Environmental

impact
assessment
kid 4008
Dr. Farahin Mohd Jais

WEEK 1
EIA INTRODUCTION
 LEARNING OUTCOME
By the end of this course, student will be able to:

1. Define the concept of environmental impact assessment and its application in

fulfilling sustainable development.
2. Identify and discuss the relevant Malaysian environmental legislation related to
environmental impact assessment.
3. Apply the principles and procedures of environmental impact assessment to
evaluate the degree of environmental impacts from a particular project.
4. Prepare an environmental impact assessment report in accordance to standard
legislation.
5. Assess and evaluate the environmental impacts due to differing types of
development projects.
Week
COURSE OUTCOME
Course outcome Action
1 Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)- concept and
definition
2 Environmental issues related to sustainable development
3 Malaysia Environmental Quality Act EQA 1974 and its impact to the EIA
procedures
4 Integrated project planning
5 EIA procedure and process- screening and scoping
6 EIA procedure and process-impact assessment and mitigation
7 EIA procedure and process- implementation Test
8 Existing environment
9 Assessment and environmental impact analysis
10 Monitoring and follow up in EIA
11 EIA approval process
12 Society’s role in EIA process
13 Issues and perspectives related to EIA implementation EIA report
submission
14 EIA case study presentation Group presentation
 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Global
• global warming
• acid rain
• deforestation
• groundwater
• oil spills
• hazardous pollution
• ozone depletion (CFC’S)
• Wars (destruction of habitant, pollution,
waste)
 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Local (Malaysia)
• landslide
• open burning
• deforestation
• waste management
• river pollution
• haze
• Illegal factories
• flash flood
 Global and large scale environmental
impacts
• Climate change- the Earth’s average temperature projected to increase by 1.4 to 5.8 ℃ during next
100 years.
• Loss of biological diversity- current rates of species extinction estimated to be 50 to 100 times the
expected natural rate.
• Stratospheric ozone depletion- reduction ranges from 60% over Antarctica (in Spring) to 3-5% in
mid latitudes (year-round average).
• Freshwater supply and quality – one third of the world’s population live in water stress areas,
expected to rise to two-thirds by 2025.
• Land degradation and desertification – one quarter of the Earth’s surface estimated to be affected,
mainly arid rangelands but also irrigated and rain fed agricultural lands.
• Deforestation and unsustainable harvesting – globally 12 to 15 million hectares lost each year as
a result of conversion, pollution and timber cutting.
• Marine degradation and overfishing – coastal areas
• Persistent organic pollutants – chemical that bioaccumulate in fatty tissues at different levels in the
food chain, health risks associated with human exposure to certain substances, worldwide build up
as a result of their long-range transportation.
 INTEGRATION WITHIN EIA
EIA process addresses the following environmental effects:

Economic and fiscal

Biophysical and resource Social and cultural

Health and safety

Landscape and visual Indigenous people rights and traditional areas

US National Environmental Policy Act
(proclaimed in 1970) NEPA called for:
● Consideration of environment values in decision-making
● Use of a systematic, interdisciplinary approach
● A detailed statement on:
 The environment impact of proposals
 Any adverse effects which cannot be avoided
 Alternatives to the proposed action
 Making the statement available to the public
 Evolution of EIA
1. Early 1970’s: initial development
2. 1970’s to 1980’s: increasing scope
3. Mid to late 1980’s: process strengthens and policy
integration
4. Mid 1990’s: towards sustainability (SEA, Biodiversity)
5. Pollution prevention- proactive (think to prevent the
problem when it is in surface not when it happened)
 Major aims of development

● Reducing poverty
● Doubling available food supply
● Supplying energy services
● Providing access to water to meet basic needs
● Improving urban environments
 This topic introduces the concept of EIA and
outlines its history, placing it within the framework
of sustainable development. Reference made to:
● The purpose and aims of EIA
● The nature and scope of environmental issues and
impacts
● The principles of EIA administration and practice
● The concept of integrated assessment
● The key elements of the EIA process
● The costs and benefits of undertaking EIA
● The role of capacity building in improving EIA
practice
Introduction to Sustainable Development
A threatened future
● Symptom and causes
 Poverty
 Growth
 Survival
 Economic crisis
● New approaches to environment and development
Towards sustainable development
● The concept of sustainable development
● Equity and the common interest
● Strategic imperatives
 The threatened future

