CHAPTER TWO

ENVIRONMENT
AND
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

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 Chapter Objectives
• After completing this chapter, students will be able to:
Define environment
Explain environmental degradation, causes and
consequences
Describe the impact of demographic changes on
development
Discuss the impact of global warming and climate
change on development
Recognize the environmental laws and policies
Explain auditing and impact assessment for
sustainable development
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 Environment

03/31/2024 Girmaw A. (PhD) 3

 What is Environment?
Describe in your own words what
environment is.
_____________________________________
____________________________________.

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 What is Environment?

• The environment is something we are

very familiar with.
• It’s everything that makes up our
surroundings and affects our ability to
live on the earth.
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 What is environment ? …Cont’d
• A forest environment

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 What is environment? …Cont’d
The term environment has been derived from
french word “environia” means to surround.
It refers to both abiotic (physical or non-
living) and biotic (living) environment.

 Environment is surrounding atmosphere or

condition for existence. It is an essential
natural process.
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 What is environment?...Cont’d
The environment has 2 components:
biotic and
abiotic.
• The biotic component comprises the plants
and animals, as well as the microorganisms
in a particular habitat.
• Abiotic components involve the topography,
soil, atmosphere, sunlight, water and
nutrients, etc.
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 Understanding Environmental
Degradation
How Do you Explain Environmental Degradation?

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 Environmental Degradation, …Cont’d
• The environmental degradation is deterioration of the
environment through depletion of resources which
includes all the biotic and abiotic element that form
our surrounding that is
 air,
 water,
 soil,
 plant,
 animals, and
 all other living and non-living elements of the planet
of earth
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 What is Environmental Degradation?
• Environmental degradation is a very serious
problem worldwide which covers a variety
of issues; including:
pollution,
biodiversity loss, and
animal extinction,
deforestation and
desertification,
global warming, and a lot more
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 Environmental Degradation, …Cont’d
Environmental degradation is the
deterioration of the environment through
depletion of resources such as air, water and
soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the
extinction of wildlife.
The United Nations International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction defines environmental
degradation as: “the reduction of the
capacity of the environment to meet social
and ecological objectives, and needs”.
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Causes of Environmental Degradation

What are the causes of Environmental

Degradation? Please undertake individual
brain storming and come up with a list of
causes for environmental degradation.
__________________________________
__________________________________
_________________________.
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 Causes of Environmental Degradation

1.Social Factors
 Population

 Poverty

 Urbanization

2. Economic Factors
3. Political and Administrative factors
4. Environmental factors
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 Causes of Environmental Degradation… Cont’d

I. Social Factors
Population
Population impacts on the environment primarily through the
use of natural resources and production of wastes and is
associated with environmental stresses like loss of biodiversity,
air and water pollution and increased pressure on arable land.
pulation
•1800
•1 Billion
•1950
•2.5 Billion
•2000
•6 Billion
•2011
•7 Billion
•ear03/31/2024 15
 Causes of Environmental Degradation, …Cont’d

Poverty
Poverty is said to be cause and effect of environmental
degradation. When people not have the basic necessities for
survival. For instance, they may be starving for clean water,
proper housing, sufficient clothing or medicines and be
struggling to stay alive.

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 Causes of Environmental Degradation… Cont’d

Urbanization
Lack of opportunities for gainful employment in villages and
the ecological stresses is leading to an ever increasing
movement of poor families to towns. Mega cities and
unplanned urbanisation are emerging and urban slums are
expanding.

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 Causes of Environmental Degradation… Cont’d

II. Economic Factors

Market Failure
To a large extent, environmental degradation is the
result of market failure, that is, the non-existent
or poorly functioning markets for environmental
goods and services.
In this context, environmental degradation is a
particular case of consumption or production
externalities reflected by divergence between private
and social costs.
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 Causes of Environmental Degradation… Cont’d

Economic development
The level and pattern of economic development affect
the nature of environmental problems. Especially
Industrialization based economic development has
resulted in environmental degradation.

