Review: Definition of EIA

Environmental
✓ Impact Assessment is
A formal process for identifying:
• likely effects of activities or Environment is
projects on the broadly interpreted:
ENVIRONMENT, and on physical, biological,
human health and welfare. and social.

• means and measures to

In EIA, the term
mitigate & monitor these “impacts” is used
impacts instead of “effects
of activities.”
What is an
impact?
1
What is an impact?

The impact of an activity is

a deviation (a change) The baseline
from the baseline situation situation is the
that is caused by the existing
environmental
activity. situation or
condition in the

! To measure an impact, you

absence of the
activity.
must know what the
The baseline
baseline situation is. situation is a key
More…
concept in EIA.

2
The baseline situation
Water Quantity, quality, reliability,
In characterizing the accessibility
baseline situation,
Soils Erosion, crop productivity,
many environmental fallow periods, salinity,
components MAY be nutrient concentrations
of interest Fauna Populations, habitat

The components of
Env Health Disease vectors, pathogens
interest are those that
are likely to be affected
Flora Composition and density of
by your activity—or natural vegetation,
upon which your productivity, key species
activity depends for its
success Special Key species
ecosystems

3
The baseline situation

The baseline situation is

Water table
not simply a “snapshot.”
Describing the baseline
situation requires describing
both the normal variability in
environmental components &
current trends in these time
components. This chart of
groundwater levels
shows both variability
and a trend over time.

Both are part of the

groundwater baseline
situation.

4
Types of impacts & their attributes
Direct & indirect
The EIA process is impacts
concerned with
Short-term & long-
all types of impacts and term impacts
may describe them in a
Adverse & beneficial
number of ways
impacts
Cumulative impacts
 Intensity
 Direction
 Spatial extent
 Duration
But all impacts are
 Frequency
 Reversibility NOT treated
 Probability equally.

5
 Specifically,
! It is ESSENTIAL in EIA
to focus on the most
significant impacts.

Don’t waste effort & time

analyzing and discussing
impacts that are less
important.

6
What is an activity?
We are discussing the impacts of activities.
What are activities?

✓ a desired
An activity is:

accomplishment or
output Accomplishing an activity
E.g.: a road, seedling requires a set of actions
production, or river
ACTIVITY: ACTIONS:
diversion to irrigate market access Survey, grading, culvert
land road construction, compaction,
rehabilitation etc. . .

A project or program may

consist of many activities
7
 Why we assess environmental impacts?

Achieving environmentally sound design & more

sustainable development
Helps avoid problems before they occur--- lower project
costs In the long term
Provides decision- makers with alternative
Provides benefits to public such as opportunity to learn,
express concerns, and influence decision-making process

8
The EIA process

Phase II:
Phase I:
Full EIA study
Initial inquiries
(if needed)

•Understand • Scope
proposed activities • Evaluate baseline situation
• Identify & choose alternatives
•Screen • Identify and characterize potential
•Conduct preliminary impacts of proposed activity and
assessment (if each alternative
needed) • Develop mitigation and monitoring
• Communicate and document
Our focus!
9
Phase 1 of the EIA Process
Understand Screen the Conduct a
Phase I Phase II
proposed activity Preliminary
activity Assessment
Based on the ACTIVITY IS SIGNIFICANT BEGIN
Why is the nature of the OF MODERATE A rapid, ADVERSE FULL
activity being activity what OR UNKNOWN simplified EIA IMPACTS EIA
proposed? level of RISK study using POSSIBLE STUDY
environmental simple tools SIGNIFICANT
What is being review is (e.g. the ADVERSE
proposed? indicated? USAID IEE) IMPACTS
VERY UNLIKELY

ACTIVITY IS LOW
RISK (Of its nature, STOP
very unlikely to have the EIA
significant adverse process
impacts)

ACTIVITY IS
HIGH RISK (Of its
nature, likely to have
significant adverse
impacts)

10
Phase 1 of the EIA process:
Understand the proposed activity
Understand ALL EIA processes begin with
the proposed
activities understanding WHAT is being proposed,
Why is the and WHY.
activity being The question
proposed? “WHY IS THE ACTIVITY BEING PROPOSED?
What is being Is answered with the development objective (D.O.).


proposed?

✓
“building a road” Not a D.O.!
“increasing access
Is a D.O.
to markets”
“If we don’t
understand
We must understand the
it, we can’t Development Objective to identify
assess it!” environmentally sound alternatives

11
Phase 1 of the EIA process:
Understand the proposed activity
Understand Once we understand the development
the proposed
activities
objective, we must fully understand
WHAT is being proposed.
Why is the
activity being This includes associated actions!
proposed? PRIMARY ACTIVITY:
What is being construction of diversion dam &
proposed? irrigation canal
ASSOCIATED ACTIONS:
• Survey
“Oops. I
• negotiate land tenure
forgot • construct borrow pit
about the • establish construction camp
borrow pit.” • construct temporary
diversion structure
• dispose of soil, debris

12
Phase 1 of the EIA process:
Screen the activity
Screen each
activity
SCREENING is the process of asking
Based on the
nature of the
a very basic set of questions about
activity, what the nature of activity.
level of These questions:
environmental • do NOT require analysis.
analysis is
• do NOT require detailed knowledge
indicated?
about the proposed sites, techniques or
methods
Example screening questions:
Does the activity involve:
• Penetration road building?
• Large-scale irrigation?
• Introduction of non-native
crop or agroforestry species?

