Course: CH 582, Environmental Impact Assessment (3-1-0)

Course Instructor: Dr. Sumana Ghosh

Marks Distribution

25 (2 quiz x 15 marks
Class work
each)
Mid Term Examination 25
Final examination 50
Total 100

Objective of the course: To provide comprehensive knowledge of

environmental impact assessment due to industrial and other developmental
activities
What is EIA?

Why EIA?
 Toxic Tragedy
• Love Canal tragedy
• Minamata disease
– Small fishing village in Japan
– Suffered from mercury poisoning
– biomagnification
• Mad as a hatter (crazy or insane person)
– Hat makers exposed to mercury suffered from insanity
 INTRODUCTION

•Many of the development projects in the past, have been implemented with little
environmental concern.

•This is mainly due to the fact that knowledge of environmental impacts and impact
assessment technology was not fully developed at that time.

•As a result, a number of large-scale development projects have led to adverse

impacts of a large magnitude.

• These adverse impacts have created strong feelings among people

•Movements that promote environmental protection and protest against development.

•EIA is an activity designed to identify and predict the impact of a project

bio-geophysicochemical environment and on
human health

•To recommend appropriate legislative measures, programs, and operational

procedures to minimize the impact.
Environment assessment involves a study to determine any unique environmental
attributes from endangered species to existing hazardous waste to historical
significance.

Environment Assessment procedure ensures consideration of environmental

implications before making a final decision of assessing the environmental attribute.

Process of assessment analyses the effects on environment and is useful for

reporting those effects undertaking a public consultation exercise

Lastly it reveals decision to public after reviewing the comment of the report.

EIA is an exercise to be carried out before any project or major activity is

undertaken to ensure that it will not in any away harm the environment on a short-
term or long-term basis.

Any developmental activity requires not only the analysis, the monetary costs and
benefits involved and of the need of such a project but also most important, it
requires a consideration and detailed assessment of the effect of a proposed
development on the environment
 Purposes of EIA

1. To facilitate decision-making:

• For the decision-maker, for example the local authority, it provides a

systematic examination of the environmental implications of a proposed
action, and sometimes alternatives, before a decision is taken.

• The decision-maker along with other documentation relating to the planned

activity can consider the environment impact statement (EIS).

2. To aid in the formation of development:

• Many developers see EIA as another set of hurdles for them to cross in order
to proceed with their various activities.

• They may also see the process involved in obtaining the permission from
various authorities as costly and time-consuming.
•In reality, however, EIA can be of great benefit to them, since it can provide a
framework for considering location and design issues and environmental issues
in parallel

•It can be an aid to the formulation of developmental actions, indicating areas

where the project can be modified to minimise or eliminate altogether the
adverse impacts on the environment.

•The consideration of environmental impacts early in the planning life of a

development can lead to

• Environmentally sensitive development

• Improved relations between the developer, the planning authority and the local
communities
• Smoother planning permission process a worthwhile financial return on the
expenditure incurred.

3. To be an instrument for sustainable development:

• The key characteristics of sustainable development include maintaining the

overall quality of life, maintaining continuing access to natural resources
and avoiding lasting environmental damage.
•Institutional responses to sustainable development are, therefore, required at
several levels.

•For example, issues of global concern, such as ozone-layer depletion, climate

change, deforestation and biodiversity loss, require a global political commitment
to action.

•United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in

Rio de Janeiro in 1992 was an example of international concern and also of the
problems of securing concerted action to deal with such issues.
•Governments have recognized the interaction of economic and social
development and the ecosystems, and the reciprocal impact between human
actions and the bio-geophysical world.

•While there are attempts to manage this interaction better, investigation reveal
disquieting trends that could have devastating consequences for the quality of
the environment.

•These trends are likely to be more pronounced in developing countries where,

because of greater rates of population growth and lower current living standards,
there is more pressure on environmental resources.
 The Benefits of Environmental Assessment

Reduced cost and time of project implementation.

Cost-saving modifications in project design.

Increased project acceptance.

Avoided impacts and violations of laws and regulations.

Improved project performance.

Avoided treatment/clean up costs.

The benefits to local communities from taking part in environmental
assessments include:

A healthier local environment (forests, water sources, agricultural

potential, recreational potential, aesthetic values, and clean living in urban
areas).

Improved human health.

Maintenance of biodiversity.

Decreased resource use.

Fewer conflicts over natural resource use.

Increased community skills, knowledge and pride

 EVOLUTION OF EIA

Evolution of EIA worldwide

United States of America was the first country to assign mandatory status to EIA
through its National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) of 1969.

A host of industrialized countries have since implemented EIA procedures.

Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and Japan adopted EIA legislation in 1973,
1974, 1981 and 1984, respectively.

 In July 1985, the European Community (EC) issued a directive making

environmental assessments mandatory for certain categories of projects

Among the developing countries, Columbia was the first Latin American country
to institute a system of EIA in 1974.

