UNIT – 1 INTRODUCTION

Impacts of Development on Environment – Rio Principles of Sustainable

Development- Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) – Objectives –
Historical development – EIA Types – EIA in project cycle –EIA
Notification and Legal Framework.

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 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) - Definition
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) can be defined as the
systematic identification and evaluation of the potential impacts (effects)
of proposed projects, plans, programs or legislative actions relative to the
physical, chemical, biological, cultural and socio-economic components
of the total environment.

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 Objectives of EIA
• To ensure that the environmental considerations are explicitly
addressed and incorporated into the development and decision-making
process.
• To anticipate and avoid, minimize or offset the adverse significant
biophysical, social and other relevant effects of development
proposals.
• To protect the productivity and capacity of natural systems and the
ecological processes which maintain their functions.
• To promote development that is sustainable and optimizes resource
use as well as management opportunities.

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Objective 1

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Bhopal Gas Tragedy

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 Beirut explosion - Lebanon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=127&v=Eth3abSU-tE&feature=emb_logo
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Objective 2

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India-based Neutrino Observatory

http://www.ino.tifr.res.in/ino/

http://www.ino.tifr.res.in/ino/
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 Site for India-based Neutrino Observatory
On 20 November 2009, Ministry of Environment (India) Minister Jairam Ramesh in a letter to
Anil Kakodkar, Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy and Chairman, Atomic Energy
Commission of India, denied permission for the Department of Atomic Energy to set up the
India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) project at Singara in Nilgiris, as it falls in the buffer
zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR). Jairam Ramesh said that based on the report of
Rajesh Gopal, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and Member-Secretary
of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (MS-NTCA), the Ministry cannot approve the
Singara site. The report says:
The proposed project site falls in the buffer zone of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and is in close
proximity to the core/critical tiger habitats of Bandipur and Mudumalai Tiger reserves. It is also
an elephant corridor, facilitating elephant movement from the Western Ghats to the Eastern Ghats
and vice versa. The area is already disturbed on account of severe biotic pressure due to human
settlements and resorts and that the construction phase of the project would involve transport of
building materials through the highways passing through the core area of the Bandipur and
Mudmulai Tiger Reserves.
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Initially Suggested Site for INO

Source: Google Maps

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 Mudumalai Tiger Reserve

https://www.mudumalaitigerreserve.com/

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Bandipur Tiger Reserve

https://bandipurtigerreserve.in/
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 Elephant Corridor
❖ Elephant corridors are narrow strips of land that allow elephants to
move from one habitat patch to another. There are 88 identified
elephant corridors in India.

❖ Of these, 12 are in North Western India, 20 in Central India, 14 in

North West Bengal, 22 in North-Eastern India and 20 in South India.

❖ Tamilnadu has 19 elephant corridors and 4 interstate corridors linking

to elephant sanctuaries in Karnataka.

Source: Retrieved from Internet

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 Elephant Corridor

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/elephant-corridors-in-india-
threatened-says-study/article20231670.ece
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Objective 3

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Forest fire - Uttrarakhand

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Objective 4

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 Historical Development of EIA
• EIA is one of the successful policy innovations of the 20th Century for
environmental conservation. Thirty-seven years ago, there was no EIA but today, it
is a formal process in many countries and is currently practiced in more than 100
countries.

• EIA as a mandatory regulatory procedure originated in the early 1970s, with the
implementation of the National Environment Policy Act (NEPA) 1969 in the US.

• A large part of the initial development took place in a few high-income countries,
like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (1973-74). However, there were some
developing countries as well, which introduced EIA relatively early - Columbia
(1974), Thailand (1975), France (1976), Philippines (1978), Israel (1981) and
Pakistan (1983)

• The EIA process really took off after the mid-1980s. In 1989, the World Bank
adopted EIA for major development projects, in which a borrower country had to
undertake an EIA under the Bank's supervision
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 Historical Development of EIA in India
• It started in 1976-77 when the Planning Commission asked the Department
of Science and Technology to examine the river-valley projects from an
environmental angle.

• This was subsequently extended to cover those projects, which required the
approval of the Public Investment Board.

• Till 1994, environmental clearance from the Central Government was an

administrative decision and lacked legislative support.

• On 27 January 1994, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, GoI,

under the Environmental (Protection) Act 1986, promulgated an EIA
notification making Environmental Clearance (EC) mandatory for expansion
or modernization of any activity or for setting up new projects listed in
Schedule 1 of the notification. Since then there have been 12 amendments
made in the EIA notification of 1994.

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 River Valley Project
❖ Multipurpose river valley projects are basically designed for the development of
irrigation for agriculture and electricity through the construction of dams.

❖ Initially, dams were built only for storing rainwater to prevent flooding but now it
became multipurpose.

Examples:
1. Bhakra-Nangal

2. Farakka Barrage

3. Idukki Hydro-Electric Project

4. Parambikulam Aliyar Project

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River Valley Project

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Bhakra-Nangal

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 Farakka Barrage

http://fbp.gov.in/

http://fbp.gov.in/
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Idukki Hydro-Electric Project

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Parambikulam Aliyar Project

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 Impact of Dams

For more details please log on to

https://theconstructor.org/structures/environmental-impacts-of-dams/236/
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