information
• The task is generally achieved by reviewing all available material on the
project and environmental setting, and by performing field reconnaissance
of the site or sites of the project.
• For insufficient available data, additional data should be obtained through
field monitoring and field studies
• Seek advice of the environment related agencies
• Standard methods of sampling and analysis should be adopted during field
work
• For assessing local situation, informal interviews should be held with local
residents
• Site visits would help identify many of the important resources likely to be
affected, such as soils, vegetation condition, water regime, relationship to
the nearest communities and public opinion
 Setting of boundaries of an IEE by identifying the
significant issues
• Most important step
• The collected baseline information provides the basis for deciding on the boundaries of the
required environmental examination
• The elements of scoping include:
Geographical boundary
Time horizon for alternative actions to be considered
Affected groups, institutions, agencies and
Significant environmental issues to be investigated
• Scoping should cover all phases of an industry or project that is siting, construction,
operation and closure
• Prediction of effects should be attempted up to the expected life time of the project or
facilities
• Inclusion of government officials in scoping and if possible the local people and interested
parties as well.
• Scoping sessions should be annexed to the IEE report
Impact Assessment Methods
Checklist and Matrix method
 Mitigative measures
• After the identification of significant impacts and issues arising out of them, mitigation measures
or project modifications should be proposed. (see annex-6)