Course:

“Environmental Assessment”

Chair: Environmental Planning & Landscape Design

 Lecture 1: Introduction

• Environmental Assessment
 Brainstorm…..

• Environmental Assessment?

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 Environmental Assessment
A. Environmental (and Social) Impact
Assessment (EIA) (ESIA)

B. Strategic Environmental
Assessment (SEA)

C. Environmental Auditing
 Introduction: EIA ?
• Many Definitions….
• The UN Economic Commission for
Europe (1991) defined EIA as :
–"an assessment of the impact of a
planned activity on the
environment".

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Environmental (and Social) Impact Assessment (EI(S)A)

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 E(S)IA
• A proactive development control tool:

–'prevention is better than cure'.

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Environmental Impact Statement

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 Introduction: Strategic Environmental
Assessment (SEA)
• Is a systematic process for evaluating the
environmental consequences of proposed
policy, plan or program initiatives in
order to ensure they are fully included
and appropriately addressed at the
earliest appropriate stage of decision-
making on par with economic and social
considerations
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SEA and EIA

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 An environmental Audit
Environmental audit: 'a management tool
comprising a systematic, documented, periodic
and objective evaluation of the performance of
the project and management processes designed
to protect the environment with the aim of:
(i) Facilitating management control of practices
which may have impact on the environment,
and
(ii) Assessing compliance with policies'.

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 Definition of EIA

Environmental
 Impact Assessment is
A formal process for identifying:
• likely effects of activities or Environment is
projects on the broadly interpreted:
ENVIRONMENT, and on physical, biological,
human health and welfare. and social.
• means and measures to
mitigate & monitor these In EIA, the term
“impacts” is used
impacts
instead of “effects
of activities.”
What is an
impact?
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 ASSIGNMENT
• Guideline of Ethiopia for EIA implementation
 Lecture 2
The basic concepts and constitutes of Environmental Assessment

Detail Explanations about

Environmental Impacts Assessment
 1. Environmental Assessment
Definition
Environment assessment is the abbreviation of
environment influence assessment and environment
quality assessment

Confirming, predicting and explaining the influence of

human activity on environment quality, it also means
environment influence analysis.

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 It is the retrospective assessment on
2. Classification of environmental environment quality in certain area or
assessment certain historical period according to the
history data.
Assessment of the
previous environment According to the environment monitoring,
According to the time survey data, it carries out assessment on the
element environment quality change and current
assessment of current state within regions.
situation of environment
It carries out identification, prediction and
Assessment of environmental
assessment for the planning development
impact
activity or planning, proposes reasonable
countermeasure to reduce and avoid positive
effect.
According to the
geographic scope Local, regional (city, industrial, mining and agriculture)
oceans, global environmental quality assessment

According to the
Single environmental factor assessment
assessment factors
Environmental quality comprehensive assessment

According to the
parameters Assessment of hygiene parameters, ecology parameters, geochemical
parameters, pollutants parameters, economics parameters, aesthetic
parameters,etc.
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3. Development and Principles of
environmental assessment

Development of environmental assessment

Sprouting/Emergent/------started from 1940s, with the quick speed of

industrialization, large-scale pollution incidents continually take place in
the developed countries. Under the strong requirement of public, each
developed country used the law measure to control pollutant discharge,
• The law measure had important role to protect environment.
Development---started from 1950s, each environment index was studied
and formulated.
• for example, the latest Green air pollution comprehensive index and
others.
Generalization---in the middle of 1960s, scholars of Canada and
America proposed conception of environment influence assessment, it
was successively legislated and formed system. 17
3. Development and Principles process of
environmental assessment cont’d…
Principles of environmental assessment

Action and effect of environmental quality has

influence
Environmental effect caused by human activity
has periodical impact
All the environmental system has threshold value
Environmental quality variation exists the natural
evolution process
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4 .The method of environmental assessment
Comprehensive assessment method
• It applies to the comprehensive description, identification, analysis and
assessment development activity produce the overall environment quality
change of each environment factor

 Specialized analysis and assessment method.

• It uses qualitative and quantification to precisely confirm the degree and
importance of environment effect
– Assessment method: characteristic measurement method of
environment effect, environment index and indicator method, expert judgment
method, site monitoring method and survey, statics and multi-element analysis
method and so on

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5. Assessment process of current
environmental quality

• Determining the assessment purpose,

determine the implementation plan
• Collect and assessment related background
material
• Monitoring of current environmental quality
• Background values prediction
• The analysis of environmental quality status
• Evaluate conclusion and countermeasures

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Detail About Environmental
Impacts Assessment

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 1. Definition of EIA
• "an assessment of the impact of a planned
activity on the environment"
 1. Definition of EIA

Environmental
 Impact Assessment is
A formal process for identifying:
• likely effects of activities or Environment is
projects on the broadly interpreted:
ENVIRONMENT, and on physical, biological,
human health and welfare. and social.
• means and measures to
mitigate & monitor these In EIA, the term
“impacts” is used
impacts
instead of “effects
of activities.”
What is an
impact?
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 2. Environment, Projects and Impacts
Environment and its dimensions
• The environment can be structured in several ways – including
– Components
– Scale/ space and
– Time dimension

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 2. Environment, Projects and Impacts…

• The environment can also be analyzed at various scales.

– the' nature of "local" may vary according to the aspect of

environment under consideration and to the stage in a project's
life

– However, some impacts are more than local

• For example;
– Traffic noise, may be a local issue. But ,
– changes in traffic flows caused by a project may have a regional
impact, and the associated CO2 pollution contributes to the global
greenhouse problem.
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 2. Environment, Projects and Impacts…
• The environment also has a time dimension. Baseline data
on the state of the environment are needed at the time a
project is being considered.