The manufacturing technology adopted by the

industries has played load on environment through
intensive resource and energy use which resulted the
water, air and land contamination, and
degradation of natural eco-systems.
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 Causes of Environmental Degradation… Cont’d

Economic development

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 Causes of Environmental Degradation… Cont’d

Impacts of Agriculture Development

Agricultural development contribute to soil erosion, land
salination and loss of nutrients. For example, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identifies agriculture
as the primary source of water pollution.

Shifting cultivation has also been an important cause of

land degradation.
Leaching from extensive use of pesticides and fertilizers is
an important source of contamination of water bodies.
Intensive
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agriculture and irrigation contribute to land
21
 Causes of Environmental Degradation… Cont’d

Transport activities
• Transport activities have a wide variety of effects on
the environment such as air pollution, noise from
road traffic and oil spills from marine shipping.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) says
vehicular air pollution is a major cause of respiratory
distress
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 Causes of Environmental Degradation… Cont’d

III. Political and Administrative Factors

Lack of visionary leadership,
improper practice of environmental policy.
Lack of expansion of regulatory activity
Lack of growing environmental awareness
Lack of growing impact of environmental law
Lack of changing patterns of public administration
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Causes of Environmental Degradation… Cont’d

IV. Environmental Factors

Habitat fragmentation
It carries long term environmental impacts some of
which can destroy entire ecosystems.

Where an ecosystem is a distinct unit and includes all

the living and non-living elements that reside within
it.
Plants and animals are obvious members, but it will
also include other components on which they rely on
such as streams, lakes, and soils.
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 Causes of Environmental Degradation,… Cont’d

Habitat Fragmentations…
Habitats become fragmented when development breaks up
solid stretches of land. Examples include roads which may cut
through forests or even trails which wind through prairies.
While it may not sound all bad on the surface, there are
serious consequences.

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 Causes of Environmental Degradation, Cont’d
Water and Air Pollution
Water and air pollution are unfortunately the common
causes of environmental degradation.
Pollution introduces contaminants into the
environment that can maim or even kill plant and
animal species. The two often go hand in hand. Water,
air and soil pollution, along with other environmental
factors, contribute to 40 percent of deaths worldwide
each year.

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 Water and Air Pollution

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 Causes of Environmental Degradation,… Cont’d

Acid Rain
Acid rain occurs when sulfur dioxide SO2 from
coal plant emissions combines with moisture
present in the air.
A chemical reaction creates this acid rainfall.
Acid rain can acidify and pollute lakes and
streams.
It causes similar effects to the soil.
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 Causes of Environmental Degradation,… Cont’d

Acid rain causes acidification of lakes and

streams and contributes to the damage of trees at
high elevations and many sensitive forest soils.

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 Causes of Environmental Degradation, Cont’d

The diagram in the next slide also provides

better information about the nature and
human made causes of environmental
degradation.

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 Chapter two

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 EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION

• Impact on human health

• Loss of bio-diversity

• Ozone layer depletion

• Loss for the tourism industry

• Economic Impact

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 Effect of Environmental Degradation, Cont’d
• Impact on human health
• Human health might be at the receiving end as
a result of environmental degradation.
• Areas exposed to toxic air pollutants can cause
respiratory problems like pneumonia and
asthma.
• Millions of people are known to have died off
due to the indirect effects of air pollution
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 Effect of Environmental Degradation, Cont’d
• Loss of biodiversity
• Biodiversity is important for maintaining the balance
of the ecosystem in the form of combating pollution,
restoring nutrients, protecting water sources and
stabilizing climate.
• Deforestation, global warming, overpopulation, and
pollution are a few of the major causes of loss of

biodiversity.
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 Effect of Environmental Degradation, Cont’d
• Ozone layer depletion
• The ozone layer is responsible for protecting
the earth from harmful ultraviolet rays .
• The presence of chlorofluoro carbons, hydro
chlorofluoro carbons in the atmosphere is
causing the ozone layer to deplete.
• As it will deplete, it will emit harmful radiation
back to the earth
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 Effect of Environmental Degradation, …Cont’d
• Ozone layer depletion ……….
• Most of the skin diseases and the low productivity
in agriculture are caused by ultra- violet rays.
• Also an increase in ultra-violet radiation affects
water bodies, disturbs aquatic life, which supports
the food chain, and causes the death of fishes that
feed us.
It also causes the deterioration of synthetic
materials such as paints, and other products used in
the building industry.
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 Effect of Environmental Degradation, Cont’d

