Environmental

Impact
Assessment

Course Code: WEE-

Credit Hour:2-0-2
Instructor: Mr Habtamu
Geremew(Msc)
Sections: HWRE students

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 Outline and Course Objectives
 Course Objectives:
 Learning objectives can be formulated as:
 To become familiar with the concept and
principles of EIA
 To understand the main commonalities and

differences in EIA requirements in different

regions of the world;
 To be able to prepare terms of reference and

an outline for a modest EIA study on a given

topic
 Prepare an impact assessment of a given

project proposal;
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 Outline and Course Objectives
 Course Outline:
 INTRODUCTION

 THE EIA PROCESS

 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

TECHNIQUES
 SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

 MAJOR IMPACTS OF WATER RESOURCES

DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

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 Outline and Course Objectives
 COURSE ORGANIZATION:
 The evolution of the EIA process
predominantly comes from the technical and
managerial challenges faced during
environmental assessment implementation.
 In order to support the in-depth
understanding of the EIA process, a case
study of EIA of the major WRD projects will
be presented along with the lectures in class.

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 Introduction
 It is very clear for all that water is one of
the most essential elements for everything
alive on earth.
 The past 30 to 40 years have been a period
of strong water resources development all
over the world
 Although positive results were recorded, the
environmental, social, and cultural impacts
of some water projects have not been what
water resources donors and planners
expected.

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 Introduction
 These threats lead to finding the way how to
accommodate water resources development
and management with in the context of
environmental, social, and cultural
preservation and improvement.
 From the above perspectives EIA comes to
be understood as an integrated part of the
planning process devoted to the
identification, quantification and qualification
of environmental impacts due to the
development of projects as well as policies
and strategies to monitor and control such
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impacts.
 Introduction
 Definitions: EIA may be defined as:
 A formal process to predict the environmental
consequences of human development activities and
to plan appropriate measures to eliminate or
reduce adverse effects and to augment positive
effects. (FAO definition)
 A process used to identify and predict the impact on
the environment and on man's health and well­being
of legislative proposals, policies, programs, projects
and operational procedures, and to interpret and
communicate information about the impacts.
(Munn,1979)

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 Introduction
A technique and a process by which
information about the environmental effects
of a project is collected, both by the
developer and from other sources, and
taken into account by the planning authority
in forming their judgments on whether the
development should go ahead. (UK
DoE,1989)
 Based on the above definitions, one can
observe that EIA has three basic functions:
• To predict problems,
• To find ways to avoid them, and
• To enhance positive effects.
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 Introduction
 In an updated view, EIA is understood as an
integrated part of the planning process
devoted to the identification, quantification
and qualification of environmental impacts
due to the development of a plan or a project
as well as the definition of policies and
strategies required to monitor and control
such impacts.
As
As aa planning
planning tool,
tool, EIA
EIA serves
serves
largely
largely to
to inform
inform interested
interested parties
parties of
of the
the likely
likely
environmental
environmental impacts
impacts
of
of aa project
project and
and its
its proposed
proposed alternatives.
alternatives.
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 Introduction
EIA=
SCIENCE+ART

AS A SCIENCE
has to do with
AS AN ART
the methodologies and
has to do with those
techniques for
mechanisms for ensuring an
identifying, predicting and
environmental analysis of such
evaluating the environmental
actions and influencing
impacts associated
the decision making process.
with particular
development actions.
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 Introduction
 The terms ‘impact’ and ‘effect’ are
frequently used synonymously.

have both
have both spatial
spatial and
and temporal
temporal component
component
and can
and can be
be described
described asas the
the change
change in in the
the
environmental parameter,
environmental parameter, over
over aa specified
specified
period and
period and within
within aa defined
defined area,
area, resulting
resulting
aa particular
particular activity
activity compared
compared with
with the
the
situation which
situation which would
would have
have occurred,
occurred,
had the
had the activity
activity not
not been
been initiated.
initiated.
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 Environmental parameters

