INTRODUCTION

• Environment- Sum of living and non-living things surrounding the living organism
• Impact- Strong effect
• Assessment-Evaluation or Estimation
• EIA

Estimating the effect of a new project and factors on environment

GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF EIA

• Participation
• Transparency
• Certainty
• Accountability
• Credibility
• Cost-effectiveness
• Flexibility
• Practicality

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�FACTORS TO IMPROVE EIA�

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• Good Education
• Training
• Institution Arrangements
• Legal and Regulatory Frameworks

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PURPOSE OF EIA

• Identify possible environmental impacts
• Examine the importance of environmental implications
• Assess whether impacts can be mitigated
• Recommend preventive and corrective mitigating measures
• Inform decision makers and concerned parties about the environmental implications
• Advise whether development should go ahead

EIA ACTIVITIES FOR EACH STAGE IN THE PROJECT CYCLE

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• Project concept/identification
• Pre- possibility stage
• Possibility stage
• Project evaluation and decision
• Implementation of the project
• Management of EIA study

EIA BENEFITS AND FLAWS

BENEFITS

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• Provides systematic methods of impact assessment
• Estimates the cost and alternative actions
• Facilitates the public participation
• Top-level decision making

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FLAWS

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• Time-consuming
• Costly
• Little public participation in actual implementation
• Unavailability of data
• Poor presentation of EIA report

STEPS IN EIA PROCESS

EIA

PROJECT SCREENING

SCOPING

DATA COLLECTION

IDENTIFICATION

COMPARISON OF ALTERNATIVES

MITIGATION MEASURES

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING

ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING

PROJECT SCREENING

SCOPING

AIM OF SCOPING

• Identify concerns and issues for consideration in an EIA
• Ensure a relevant EIA
• To find the alternatives
• Study the impacts at different levels of analysis
• Determine the assessment methods to be used
• Identify all affected areas
• Provide an opportunity for public involvement
• Save time and money

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METHODS OF SCOPING

BASELINE DATA COLLECTION

Purposes

• To provide a report of the status and trends of environmental factors (e.g., air pollutant concentrations) against which predicted changes can be compared and evaluated in terms of importance

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• To provide a means of detecting actual change by monitoring once a project has been initiated

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IDENTIFICATION

• Identify the areas to be affected
• Starts at the early stage of scoping
• New impacts may be identified as requiring investigation

Type of Impacts and their Consideration

• Biological and Physio-chemical Impacts
• Social Impact
• Cultural Impacts
• Health Impact
• Economic Impact

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IMPACT PREDICTION

• Based on the available environmental baseline of the project data, Such predictions are described in quantitative or qualitative terms.

Considerations for Impact Prediction

• Magnitude of Impact
• Extent of Impact
• Duration of Impact

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COMPARISON OF ALTERNATIVES...�

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• Qualitative approach
• Quantitative approach
• Ranking, rating or scaling approach
• Weighting approach
• Weighting-ranking/rating/scaling approach

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• Key elements for assessing impact significance

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(a) Ecological

(b) Social and Economical

(c) Environmental Standards

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MITIGATION MEASURES

Concept and objective

• Mitigation measures are recommended actions to reduce, avoid or offset the potential adverse environmental cost of development activities

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• The objective of mitigation measures is to maximise project benefits and minimise undesirable impacts.

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MEASURES MOST RELEVANT TO DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS�

• Preventative Measures
• prevent or reduce potential adverse impacts before occurrence
• Eg: Health education programme and public awareness programme

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• Compensatory Measures
• Actions that compensate unavoidable adverse impacts
• Eg: restoration of damaged resources

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• Corrective Measures
• Applied to reduce the adverse impact to the acceptable level
• Eg:Installation of pollution control devices

PUBLIC CONSULTATION AND PARTICIPATION

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• Need for stakeholder involvement

The involvement of the "public", or often referred to as "stakeholders", is a very important component in successful EIA

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�Who are the stakeholder's?�

STAKEHOLDERS

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LOCAL PEOPLE

• Individuals
• Communities/villages
• Traditional authorities e.g. village leaders