• Loss for the tourism industry

• The deterioration of the environment can be a
huge setback for the tourism industry that relies
on tourists for their daily livelihood.
• Environmental damage in the form of loss of
green cover, loss of biodiversity, huge landfills,
increased air, and water pollution can be a big
turn off for most of the tourists.
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 Effect of Environmental Degradation,… Cont’d
•Economic impact
• The huge cost that a country may have to borne
due to environmental degradation can have a
big economic impact in terms of
restoration of green cover,
cleaning up of landfills and
protection of endangered species.
• The economic impact can also be in terms of
the loss of the tourism industry.
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Impact of demographic changes,
emissions and global warming and
climate change processes on
development.

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 Effect of Demographic Changes on
Development

• The argument that has raged for half a

century over the relationship between
population and economic development
has distracted people from recognizing
there relationship.
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Effect of Demographic Changes on Development
, …Cont’d

• There is wide consensus that appropriate policy

environments and technological advances are
key to improving standards of living and that
population dynamics play an important
secondary role in this process.

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 Effect of Demographic Changes on Development , …
Cont’d
• In short, policies to reduce population growth can
make an important contribution to development
(especially in the long run), but their beneficial
effects will be greatly diminished if they are not
supported by the right macroeconomic and sectorial
policies.
• At the same time, failure to address the population
problem will itself reduce the set of macroeconomic
and sectorial policies that are possible, and
permanently foreclose some long-run development
options.
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Effect of Demographic Changes on Development , …
Cont’d
• Recent studies conclude that reducing fertility
facilitates economic growth in low-income
countries.
• Low dependency ratios (resulting from fertility
decline) create a window of opportunity for
savings,
increased productivity, and
investment ― which if properly managed can
transform living standards permanently.
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 Effect of Demographic Changes on Development ,
…Cont’d

• The more rapid the fertility decline in a region,

the wider the window of opportunity, though
its duration will be shorter because the
population will age more rapidly.

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Effect of Demographic Changes on Development , Cont’d
• They also indicate that rapid population growth can be a
constraint on economic growth, especially in poor countries
with policies that do not encourage rapid rise in productivity.
• Micro-studies also find that lower fertility is also associated
with
better child health and schooling,
 reduced maternal mortality and morbidity,
increased women‘s labor force participation, and
higher household earnings.
• This is quite aside from the intrinsic human right of being able to
control one‘s own fertility.
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Emissions and global warming and
climate change processes on development

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 Emissions and global warming and climate change processes on development

• Weather
• Weather refers to conditions like rain,
temperature and wind over hours to days

• LOOK out the window now. What is the weather like?

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Emissions and global warming and climate change processes
on development, …Cont’d
• Climate change
• Climate refers to average weather conditions
over a long period of time (30+ years)
• Climate change is a statistically significant
change in the state of the climate (average
weather) that persists for an extended period
of time (decades or longer)
– ASK an elder what the weather was normally like 30
years ago, in your birthday month? Has it changed?
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What’s the difference?
GLOBAL WARMING CLIMATE CHANGE
Is the increase of the Is the long-term changes
Earth’s average surface in climate, including
temperature due to a average temperature and
build-up of greenhouse precipitation. It
gases in the recognizes that, although
atmosphere. the average surface
temperature may
increase, the regional or
local temperature may
decrease or remain
constant.
Emissions and global warming and climate change processes
on development, …Cont’d

• What causes climate change?