Project initiated
With project

ENVIRONMENTAL
impact

Without project

time
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 Introduction
 Evolution of EIA:
 Initial Belief:
 Initially EIA was seen by some project promoters as a
constraint to development but this view is gradually
disappearing.
 Present day understanding:
 environment and development are complementary and

interdependent and EIA is a technique for ensuring that

the two are mutually reinforcing.
 Origin:
 the contemporary usage of “environmental impact
assessment” has its origins in the US National Policy act
of 1969 (NEPA)
 Cause of Law Enforcement:
 the wide spread recognition that some environmental
problems in the US resulted from actions by the US
government itself.
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 Introduction
 The most widely known of the law enforcement provisions:
 “All agencies of the federal government shall include in
every recommendation and report on proposals for
legislations and other major federal actions significantly
affecting the quality of human environment, a detailed
statement by the responsible official.”
 This detailed statement comes to be called as
an ‘environmental impact statement (EIS)
 Power of an EIA recommendation:
 Redesigning some project components
 Suggest change affecting project viability

 Causing delay in project implementation

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 Introduction
EIA Procedure’s
Sub-reports

Initial Environmental Environmental Impact

Examination Assessment
(IEE) (EIA)

•Used for project screening to determine

Which project requires a full scale EIA Environmental Impact
•Assess the potential environmental effects Statement
of a proposed project EIS
•Is done with in a very limited budget
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 Introduction
 Purpose and objectives of EIA
 From World Bank Guidelines the main purposes of EIA are as
follows:
 Identify and forecast the possible positive and negative
impacts to the environment resulting from a proposed project.
 Provide for a plan, which up on implementation will reduce the
negative impacts of the project resulting in acceptable
environmental changes.
 Assure the level of plan implementation and the degree of
effectiveness of the above environmental protection
provisions.
 it provides a systematic examination of the
environmental implications of a proposed action, and
sometimes alternatives, before a decision is taken.
 Underlying such purposes is of course the central
role of EIA as one of the in­struments to be used to
achieve sustainable development: development
that does not cost the Earth!
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 Introduction
 Significance of EIA:
 EIA as a means to:

 To protect and improve the environmental

quality of life
 to discover and evaluate the effects of

activities of humans on the environment-

natural and social.
 EIA does not make decisions, but its findings

should be considered in policy and decision

making and should be reflected in final
choices.
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 introduction
 Projects, Environment and Impact

project Environment The consequence

Location Of environmental
and physical Effects of a
project which
Presence of
Are of significance
The project To human society

impacts

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 Introduction
Characteristics of major projects
Substantial capital investment
Cover large areas; employ large
numbers (construction and/or operation)
Complex array of organizational links
Wide-ranging impacts (geographical and
by type)
Significant environmental impacts
Require special procedures
 Extractive and primary (including
agriculture); services; infrastructure and
utilities
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 Definitions of
Commonly used Terms
 Environmental system:
 A system centered on a defined human community at a
certain time, composed of physical, biological and socio-
economic factors and their multiple links.
 Environmental Effects:
 Changes of environmental factors due to the
implementation of a project
 Environmental impact:
 The consequence of environmental effects of a project
which are of significance to human society.
 Impacts are always measured as a difference between
situations with and without the project.
 Parameters used to quantify impacts are related to
 Magnitude/intensity
 Area of influence
 significance

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 Definitions of
Commonly used Terms
 Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA):
 a process for identifying the likely consequences for
the biogeophysical environment and for human’s
health and welfare of implementing particular
activities and for conveying this information, at a
stage where it can materially affect their decision, to
those responsible for sanctioning the proposals
 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS):
 The report outcome of an EIA analysis
 Environmental Prevention:
 Maintaining a certain environmental system
unaffected by changes due to human action and
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activities. 21
 Definitions of
Commonly used Terms
 Environmental conservation:
 Planned changes of the environmental system by human
action, carried out in such a way as to achieve sustainability.
 Environmental Impact Mitigation:
 Measures to control adverse impacts.
 Mitigation involves one or more of the following:
 Minimizing adverse effects by scaling down or
redesigning projects. (e.g. adding fish ladder to allow fish
to reach spawning ground upstream of a proposed dam)
 Repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring those parts of the

environment that are adversely affected by a project.

(e.g replanting native vegetation in area cleared for
pipeline installation)
 Creating or acquiring environments similar to those

adversely affected by an action. (e.g. donation of

wetlands to a public land trust to compensate for wet
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