Presentation 1.1b

OVERVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT: Background and Key Concepts

for Project Level Assessment

EIA seeks to ensure that potential problems are foreseen and addressed such that projects can proceed without causing serious environmental degradation

Project-Level or Activity-Specific Environmental Impact Assessment

EIA is a structured process to anticipate, analyze and disclose environmental, and typically social, consequences of proposed projects or activities

EIA in Relationship to the Project Cycle

Project Cycle: EIA Process

Project identification Project description

Pre-feasibility study Screening/IEE/scoping

Feasibility study EIA

Final design EMP

Construction Monitoring & follow up

Operation Monitoring & follow up

Closure (abandonment) Lessons learned

Screening Initial Environmental

Examination (IEE)

EIA Not

Required

EIA

Required

Monitoring EIA Audit and

Evaluation

IEE

Review

Scoping/

Terms of

Reference

Full-Scale

EIA

Evaluate

Options

EIA Not

Approved

EIA

Review

Decision

Making

EIA

Approved

Generic EIA Process Flowchart

What is missing from this flowchart?

1.1 Prepare Project

Proposal

Customized Flowchart Myanmar Screening

1.3 Decide

EIA, IEE or

none

15 Days

EIA Type

Project

No IEE/EIA

Required

IEE Type

Project

1.2 Screening

IEE Preparation and Review

Chart2.1

Chart3.1

Chart3.0

Chart2.0

submit

Project Proponent The Ministry

IEE Approval

EIA Preparation and Review

EIA Approval Chart3.2

Chart4.0

Scoping

Appeal

Chart 1.0

Investment License

Process

3.8 Conduct EIA Investigations

Disclose information about the Project

Undertake environmental and social assessment studies and investigations

Conduct consultations at national, state and local level with PAPs, authorities, civil society, community based organizations, the Ministry, sector ministries, regional government organizations

3.9 Prepare/Revise

EIA Report

3.11 EIA

Report

Approval

90 Days

3.10 Review EIA Report

submit

Disclose EIA Report on website

Call for comments from government, PAPs, civil society and other stakeholders

Arrange Public Consultations at local level

Collect and review all comments

EIA Report not

satisfactory

Continues

3.10.1 Submit EIA Report to EIA Report

Review Body

3.10.2 EIA Report Review Body

prepares comments

3.9.1 Public

disclosure of

EIA Report

Approved

Rejected

Chart 3.1

Go to Chart 3.2

Action 3.11

Project Proponent The Ministry

Myanmar EIA Preparation & Review

Screening – to determine whether or not a proposed project should be subject to EIA, and, if so, at what level

Scoping – to identify the issues and impacts that are likely to be important and to establish terms of reference for EIA

Examination of alternatives – to establish the preferred, or most environmentally sound and benign, option for achieving proposal objectives

Impact analysis – to identify and predict the likely environmental, social and other related effects of the proposal

Mitigation and impact management – to establish the measures that are necessary to avoid, minimize or offset anticipated adverse impacts, and where appropriate, to incorporate these into an environmental management plan

Steps in the EIA Process

Evaluation of significance – to determine the relative importance and acceptability of residual impacts (i.e., impacts that cannot be mitigated)

Preparation of EIA report – to document clearly and impartially describe impacts of the proposed project, the recommended methods for mitigation, the significance of effects, and the concerns of the interested public and communities affected by a proposed project

Preparation of EMP – to list clearly the environmental and social commitments, outlined in EIA/SIA Report, including mitigation measures, standards and plans, monitoring to be implemented throughout the project cycle, and costs committed to implement the EMP

Steps in the EIA Process (Cont’d)

Review of the EIA – to determine whether the report meets its terms of reference, provides a satisfactory assessment of the proposed project, and contains the information needed for decision making

Decision making – to approve or reject the proposal EIA and to establish the terms and conditions for project implementation

Monitoring and evaluation – to monitor the impacts of development and the effectiveness of mitigation measures; and where required, to undertake environmental audit and process evaluation to optimize environmental management

The EMP is intended as a living document that is updated during the operational life of the project (e.g., updated EMP if delays between project approval and commencement, annual implementation plans during the construction period, additional mitigation measures if unanticipated impacts are identified)

Objectives of the EIA Process

Assess the consequences to affected persons in terms of changes in the way they live and work – Example – during Nam Theun 2 pre-construction

impedance of a small tributary on which local villages relied for dry season water supply raised health and welfare concerns – primarily access to safe drinking water – necessitating identification of an alternative drinking water supply

SIA is part of the EIA process to ensure social equity and that affected persons are better off as a result of the project

SIA includes social development goals and mitigation measures to manage resettlement, livelihood options, and compensation to offset negative impacts

Social Impact Assessment

HIA enables the identification, prediction and evaluation of the likely health risks (i.e., positive or negative, single of collective, direct and immediate, or indirect and delayed) posed by a proposed project to a defined population

Health indicators must measure and monitor expected impacts from project activities

HIA evaluates the potential health impacts from the project due to construction and operation, population influx and changes to the environment (e.g., impacts to fisheries on which local communities rely for food security), and the potential for occupational health injuries and traffic accidents

HIA elaborates the proposed mitigation measures to offset, reduce or even eliminate negative health impacts to local communities

Health Impact Assessment

Result from incremental impact of an action when combined with impacts from projects and actions that have been undertaken recently or will be carried out in the foreseeable future

Impacts may be individually minor but collectively significant because of their spatial concentration or frequency in time

Cumulative effects can accumulate either incrementally (or additively) or interactively (synergistically), such that the overall effect is larger than the sum of the parts

Examples of cumulative impacts arising from spatial and temporal crowding:

– The same kind of activity recurs too frequently through time (e.g., harvesting trees or fish above natural regeneration rates)

– The same kind of activities recur too densely through space (e.g., urbanization)

– Different kinds of activities impose similar consequences on a valued resource (e.g., fishing, loss of habitat, and pollution all combine to result in diminished fish stocks)

Cumulative Impact Assessment

EIA

Policy

and

Planning

Proposed

Project

Individual

VECs

Project-Level CEA

Policy

and

Planning

Proposed

Project

Individual VECs &

Total Impact

Current

Projects

Past

Projects

Future

Projects

Comparison of Focus Between EIA and Project-level CEA

Example of Cumulative Effects at a Local Scale

The EMP includes all – Environmental commitments outlined in the EIA/SIA Report

– Environmental mitigation measures, standards and plans

– Monitoring requirements to be implemented throughout the project cycle, and

– Costs (to be committed by project proponents) to implement the EMP

The EMP provides a detailed action plan for implementation of recommendations made in the EIA/SIA Report

The EMP sets out goals and targets for environmental control that are measurable and auditable

The EMP specifies roles, responsibilities and timeframes

The EMP provides the basis for monitoring compliance

Environmental Management Plans

Thank you

iain@gms-eoc.org www.gms-eoc.org