Environmental impact

assessment
 Learning Objectives
Students will know:
•Definitions in EIA

•What is the relevance of EIA

•Methods of EIA
 Introduction

Environment:
– The totality of all materials (natural, modified, or
changed)
– External spaces
– Interactions
– Affecting: humans, other living things
– Affecting land air water, weather, climate

•Key terms (Interactions and effect)

 Environmental hazards/stresses

• These are agents harming the environment

– Biological

– Chemical

– Physical

– Social

– Psychological
 Hazardous materials: (Agents
of adverse effect)
–Any substance (solid, liquid, gas)

–Living or non living: biting animal, infective

swab

–Injurious to human health and environment.

 Hazardous…
• Hazardous waste: unwanted material that is
deleterious to human health or the environment

• Effect: infections, toxicity, fire, explosion,

radiation
 Pollution:
• Conditions:
–The interaction between hazardous waste and
the environment

–Resulting in the alteration of its characteristics

(physical, chemical, biological)
• What is the implication for controlling?
Environmental impact assessment
(EIA)
definition:
•“A formal process to predict environmental
consequences of human development activities
and to plan appropriate measures to eliminate
or reduce adverse effects and to augment
positive effects.”
Environmental impact assessment
(EIA)
Three main functions:
•To predict problems on the environment and
population
•To find ways to avoid them

•To enhance positive effects/ seeking health

opportunities
Environmental impact assessment
(EIA)

• Predicts conflicts between projects/programmes

and its environment
• Provides mitigation measures for conflicts
• Enables to establish M & E programmes

EIA is therefore a management tool.

It is a planning tool
Environmental impact assessment
(EIA)
• It is a method/tool to

• Identify set of conditions that result changes in the environment

• Predict health and environmental risks

• Evaluates the effects

• Designs mitigation plans

• Evaluates the effect of mitigations;

• Audit the overall EIA process

 Environmental impact assessment
(EIA)

• New settlement development:

• Housing incentives

• Low cost schemes

 Environmental impact assessment
(EIA)
Impact: –+ve: improved living standard of employees

–-ve: environmental pollution (air, water, land) if not

wastes properly managed. (changes in the
environment)

–Health risks to the ecology, human and animal

health

–Elevated destructions, Morbidities and deaths

 Impact characteristics

• Magnitude; severity
•Extent/scope:

•Timing: how used?

••Duration

•Reversibility Vs Irreversibility

•Significance: social, economical, health benefits

 Purpose of EIA
•Predicting the environmental effect

•Managing the effect

•Harmonizing development and its benefits

•Integrating environmental risks with benefits

•Intended outcome: Sustainable development

 Developments requiring EIA

Generally:
•Irrigation schemes: diseases; pesticide toxicity, aquatic life

•Factories: pollution, health risks

•Dams: diseases; vectors

•New settlements;

•New road;
EIA procedures
 A step by step EIA
 It has 4 phases: (EIA procedures)

–Project initiation and scoping

–Specialist study

–EIA reporting

–Environmental management plan

 A step by step EIA

• EIA is a multi-professional task: engineers,

social scientists, biologists, ecologists, soil
expert, health expert, etc

• The health expert: prediction on human

health, ambient environment pollution, etc
 Phase 1: Project initiation, screening
and scoping
• Reviewing the needs of EIA:

–Record review

–Discussion with stakeholder

–Social probing: public, interested group, authorities

• Develop background information report and information
sharing with concerned
• Developing TOR for detail assessment
Deciding if a project requires full scale
EIA (Screening)
Who makes the screening?

•Evaluate

•Characteristics of the receiving body

•Policy frameworks

•Degree of public concern

•Quality of the proposal in addressing likelihood of impacts

•Sustainability issues
 Phase 2 & 3: Specialist studies
and EIA report
• Coordinating the studies
•Implementation of the study

•EIA draft and final report

•The proposed impact should be evaluated in terms of

magnitude, extent, duration, probability of occurring.
 Phase4: enviromental management
plan (EMP)

• Monitoring plans are developed

• Indicators are indicated in the monitoring plan

• Implementation of EMP is monitored

• Impact monitoring is followed until the the

project construction is completed and during its
operation.
 Advantages of EIA

• Reduces investment risks

• Cuts long-term costs

• Timely identifies impacts

• Enhances +ve impacts

• Mitigates –ve impacts

• Improves images of the company: legal, public

 Principles of EIA

• Participation

• Transparency in developments (assessing health

risks)

• Accountability for the risks

• Involving users/beneficiaries in all steps of

development
 Principles of EIA
• Credibility

• Cost-effectiveness

• Flexibility

• Feasibility/practicability/utility
END OF THE PRESENTATION