__________________________________
__________________________________
_________.

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 Emissions and global warming and climate change processes on
development, …Cont’d
The Greenhouse Effect
• Sunlight passes through the atmosphere to earth
• At earth’s surface it’s reflected back through the
atmosphere to space
• However! After it is reflected, greenhouse gases can
trap heat in the atmosphere
• We call this process the greenhouse effect; as it is
similar to a greenhouse
• Greenhouse gases act like a big blanket around the
earth, trapping heat
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Emissions and global warming and climate change processes
on development, Cont’d

Greenhouse Gases
• Greenhouse gases trap heat from the sun in the
atmosphere, after it is reflected from earth
• Greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere
• Without them, the earth would be very cold – about
minus 18°C! All water on earth would freeze, the
oceans would turn to ice and life as we know it
would not exist

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 Emissions and global warming and climate change processes on
development, …Cont’d

Human activity
• Over the last 100 years, since the industrial
revolution, greenhouse gases have rapidly increased
in the atmosphere
• This is due to human activities which release
greenhouse gases
• Electricity from coal or diesel generators and
industry or pollution from factories contribute the
most
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 Pollution
Pollution
Pollutionfrom
fromcoal,
coal,
from
natural
naturalgas,
coal,
gas,and
andoil
oil
natural gas,
and oil
© 2007National Wildlife Federation
“Warming of the climate system is
unequivocal,
human influence on the climate
system is clear …”
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, January, 2014,
Press Release
 Emissions and global warming and climate change processes on
development, Cont’d

•Global warming
• More greenhouse gases trap more heat in the
atmosphere, leading to global warming
• Since 1880, global temp has increased by almost 1°C
• How much this rises depends on how much more
greenhouse gas is released
• Humans have added so much greenhouse gas to the
atmosphere, that even if all emissions stopped today,
the planet would still continue to warm for decades to
come
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 Emissions and global warming and climate change processes on
development, Cont’d

• Global warming……..
• 1°C or 2°C warmer sounds small?
• 1°C or 2°C - might not sound like much, but
think about what happens when your body
temperature is increased by 1 or 2 degrees?
• You would immediately fall sick and get a fever
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 Emissions and global warming and climate change processes on
development, Cont’d
• Global warming & the water cycle
• Global warming intensifies the water cycle
• Higher temps increase evaporation of water from sea,
lakes, rivers
• Warmer air holds more water vapour, resulting in more
intense rainstorms. This can lead to flooding
• More floods where water runs off into rivers and
streams, does little to dampen the soil. This and
increased temps can lead to drought
• Weather patterns across the world are effected over time
• This results in CLIMATE CHANGE
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 Hazards and impacts

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 Emissions and global warming and climate change processes on
development, Cont’d

• Climate change, hazards & impacts

Climate Change is exacerbating a range of weather
related hazards around the world
Climate change makes some hazards more frequent
Climate change makes some hazards more intense
These hazards impact people around the world
The same hazard can have different impacts for
different people
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Environmental Laws and Policies

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 Environmental Law
• What is Environmental Laws?
• Environmental law means the law that
regulate the impact of human activities
on the environment.
• Environmental law covers a broad range
of activities that affect air, water, land.
Flora, and fauna.

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 Environmental Laws and Policies, Cont’d

• It includes laws that related to:

• Protection of animals and • Waste management
plants • Climate change and
• Planning for the use and emission
development of land • Water resource
• Mining, exploration, and management (lakes, wet
extractive industries lands, rivers, and oceans)
• Forestry • Chemicals and pesticides
• Pollution • Weeds and invasive species
• Fisheries • Marine life
• Land and fire management
• Conservation of natural and
• Agriculture and farming cultural heritage
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 Environmental Laws and Policies, Cont’d
• What is environmental treaty or protocol?

• An environmental protocol is a type of an

environmental law, an intergovernmental
document intended as legally binding with a
primary stated purpose of preventing or
managing human impact on natural resources.
(Google and read environmental protocols)
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 Environmental Laws and Policies, Cont’d

• Environmental policy refers to the

commitment of an organization to the laws
and regulations and other policy
mechanisms concerning environmental
issues and sustainability.

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 Environmental Impact
Assessment and Environmental
Audit

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 Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Audit

Environmental Impact Assessment

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) can be
defined as the systematic identification and evaluation
of the potential impacts (effects) of proposed projects,
plans, program or legislative action on the physical,
chemical, biological, cultural, and socioeconomic
components of the total environment.
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 Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Audit, Cont’d

Environmental Impact Assessment…….

