Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA)

EIA is a tool used to assess the positive and negative environmental,

economic, and social impacts of a project. This is used to predict the
environmental impacts of a project in the pre-planning stage itself so that
decisions can be taken to reduce the adverse impacts and design, shape
projects to suit the local environment and present the predictions and
options to decision-makers.
OR
It is a process of evaluating the likely environmental impacts of a
proposed project or development, taking into account inter-related socio-
economic, cultural, and human-health impacts, both beneficial and
adverse. EIA is a tool used to assess the positive and negative
environmental, economic, and social impacts of a project. This is used to
predict the environmental impacts of a project in the pre-planning stage
itself so that decisions can be taken to reduce the adverse impacts.

EIA in India
In 1990 India adopted EIA formally and many other developing nations
also formulated the EIA legislation.
There are 2 types of EIA model-
1) Administrative model- administration exercises it's discretion to find
it's necessity till 1992 India was following administrative model.

2) Statutory model- enacted law compulsory.

Aims and objectives of EIA

1) To promote devlopment that is sustainable and optimizes resources
use as management opportunities.
2) To protect the productivity and capacity of natural systems and the
ecological processes which maintain their function s
3) To avoid, minimize or offset the adverse significant biophysical,
social and relevant effects of devlopment proposals.

Process of EIA

The table below will mention the EIA Process in brief

1) Screening
2) Scoping
3) Impact Analysis and Mitigation
4) Reporting (Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
5) Review of Report
6) Decision Making
7) Monitoring, environmental auditing

Process Details in Brief

Screening Which projects need a full or partial assessmen

stage

Scoping • Which impacts are necessary to be assess

stage. While doing so, legal requirements
conventions, expert knowledge, and publi
considered.
• Alternative solutions that avoid or at least
impacts of the project are also studied in t
• Investigation of alternate designs or sites
impact takes place

Impact Analysis and Mitigation Environmental impacts of the proposed project

the impacts associated with each phase of the p
undertaken
Impact Management An environmental management plan (EMP) and
summary of the project’s impact is prepared for
this stage

Reporting and Decision Making The fate of the project is decided. Whether the
approval or not and if it is to be given, under w

Review and Licensing Monitoring whether the predicted impacts and

happen as per the EMP. The various phases of
project are monitored.

1) Screening
Screening is the process of deciding on whether an EIA is
requiried. This may be determined by size (eg greater than a
predetermined surface area of irrigated land that would be affected,
more than a certain percentage or flow to be diverted or more than
a certain capital expenditure). Alternatively it may be based on
site-specific information.

2) Scoping

Scoping is the process of identifying the key environmental issues

and is perhaps the most important step in an EIA. Several groups,
particularly decision makers, the local population and the scientific
community, have an interest in helping to deliberate the issues
which should be considered, and scoping is designed to canvass
their views.

Scoping is important for two reasons:-

A) First, so that problems can be pinpointed early allowing

mitigating design changes to be made before expensive detailed
work is carried out.
 B) Second, to ensure that detailed prediction work is only carried
out for important issues. It include terms of reference for the
further studies.

At this stage the option exists for cancelling or drastically revising the
project. Once this stage has passed, the opportunity for major changes
to the project is restricted.

A major activity of scoping is to identify key interest groups, both

governmental and non-governmental, and to establish good lines of
communication.

The main EIA techniques used in scoping are baseline studies,

checklists, matrices and network diagrams. These techniques collect
and present knowledge and information in a straightforward way so
that logical decisions can be made about which impacts are most
significant.

3) Impact analysis and mitigation

The purpose of conducting an EIA is to clearly identify and

understand (assess), and then prevent or minimize (mitigate) the
adverse impacts of the planned project on the environment and
people.

Once the scoping exercise is complete and the major impacts to be

studied have been identified, prediction work can start. This stage forms
the central part of an EIA.

Impact assessment refers to the detailed evaluation of the

environmental and social impacts of the planned project and identified
alternatives, compared to the baseline conditions. This includes
qualitative descriptions such as measuring high, medium and low
impacts, and quantitative descriptions, such as indicating amount of
water withdrawn, sewage produced, and pollutants released. This is done
for the planned project as well as the identified alternatives, allowing for
comparisons. Once the detailed assessment is complete, mitigation
measures to reduce or avoid impacts are identified.

Mitigation refers to minimizing or avoiding the described impacts.