PROJECT BENEFICIARIES

•  Not necessarily have to be local

NGOs

• Those which are active in local area or have interest on natural resources/social welfare
• Interested parties in the country

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STAKEHOLDERS(Contd…)

VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS

• Local community
• Development or users groups
• Neighborhood associations
• Labor unions
• National organizations
• Cooperatives, etc.,

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PRIVATE SECTOR

• Business interest groups
• Trade associations
• Professional societies, etc.,�

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STAKEHOLDERS(Contd…)

NATIONAL/LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Responsibilities for management of natural resources along with people welfare

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SCIENTIST/EXPERTS

Those who focus on technical aspects of the project, such as

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land use planning

natural resource management

social infrastructure, etc.,�

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Benefits of stakeholder involvement

• Improved understanding
• Identification of alternative and mitigation measures
• Clarification of doubts/ opinions for each alternative
• Identification of solutions to resolve issues
• Induces of transparent procedures
• Creation of responsibility and sense of local ownership�

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Disbenefits of stakeholder involvement

• Difficult to identify all affected parties
• Communication difficulty
• Uneducation
• Lack of local knowledge on the projects
• Unequal access to consultations (for example, women)
• Time/cost implications

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Methods for stakeholder involvement

Public meetings

-Open with no restriction as to who may attend

Advisory panels

-Group of individuals chosen to represent stakeholders

-Meet periodically to assess work done

Public information centres

-Facility in an nearby location� contains information on the project�-Members of the public can visit, obtain information and express concerns

Interviews

-Open-ended interviews with selected community representatives

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Methods for stakeholder involvement

Questionnaires

A written, structured series of questions issued to local people assemble concerns/views/ideas

Participatory Appraisal techniques

A systematic approach to appraisal based on group inquiry and analysis with multiple and varied inputs

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COST INVOLVEMNT�

Cost consideration includes the following:

• Hiring of social scientists with local knowledge and experience to be involved in the process
• Preparation of information sheets and report summaries in local languages,
• Media publicity (newspapers, radios)
• Travel costs to enable representatives of stakeholders to attend meetings
• Accommodation and travel costs for EIA team to 'service' the involvement process.

ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING

• An activity undertaken to provide specific information on the characteristics and functions of environmental and social variables in space and time

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• Environmental monitoring is essential for
• Ensuring that impacts do not exceed the legal standards,
• Checking the implementation of mitigation measures in the manner described in the EIA report, and
• Providing early warning of potential environmental damages.�

�PRINCIPLES OF MONITORING�

• Determine the indicators to be used in monitoring activities,
• Collection of meaningful and relevant information,
• Application of measurable criteria in relation to chosen indicators,
• Reviewing objective judgments on the information collected,
• Draw tangible conclusions based on the processing of information,
• Making rational decision based on the conclusion drawn, and
• Recommendation of improved mitigation measures to be undertaken.

TYPES OF MONITORING

• Baseline Monitoring

A survey on basic environmental parameters in the area surrounding the proposed project

• Impact Monitoring

A survey on biophysical and socio-economical parameters within the project area

• Compliance Monitoring

A periodic sampling method or continuous recording of specific environmental quality indicators

ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING

Refers to the examination and assessment of a certain type of performance.

Types of Audit

• Decision Point Audit examines the effectiveness of EIA as a decision-making tool
• Implementation Audit ensures that approved conditions have been met
• Performance Audit examines the responses of agencies concerned with project management
• Project Impact Audit examines environmental changes arising from project implementation
• Predictive Technique Audit examines the accuracy and utility of predictive techniques by comparing actual against predicted environmental effects
• EIA Procedures Audit critically examines the methods and approach adopted during the EIA study

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Environmental Auditing Plan

• The condition of natural/social/economical resources prior to project implementation after the project construction is completed
• Whether or not, all the mitigation measures implemented are effective to control adverse impact, or enhance beneficial impacts
• Whether or not all degraded landscape due to project implementation have been restored into original condition,
• What are the impacts of boom-bust situation among the workforce involved in project implementation and the local economy
• The effect on the local economy of project implementation