The primary purpose of the EIA process is to encourage
the consideration of the environment in planning and
decision making so as to ultimately arrive at actions
which are environment friendly.
EIA is a planning tool which helps planners in
predicting future impacts of different development
activities.
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 Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental
Audit, Cont’d

Environmental Impact Assessment…….

EIA provides information

 about adverse environment effects,

 predicts, the overall risks arising from any activity,

 helps in identifying areas where risks can possibly

be reduced.
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Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Audit,
Cont’d
Need of EIA
•Environment is composed of Biotic & Abiotic
components.
There is a dynamic equilibrium between these components.
When a project is undertaken it tends to disturb these
components.
To maintain the quality of environment it is essential that
the impacts of the project on natural environment are
studied on time and remedial measures be taken so as to
promote sustainable and holistic development of the
project. This is done through EIA.
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 Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Audit, Cont’d

Need of EIA…
For Example, a forest ecosystem is a complete
ecosystem which provides food, shelter to a wide
variety of species.
It provides firewood, resins, timber, medicinal
herbs, etc.. to us. Therefore forests are our lifeline.
Whenever a project is undertaken which demands
clearing of the forest like construction of road or a
dam, then EIA helps us to access the impact of that
activity on this life line. It also suggests alternate
project sites and alternate process technologies.
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 Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Audit, Cont’d

Goals of Environment Impact Assessment

The major aims of EIA are:
Resources Conservation
Waste minimization
Recovery of by-product.
Efficient use of equipment
Sustainable Development
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 Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental
Audit, Cont’d
Role of EIA in Sustainable Development
•Sustainable development is essential for the overall
socio-economic development.
Sustainable development must meet the need of the
present generation without compromising the ability
of the future generations to meet their own needs and
aspirations.
•It is possible to have development without
destroying the environment. This requires a gradual
shift from uncontrolled exploitation to efficient
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 Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Audit,
Cont’d
Role of EIA in Sustainable Development…….
To ensure sustainable development
The depletion of renewable resources should not
take place at a rate faster than their rate of
generation.
Only those technological developments with
minimum environmental hazards should be adopted
in order to sustain the environment for future
generations.
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 Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental
Audit, Cont’d
Role of EIA in Sustainable Development…
 Sustainable development is closely linked to the carrying
Capacity of an ecosystem as the latter determines the limits to
economic development.
 Carrying capacity of a specific ecosystem is the maximum
rate of resource consumption that can be sustained
definitely in that specific area and overexploitation of natural
resources above this maximum will lead to depletion and
ecological
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degradation. 75
 Environmental Audit

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Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Audit,
Cont’d
Environmental Audits
• Environmental auditing is mandatory only in
cases stipulated by law.
•The aim of the audit is to facilitate
management control of environmental practices
and to enable the company to assess compliance
with it’s policies including meeting regulatory
requirements.
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 Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental
Audit, Cont’d

Environmental Audits …
According to United States Environmental Protection
Agency (USEPA), Environmental Audit (EA) is a
systematic documented, periodic and objective review
by a regulated entity of facility operations and practices
related to meeting environmental requirements .
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 Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental
Audit, …Cont’d
Environmental Audits
•Environmental Audits are intended to quantify environmental
performance and environmental position of an industry/
organization.
In this way they perform a function similar to financial audits.
•An environmental audit report ideally contains a statement of
environmental performance and environmental position, and may
also aim to define what needs to be done to sustain or improve on
indicators.
It can act as one of the tool for achieving the goal of sustainable
development.
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 Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental
Audit, Cont’d
Environmental Audits should provide answer to the
following Questions
•What are we doing? In particular, are we in compliance
with government regulations, guidelines, codes of
practices, permit conditions?
•Can we do it better? In particular, are there non-
regulated areas where operations can be improved to
minimize the impact on the environment?
•Can we do it more cheaply? What more should we do ?
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 Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental
Audit, Cont’d

Components of Environmental Audit Assessment

•An assessment provides expert judgment/ opinion on
hazards, associated risks and management and control
measures.
It also identifies knowable hazards and estimates the
significance of risks.
The process assesses current practices and capabilities
and provide the basis for recommendations to improve
the organization's management system and
environmental performance
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 THANK
YOU
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