● The earth is one but the world is not

● Depends on biosphere to sustain life, yet each
community has an impact towards another.
● Generally, pressures are local but today, surpass the
national boundaries-global
● Gounds for hope – people should cooperate to build a
prosperous future, secure and sustainable.
 Symptoms and causes
● Environment stress often associated with growing demand on limited
sources
● Poverty and hunger often destroy immediate environment in order to
survive eg deforestation, overgrazing
● Economic growth without control can contribute to environmental
damage in longer term, eg. Overuse of natural resources such energy,
tin-mining cause pollution
● Therefore, today environmental challenges arise both from lack of
development and from unintended consequences of economic
growth.
 1. P O V E R T Y
● More hungry people today than ever before in human history and
growing
● Differences in per capita income ranging from EEC(US11430) to low-
income countries (US190) in 1984.
● Such difference not only represent today’s quality of life also the capacity
to improve quality of life in the future.
● Poor countries being exploited by richer nations through their export
earnings of agricultural products.
● Poor countries hampered by disadvantageous terms of technology
transfer, protectionism and declining financial flows.
 2. G r o w t h
● Growth and development improved living standards and quality of life.
● Product and technology growth contribute to the amount of pollution. Use of fossil fuel
during the last century have grown nearly 30 fold and industrial production increased
more than 50 fold.
● Today, industries are able to achieve economic growth using less energy and material.
● Minimizing use of resources and energy helps to reduce pressure to the biosphere.
● However, population growth in developing countries will cause more resources to be
extracted if essential needs are to be met.
● Moderation in resources efficiency will balance the environmental problems globally.
 3. S U R V I V A L
● Population and production increase the scale and complexity of our natural resources requirement
● Our activities have crossed the threshold, thereby endangering basic integrity of our
environmental system.
● Eg. The Greenhouse effect, burning fossil fuel and deforestation increase CO2, accumulate in the
atmosphere and cause global warming, following that sealevel will rise to inundate many low
lying coastal cities and river delta.
● Worst, it drastically upset national and international agriculture production and trade systems.
● Other environmental impacts are depletion of atmospheric ozone layer, acidification,
desertification and extinction of species.
● Little time for corrective action-risk increase, faster than our ability to manage them.
● More vigorous effort is needed for survival proactive.
4. E C O N O M I C C R I S I S
● Environmental difficulties not new, only now we start to understand their
complexity.
● Today we need to be concerned on how environmental degradation can reverse
economic development.
● In international economic adjustment, heaviest burden is being experienced by
the world’s poorest people because of the increase on human distress and
overexploitation of land and resources in order to survive in short term.
Meaning of sustainable development and
the role that EIA can play as a tool in
moving toward sustainability

Sustainability development is a key concept that

has gained increasing international acceptance
during the last two decades. A milestone in this
process was the Brundtland report, which
defined sustainable development as
‘development that meets the needs of today’s
generation without compromising those future
Milestones and points of reference for eia
arrangements
● Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
● UN Conventions on Climate Change and Biological Diversity
● EIA procedures of development banks and donor agencies
● European Directive on EIA(and proposed Directive on SEA)
 The challenges of sustainable
development may be summarized by
● First, human activity is estimated to currently consume or pre-empt
40 per cent of net primary productivity on land.
● Second, 60 percent of the world’s population live close to or under
the poverty line.
● Third, the world’s population is projected to double by mid-century.
Without major policy and technology changes, UNEP and other
institutions have concluded that such trends threaten the stability of the
world community and the global environment
 EIA DEFINITION

“EIA is a tool used to identify the

environmental, social and economic impacts of
a project prior to decision-making. It aims to
predict environmental impacts at an early stage
in project planning and design, find ways and
means to reduce adverse impacts, shape projects
to suit the local environment and present the
predictions and options to decision-makers.”
 Why eia is important?
• Reducing burden of environmental impacts is necessary if development
is to become sustainable.
• Become of ever increasing importance as a tool for development
decision-making
• Is applied primarily to prevent or minimize the adverse effects of major
development proposal such as a power station, dams and reservoirs,
industrial complexes.
• Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of policies and plans focuses
on the highest levels of decision making, when better account can be
taken of the environment in considering development alternatives and
options.
 KEY EIA TRENDS AS
IDENTIFIED BY THE
EFFECTIVENESS
EIA systems have moved towards:

