ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Dr. P.R. Sreemahadevan Pillai

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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?
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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
absence of the
! To measure an impact, you activity.
must know what the
The baseline
baseline situation is. situation is a key
More…
concept in EIA.

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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

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The baseline situation
The baseline situation is not simply a “snapshot.”

Water table
Describing the baseline situation requires describing both the normal
variability in environmental components & current trends in these
components.

time
This chart of
groundwater levels
shows both variability
and a trend over time.

Both are part of the

groundwater baseline
situation.

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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.

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 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.

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What is an activity?
We are discussing the impacts of activities.
What are activities?
An activity is:
 a desired
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
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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!
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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 EIA
activity being activity what OR UNKNOWN simplified EIA IMPACTS
RISK POSSIBLE STUDY
proposed? level of study using
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)

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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

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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:
“Oops. I • Survey
• negotiate land tenure
forgot about • construct borrow pit
the borrow • establish construction camp
pit.” • construct temporary
diversion structure
• dispose of soil, debris

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Phase 1 of the EIA process:
Screen the activity
Screen each
activity
SCREENING is the process of asking
Based on the a very basic set of questions about
nature of the
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?

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Phase 1 of the EIA process:
Screen the activity
Screen each
activity
screening classifies the activity into
Based on the a RISK CATEGORY:
nature of the
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

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Phase 1 of the EIA process:
Screen the activity

! Each donor agency

and national EIA law
has its own set of
screening questions.

 Screening is the topic

of an upcoming
module

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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
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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)
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What is mitigation?

Mitigation is. . .
 The implementation of
measures designed to
reduce the undesirable
effects of a proposed
action on the
environment

Mitigation is the topic of

an upcoming module!

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To arrive at findings:
Identify, Predict and Judge
Arriving at the FINDINGS in a preliminary
assessment requires 3 steps:
1
Identify potential Many resources describe the potential
impacts impacts of typical small-scale activities.

2 Determine which potential impacts are likely

Predict potential
to become actual, and quantify these
impacts
impacts to the extent possible.

3 Judge the Determine whether the predicted impacts are

significance of indeed significant!
potential impacts THIS WILL OFTEN DEPEND ON HOW
EFFECTIVE THE PROPOSED MITIGATION
MEASURES ARE!
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 Subsequent modules. . .
 Present tools to assist
in identifying &
predicting impacts
Discuss the factors
involved in judging
significance

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! We only proceed to
Phase II of the EIA process

if
Phase I indicates that
a FULL EIA STUDY
is required

Most small-scale activities do

not require a full EIA study!

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Phase 2 of the EIA process:
The Full EIA study
A formal scoping process

The full EIA study has ! precedes the study to ID

issues to be addressed
very similar objectives Analysis of environmental
and structure to a
preliminary
! impacts is much more
detailed

assessment. Alternatives* must be

However, the full EIA

! formally defined. The
impacts of each
alternative must be
study differs in identified & evaluated,
important ways: and the results compared.
Public participation is

!
*includes the project as usually required.
proposed, the no-action alternative
at least one other real alternative A professional EIA team
is usually required.
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Phase 2 of the EIA process:
The Full EIA study
With a few additions, the Basic steps of the full
EIA study
basic outline of the
preliminary assessment is Scope

Communicate & Document throughout

the template for the steps Evaluate baseline
involved in a full EIA study: situation
Identify & choose
1. Background (Development alternatives
objective, list of activities)
Identify and characterize
2. Description of the baseline
potential impacts of
situation
proposed activity and
3. Evaluation of potential each alternative
environmental impacts
Compare alternatives
4. Mitigation & monitoring
Develop mitigation and
5. Recommended Findings monitoring

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Phase 2 of the EIA process:
The Full EIA study

In summary,
 The full EIA study is a far
more significant effort than
the preliminary assessment.

It is reserved for activities for

which screening or the
preliminary assessment
shows that significant
impacts are likely.

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Who is involved in EIA?
Sponsor of the activity
(usually commissions/conducts the
EIA)
Regulatory agencies/
Review authorities
Broad-based public
Communities (men & women)
Civil society
Private Sector
Public consultation is usually
only REQUIRED for full EIA
studies.
However, it is good practice
for preliminary assessments
because:
• Predicting impacts is
FACILITATED by broad-
based public consultation;
Judging significance is very
difficult without it.
• Transparency and
accessibility require
disclosure to stakeholders
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Making EIA effective
To be an effective tool for
ESD, EIA must be:
 a integral part of the
project development
cycle.
EIA is undertaken early enough
to affect project design
Mitigation and monitoring
developed in the EIA process is
implemented.

 Honest The full EIA study must

consider real alternatives
Impacts must be assessed
honestly.
 Transparent & accessible
The EIA products must be clear
and accessible to key actors.

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