13
Phase 1 of the EIA process:
Screen the activity
Screen each
activity
screening classifies the activity into
Based on the
nature of the
a RISK CATEGORY:
activity, what VERY LOW RISK EIA process ends
level of
environmental VERY HIGH RISK Do full EIA study
analysis is
indicated? MODERATE OR Do preliminary
UNKNOWN RISK assessment

The outcome of the

screening process
determines the next step
in the EIA process

14
Phase 1 of the EIA process:
The Preliminary Assessment
Conduct a
Preliminary
Assessment The purpose of a preliminary
A rapid, assessment is to provide
simplified EIA documentation and analysis that:
study using
• Allows the preparer to
simple tools
(e.g. the determine whether or not
USAID IEE) significant adverse impacts are
likely
• Allows the reviewer to agree or

!
disagree with the preparer’s
Screening determinations
determines whether • Sets out mitigation and
the preliminary monitoring for adverse impacts
assessment is
necessary
15
Phase 1 of the EIA process:
The Preliminary Assessment
Typical Preliminary
Assessment outline
1. Background (Development
objective, list of activities)
2. Description of the baseline
situation
3. Evaluation of potential
environmental impacts
4. Mitigation & monitoring
5. Recommended Findings
For each activity it covers, a
preliminary assessment has 3
possible findings:
• The project is very unlikely
to have significant adverse
impacts. (EIA process ends)
• With specified mitigation
and monitoring, the project
is unlikely to have
significant adverse impacts
• The project is likely to have
significant adverse impacts
(full EIA study is required)
16
Generalized EIA Process Flow chart

17
 Steps in a full EIA:
• Scoping ( establish the study boundary)
• Conduct a baseline study
• Identify a range of alternatives
• Identify and predict impacts for each alternatives
• Determine impact significance
• Compare and evaluate alternatives
• Consider options to mitigate or compensate for impacts
• Prepare mitigation or monitoring plans

18
 The EIA process
❖Understanding the project:
Part 1-
• Understand WHY the project is being
undertaken?
• Why a road?
• Why a dam?
➢Answering why? helps frame
alternatives
19
Part 2-
➢ Understanding what is being proposed
➢ Communicate with engineers, developers,
affected community
➢ Visit similar project elsewhere
➢ Identify and consider associated activities:
• Upstream activities (e.g., obtaining construction
materials from sources)
• Downstream activities ( e.g., waste disposal, water
contamination)
• Temporary structures ( e.g., retaining walls, construction
roads)
20
 List out:

• Goal/purpose of the project ( consider alternatives)

• Inputs needed ( Raw materials, Energy, Equipment)

• Operational characteristics

• By-products and waste produced

• Financing plans and Sequencing/phasing of activities

21
 Analysis of Alternatives
✓In developing and preparing a projects, considering
d/t alternatives/options is part of a normal process,
including no project alternative
✓Then, it will be easy to determine our project impacts
✓ EA of project alternatives, compare them and
decide
✓D/t alternatives are unlikely to same set or degree of
impacts
22
 Cont.…
✓Analysis carried out on the basis of various biophysical
and socioeconomic parameters including:
1. Technical feasibility,
2. Economic viability and
3. Environmental acceptability of the project.
✓ This analysis provides information about the advantages
and disadvantages of each alternative considered. It can
be done during the scoping process or prior
23
 Types of Project Alternatives
✓Two types of alternatives are taken:
1. Do‐nothing or no action or status quo alternative
No change in the socioeconomic conditions or the
services to the society,
2. Implementation of the project (with multiple
alternatives) alternatives

24
 Con….
✓Favors implementation of the project by considering
alternatives in terms of site selection, design and
operational methods,
✓ project scale and timing of the project.
✓ Example of the alternatives to be considered can be
alternative access roads, reducing vehicular emission or
traffic, reduction in surface run off etc.

25
 Project Alternatives
✓D/t project alternatives have varying characteristics, but
they can usually placed in to one or combination of
categories below
1. Demand alternative
✓ Efficient use of energy vs generating more
2. Activity Alternatives
✓ Providing public transport vs increasing road capacity
3. Location Alternatives-Routes for Road construction
26
 Con…
4. Process alternatives
✓ Technology Alternatives-less waste, reuse, energy
efficient
5. Input alternatives
✓ Raw materials-tanning industries (Cr)
✓ Energy
▪ Coal vs renewable,
▪ Sulfur rich oil vs less sulfur oil
27