STUDY
• More systematic procedures for EIA implementation
• Greater consideration of biophysical, social, risk, health and other
impacts
• Extended temporal and spatial frameworks
• Provision for SEA of policy, plans and/or programs
• Incorporation and sustainability perspectives and principles
• Linkage to other planning, regulatory and management regimes
GENERAL EIA
PROCESS
FLOWCHART
KEY ELEMENTS IN EIA PROCEDURE

(INITIAL STEPS)
1. Scoping : identify key issues and concerns of interested
parties
2. Screening : decide whether an EIA is required based on
information collected.
3. Identify and evaluating alternatives : list alternative sites and
techniques and the impacts of each.
 Eia three core values
1. Integrity - the EIA process should meet
internationally accepted requirements and standards
practice.
2. Utility – the EIA process should provide the
information which is sufficient and relevant for
decision making.
3. Sustainability – the EIA process should result in the
implementation of environmental safeguards which
are sufficient to mitigate serious adverse effects.
 Aims and objectives of eia
Immediate objectives of EIA are to : Long term objectives of EIA are to :

• Modify and improve the • Protect human health and safety.

environmental design of the • Avoid irreversible changes and serious
proposal. damage to the environment.
• Ensure that resources are used • Safeguard valued resources, natural
appropriately and efficiently. areas and ecosystem components.
• Identify appropriate measures for • Enhance the social aspects of the
mitigating the potential impacts proposal.
of the proposal.
• Facilitate informed decision
making, include setting the
environmental terms and
condition for implementing the
proposal.
 Benefits of eia includes:
• Environmentally sound and sustainable design
• Better compliance with standards
• Saving in capital and operating costs
• Reduced time and costs for approval
• Increased project acceptance
• Better protection of the environment and human
health
 The purpose of eia
• Provide information for decision-making on the
environmental consequences of proposed
actions
• Promote environmentally sound and sustainable
development through the identification of
appropriate enhancement and mitigation
measures
Environmental impacts can vary in terms
of:

• Type – biophysical, social, health or economic

• Nature - direct or indirect, cumulative
• 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
EIA GUIDELINE PRINCIPLES
• Purposive – meeting it aims and objectives
• Focused - concentrating on the effects that matter
• Adaptive – responding to issues and realities
• Participative – fully involving the public
• Transparent – clear and easily understood
• Rigorous – employing best practicable methodology
• Practical – establishing mitigation measures that work
• Credible – carried out with objectivity and
professionalism
• Efficient – imposing least cost burden on proponents.
KEY OPERATING PRINCIPLES OF
GOOD EIA PRACTICE SHOULD:
• Be applied to all proposals with significant impacts
• Begin early in the project cycle
• Address relevant environment, social and health impact
• Identify and take account of public views
• Result in a statement of impacts and mitigation
measures
• Facilitate informed decision making and condition
setting.
 THE EIA PROCESSES
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 and impact management – to establish measures to prevent, reduce
or compensate for impacts
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 conditions
8. Follow up and implementation – to monitor, manage and audit impacts of
project implementation
9. Public involvement – to inform and consult with stakeholders
BENEFITS IMPLEMENTING EIA
PROCESS
• Better environmental planning and design of a
proposal
• Ensuring compliance with environmental standards
• Savings in capital and operating costs.
• Reduced time and costs of approvals of development
applications
• Increased project acceptance by the public.
COST OF USING EIA PROCESS
• 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 technical and consultative components of EIA
are inadequate; and
• The EIA report is incomplete or deficient as a
basis for decision making.
ENSURING FAIRNESS IN EIA
PROCESS
• Register consultants names and terms or reference
• Name consultants and their expertise in the EIA
report
• Publish the terms of reference in the EIA report
• Make the EIA reports available to the public
• Publish lists of screening and final decisions along
with conditions for approval
TYPICAL PROJECT REQUIRES FULL
DETAIL EIA
1. Dams and reservoirs
2. Resettlement and urban development
3. Infrastructure
4. Industrial facilities
5. Energy and minerals extraction
6. Waste management and disposal of
hazardous and toxic material
7. Energy development
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
THE END