Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): Overview

Session Objectives:

• Explain what EIA is about

• Discuss the EIA process

Agenda

• EIA & its evolution

• EIA principles

• EIA process

• Benefits of EIA

• Discussions

What is EIA?

US EPA National Environmental Policy Act

(proclaimed in 1970) called for:

• public statement of environmentally significant consequences of all federal actions

• public input into project formulation

• informed decision-making

This process became known as EIA

Purposes of EIA

• modify and improve design • ensure efficient resource use • enhance social aspects • identify measures for monitoring & managing

impacts • inform decision-making • provide justification for a proposal

Various Aspects of Environmental Impacts

• type and nature

• magnitude

• extent

• timing

• duration

• uncertainty

• reversibility

• significance

Integration within EIA

The process of EIA has moved towards the consideration of all effects arising from a proposal. These can include:

• biophysical • social • health • economic

• risk and uncertainty

• Early 1970s - initial development

• 1970s to 1980s - trend to integration

• Mid to late 1980s - cumulative effects and policy integration

• Mid 1990s - towards sustainability (SEA- strategic environmental assessment, biodiversity)

Evolution of EIA

EIA Developments in the 1990s:

• Major reforms to well established systems • Implementation of EC Directive (1985) • World Bank and other agencies introduce policies • Convention on EIA in a Transboundary Context

(1991) • Conventions on Climate Change and Biological

Diversity

EIA-Three Core Values

• Sustainability - the EIA process will result in environmental safeguards

• Integrity - the EIA process will conform to agreed standards

• Utility - the EIA process will provide balanced, credible information for decision-making

Sadler, 1996

EIA - Eight Guiding Principles

• Participation

• Transparency

• Certainty

• Accountability Sadler, 1996

• Credibility

• Cost-effectiveness

• Flexibility

• Practicality

EIA Operating Principles IEIA should be applied:

• to all development project activities likely to cause potentially significant adverse impacts or add to actual or potentially foreseeable cumulative effects

• as a primary instrument for environmental management to ensure that impacts of development are minimized, avoided or rehabilitated

• Sadler, 1996

• so that the scope of review is consistent with the nature of the

• project or activity & commensurate with the likely issues & impacts

• on the basis of well defined roles, rules and responsibilities for key actors

EIA Operating Principles II EIA should be undertaken:

• throughout project cycle, beginning as early as possible in the concept design phase

• with clear reference to the requirements for project authorization & follow-up,

including impact management

Sadler, 1996

• consistent with the application of 'best practicable' science & mitigation technology in accordance with established procedures & project-specific terms of reference, including agreed timelines

• to provide meaningful public consultation with communities, groups & parties directly affected by, or with an interest in, the project and/or its environmental impacts

EIA Operating Principles IIIEIA should address, wherever necessary or appropriate:

• All related & relevant factors, including social and health risks & impacts

• Cumulative and long-term, large-scale effects • Design, locational and technological alternatives to the

proposal being assessed • Sustainability considerations including resource

productivity, assimilative capacity and biological diversity

Sadler, 1996

EIA Operating Principles IV EIA should result in:

• Accurate & appropriate info as to the nature, likely magnitude & significance of potential effects, risks & consequences of a proposed undertaking & its alternatives

• Preparation of an impact statement or report that presents this info in a clear, understandable & relevant form for decision-making, including reference to qualifications, & confidence limits in the predictions made

• Ongoing problem solving and conflict resolution to the extent possible during the application of the process

Sadler, 1996

EIA Operating Principles V EIA should provide the basis for:

• Environmentally sound decision-making in which terms & conditions are clearly specified and enforced

• Design, planning and construction of acceptable development projects that meet environmental standards and resource management objectives

• An appropriate follow-up process with requirements for monitoring, management, audit & evaluation that are based on the significance of potential effects, the uncertainty associated with prediction & mitigation, & the opportunity for making future improvements in project design or process application

Sadler, 1996

The EIA Process

• Screening

• Scoping

• Assessing

• Mitigating

• Reporting

• Reviewing

• Decision-making

• Monitoring & managing

• Public involvement

EIA Costs for Multipurpose Projectsin Thailand

Delays are caused during EIA when:

• EIA is commenced too late in the project cycle

• TORs are poorly drafted

• EIA is not managed to a schedule

• EIA report is inadequate and needs to be upgraded

• Lack of technical data

Benefits of EIA include:

• more environmentally sustainable design

• better compliance with standards

• savings in capital and operating costs

• reduced time and costs for approvals

• avoids later plant adaptations

• reduced health costs

• increased project acceptance

Ensuring Fairness in the EIA Process

• register consultants' names and terms of reference • name consultants and their expertise in the EIA

report • publish the terms of reference in the EIA report • make EIA reports available to the public • publish lists of screening and final decisions along

with conditions for approval