• Time-series data highlighting trends in environmental

quality are also needed.

• The environmental baseline is constantly changing,

irrespective of the development under consideration, and
it requires a dynamic rather than a static analysis.

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 2. Environment, Projects and Impacts

Projects

• EIA is relevant to a broad spectrum of development

actions, including policies, plans, programmes and
projects.

• Traditionally, project EIA has applied to major projects,

but what are major projects and what criteria can be
used to identify them?

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 2. Environment, Projects and Impacts…
Some key characteristics of major projects such as:

 Substantial capital investment: projects involve considerable investment

 E.g. industrial estate developments, road, various waste-disposal facilities

 Cover large areas: Projects cover large areas and employ many workers, usually
in construction

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 2. Environment, projects and impacts…
Generalized planning and development life-cycle for major projects (with particular
reference to impact assessment on host area)

A. PLANNING
• demonstration of need
• area search (i.e. site, route)
• assessment of alternatives (re. market, technical constraints, environmental effects, etc.)
• site selection
B. CONFLICT
• consent procedure/conflict - resolution (incl. EIA)
C. CONSTRUCTION
• site acquisition/displacement of - existing uses
• construction
D. OPERATION
• operation
– initial stages
– full operation
– fluctuations in operation
– changes in use/extension of facility
E. CLOSE DOWN
– close down of facility/withdrawal - site restoration
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 2. Environment, Projects, and impacts…

Possible broad
variations in stages
in life-cycles
between project
types

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 2. Environment, Projects, and impacts
What is an impact?
The impact of an activity is
a deviation (a change) from The baseline situation
the baseline situation that is is the existing
environmental
caused by the activity. situation or condition
in the absence of the
activity.

The baseline situation

is a key concept in EIA.
More…

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 The baseline situation
Water Quantity, quality, reliability,
In characterizing the accessibility
baseline situation,
Soils Erosion, crop productivity,
many environmental fallow periods, salinity,
components MAY be nutrient concentrations
of interest Fauna Populations, habitat

The components of
Env Health Disease vectors, pathogens
interest are those that
are likely to be affected
Flora Composition and density of
by your activity—or natural vegetation,
upon which your productivity, key species
activity depends for its
success Special Key species
ecosystems
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 Types of impacts and their attributes
Direct & indirect
The EIA process is impacts
concerned with
Short-term & long-
all types of impacts and term impacts
may describe them in a
Adverse & beneficial
number of ways impacts
Cumulative impacts
 Intensity
 Direction
 Spatial extent
 Duration
But all impacts are
 Frequency
 Reversibility NOT treated
 Probability equally.

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Types of impacts and their attributes

Environmental impacts can vary in terms of:-

 Types – biophysical, social, health, economic

 Nature – direct or indirect, cumulative
 Magnitude or severity – high, moderate, low
 Extent – local, regional, transboundary or global
 Timing – immediate or long time
 Duration – temporary or permanent
 Uncertainty – low likelihood or high probability
 reversibility – reversible or irreversible
 significance – considerable or not very important

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Specifically,
It is ESSENTIAL in EIA
to focus on the most
significant impacts.

Don’t waste effort and time analyzing and

discussing impacts that are less important

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 What is an activity?
We are discussing the impacts of
activities.
What are activities?
An activity is:
 a desired
accomplishment or
output Accomplishing an activity requires a set
E.g.: a road, seedling of actions
production, or river
ACTIVITY: ACTIONS:
diversion to irrigate market access Survey, grading, culvert
land road construction, compaction,
rehabilitation etc. . .

A project or program may

consist of many activities
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 3. Origin and development of EIA
• EIA received its first formal recognition as an environmental
management tool with the enactment of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 in the USA.

• early 1970s — initial development

• 1970s to 1980s — increasing scope

• mid to late 1980s — process strengthening and policy

integration

• mid 1990s — towards sustainability (SEA, Biodiversity)

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 4. The purpose and aim of EIA

EIA can:
modify and improve design
ensure efficient resource use
enhance social aspects
identify key impacts and measures for mitigating them
inform decision-making and condition-setting
avoid serious and irreversible damage to the
environment
protect human health and safety
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 5. The core values of EA
Sustainability: the EA process should result in
sustainable development by establishing long-term
environmental safeguards.

Integrity: the EA process will confirm to agreed and

established requirements.

Utility: the EA process will provide balanced, credible

information for decision making.

Equity: EA ensures fairness in the distribution of costs or

benefits. 39
6. Guiding principles of EA

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 6. Guiding principles of EA...
The basic guiding principles that underlie the EA objective are:

• Early application

• Participation

• Issues based

• Consider alternatives

• Accountability

• Flexibility

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7. Benefits of EIA
environmentally sound and sustainable design
better compliance with standards

savings in capital and operating costs

reduced time and costs for approvals
increased project acceptance

better protection of the environment and human health

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8. Perennial Problems In EIA
Implementation
• EIA requirements are often avoided
• EIA is often not carefully integrated into planning.
– EIA comes too late in the planning process
• EIA is done primarily for projects, not for programs or policies.
• Cumulative impacts are not assessed frequently.
• EIA information is not integrated into decisions, and cumulative impacts that extend
beyond an individual project are not assessed.
• Public participation in EIA is often inadequate.
• Proposed mitigations may not be implemented
• Post project monitoring is rarely conducted.
• Assessments of risk and social impacts are often omitted from EIAs.

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Thank You!!

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