Overall, mitigation measures are a response to the findings of impact
assessment; they need to cover all the areas identified. The key focus of
mitigation actions should be on:

• Preventive measures that avoid the occurrence of impacts and thus

avoid harm or even produce positive outcomes.
• Measures that focus on limiting the severity and the duration of the
impacts.
• Compensation mechanisms for those impacts that are unavoidable
and cannot be reduced further.

4) Impact Management

Impact management is the creation of a series of plans and protocols

aiming to manage and monitor the identified mitigation measures and
risks that may occur over the project lifetime, such as technology
failures and natural disasters. Some of the plans are compulsory, such as
an environmental management plan (EMP) which is required as part of
an EIA report. For example, if the project takes place in close proximity
to a community, a resettlement plan may be needed; if there are no
communities close by, a resettlement plan would not be necessary.

The key steps in developing an EMP:

• Summary of the potential impacts of the proposal.

• Description of the recommended mitigation measures.
• Allocation of resources and responsibilities for plan
implementation.
• Schedule of the actions to be taken.
• Program for monitoring and auditing.
• Contingency plan to address additional risks and emergencies.
 5) Reporting and Decision Making

Reporting is an important part of the EIA process in order to convey

the outcomes of the assessment and proposed mitigation actions, and
thereby provide information for decision making. An EIA report
should be complete, easily understood, objective, factual and
internally consistent.

The EIA Report is a compilation of several important project

components, including the project description, the assessment of its
environmental and social impacts, mitigation measures, and related
management and monitoring plans. During this step, all the information
gathered during the previous steps is compiled into a comprehensive
report that analyzes and synthesizes the data.

EIA Report has the following characteristics:-

• It is well-structured and uses non-technical language supported by

data and well-executed analyses.
• It provides information that is helpful and relevant to decision
making.
• It results in the satisfactory prediction of the adverse effects of the
proposed actions and their mitigation using conventional and
customized techniques.

6) Review and Licensing

Review and Licensing is the final check on the quality of the EIA
report submitted to obtain a project license. Once the EIA report is
submitted, designated authorities will usually go through it
thoroughly, weighing the methods used, data, interpretations,
measures and conclusions to assess the impacts of the planned
development. Their review will determine whether or not the
 project adequately addresses major environmental and social
impacts and other risks, and whether or not to grant a license to the
project proponents, or to request project changes.

The key objectives of EIA review are to:

• Assess the adequacy and quality of an EIA report.

• Determine if the information is sufficient for a final decision to be
made.
• Identify any deficiencies that must be addressed before the report
can be submitted.
Importance of EIA

1. EIA is a good tool for prudent environment management.

2. It is government-policy that any industrial project in India has to secure EIA
clearance from the Environment Ministry before approval for the project
itself.

Impact analysis can be broken down into 3 overlapping phases

1) Identification- to specify the impacts associated with each phase of the project
and activities undertaken.
2) Prediction- to forecast thr nature, magnitude, extend and duration of the main
impacts.
3) Evaluation- to determine the significance of residual impacts that is after taking
into account how mitigation will reduce a predicted impact.

Impact assessment methodologies- The following are the important

methodologies of utility for assessing the impacts of developmental activities on
the environment.
1) Ad HOC methods
2) Checklist method
3) Matrices methods
4) Network method
5) Overlay methods
1) Ad HOC method
Most common approach to impact assessment. Basically Ad hoc methods indicate
broad areas of likely impact by listing composite environmental parameters ( for
example flora and fauna) likely to be affected by devlopment activities.
This method is very easy to use, but does have a few drawbacks.
Drawbacks-
1) No information about the cause- effect relationship between project actions is
provided.
2) The actual impacts on specific environmental components likely to be affected
by the project or those that may require further investigation are not identified.
2) Checklist- are standard list of type of impacts associated with a particular type
of project.
4 general types of Checklist
1) Simple Checklist- a list of environmental parameters with no guidelines on how
they are to be measured and interpreted.
2) Descriptive Checklist- includes an identification of environmental parameters
and guidelines on how to measure data on particular parameters.
3) Scaling list- similar to a descriptive checklist, but with additional information on
subjective scaling of the parameters.
4) Scaling Weighting Checklist- similar to a scaling checklist, with additional
information of each parameter wrt all the other parameters.
There are Several major reasons for using checklists
1) They are useful in summarizing information to make it accessible to specialists
from other fields, or to decision makers who may have a limited amount of
technical knowledge.
2) Scaling Checklists provide a preliminary level of analysis.