 In Asia and the Pacific region, Thailand and the Philippines have long
established procedures for EIA.

EIA was made mandatory in Sri Lanka in 1984.

The EIA process in Africa is sketchy, although a number of nations including
Rwanda, Botswana and Sudan have some experience of EIA

Bilateral and multilateral agencies have also recognized the value of EIA as a
decision-making tool.

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)

issued recommendations on EIA to its constituent States in 1974 and 1979, and
for development aid projects in 1986.

 OECD issued guidelines for good practices in EIA in 1992.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1980 provided guidance

on EIA of the development proposals (UNEP, 1980) and supported research on
EIA in developing countries

UNEP, in 1987, set out goals and principles of EIA for the member countries
and provided guidance on basic procedures for EIA in 1988 .
The World Conservation Strategy pinpointed the need to integrate
environmental considerations with development in 1980

 EIA became an integral part of World Bank policy in 1987 which states that
environmental issues must be addressed as part of overall economic policy.

 In 1989, the World Bank issued the Operational Directive on Environmental

Assessment (O.D. 4.00), which was revised and updated in October 1991 (O.D.
4.01).
Asian Development Bank in 1990 published guidelines for EIA (ADB, 1990).

Importance of EIA was echoed in the Brundtland Report and at United Nations
Earth Summit on environment and development held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992
(UNCED, 1992).

As foreseen by Garner and O'Riodan (1982) development of EIA, as a tool for
decision-making world-over, has emerged through the following stages:
No formal accounting, decisions made on interest group lobbying and
engineering feasibility; primary emphasis on economic development.

Conventional cost-benefit analysis; emphasis on efficiency criterion and

engineering feasibility; major concern still on economic development.

Innovative cost-benefit analysis, use of multiple objectives and discount

rates, imaginative proxy pricing mechanisms; economic development as one of
the objectives.

EIA mainly concerned with describing the repercussions of the proposals on

bio-physical processes; economic development still primary objective.

EIA with more attention paid to socio-cultural as well as bio- physical

systems, economic development but not the sole objective.
 Sustainable Development
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs

•It is known that population growth and economic development are affecting
the environment.

•There is a close relationship between Population growth and environmental

damage (Erlich Equation)

I = P × A × T where I = Impact on environment

P = Population
A = Affluence (Consumption)
T = Technology Coefficient
Population growth and Carrying capacity
 Fundamentals Concerning Environment and Sustainable
Development
•Population and Implications

•Limits to Growth

•Economy

•Poverty

•Human Settlement Issues

•Land Resources

•Forests

•Mountains

•Agriculture

•Biodiversity

•Protection of Oceans
•Industry and Business
 Environmental impact statement (EIS)
The environmental impact statement (EIS) provides documentation of the
information and estimates derived from the various steps in the EIA process. The
information contained in a EIS provides the decision-makers/regulators with
valuable information that could ultimately contribute to either the abandonment or
substantial modification of a proposed development action. A typical EIS contains
the following three parts:

Part 1 – Methods and key issues: This part deals with the statement of methods
used and a summary of key issues

Part 2 – Background to the proposed development: This part deals with

preliminary studies (i.e., need, planning, alternatives, site selection, etc.), site
description/baseline conditions, description of proposed development and
construction activities and programmes.

Part 3 – Environmental impact assessments on topic areas: This part deals with
land use, landscape and visual quality, geology, topography and soils, hydrology
and water quality, air quality and climate, terrestrial and aquatic ecology, noise,
transport, socio-economic and interrelationships between effects.
 Principle of EIA
It is important to recognize that there is a general principle of assessment that
applies to EIA, and to other assessment processes. There are several other
processes that relate closely to the review of environmental impacts that may
result from a proposed project. The following are well recognized processes:

Social Impact Assessment

Risk Assessment
Life Cycle Analysis
Energy Analysis
Health Impact Assessment
Regulatory Impact Assessment
Species Impact Assessment
Technology Assessment
Economic Assessment
Cumulative Impact Assessment
Strategic Environmental Assessment
Integrated Impact Assessment
Some, like Energy Analysis, focus on a particular part of the environment.
Others, like Life Cycle Analysis, enable the consideration of all those parts of the
environment that are relevant to the assessment. Also, depending on how the
terms, like health, are defined for the study you may find that it is covering most
of the issues that would be found in an EIA.

For example a Technology Assessment does include review of the impacts on

ecosystems, air quality and the like. Similarly, if the definition of environmental
is taken broadly for an EIA, then the EIA may cover the issues of the other
assessment processes; for example:

Social aspects (such as impacts on employment, community interaction)

Risks (such as threats to native animals, water supplies)

Life cycle (such as the impacts at each stage of the project design through to
operation and closure)

Energy (such as use of non-renewable energy sources, Greenhouse gas

emissions), etc