LEROTHOLI POLYTECHNIC

SCHOOL OF THE BUILT

ENVIRONMENT
CIVIL ENGINEERING
ENEN 226

NOTES ON ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EIA)
JAN-JUN 2024
 TERMINOLOGY
 Environmental Impact Assessment: A tool used to identify the
environmental, social, and economic impacts of a project prior to decision
making. It aims to predict environmental impacts at an early stage in
project planning and design, find ways and means to reduce adverse
impacts, shape projects to suit the local environment, and present the
predictions and options to decision makers.
 Environment: The complex of physical, chemical, and biotic factors (such
as climate, soil, and living things) that act upon individual organisms and
communities, including humans, and ultimately determine their form and
survival. It is also the aggregate of social and cultural conditions that
influence the life of an individual or community. The environment
includes natural resources and ecosystem services that comprise essential
life-supporting functions for humans, including clean water, food,
materials for shelter, and livelihood generation.
 Impact: Any effect caused by a proposed activity on the environment,
including effects on human health and safety, flora, fauna, soil, air,
water, climate, landscape and historical monuments, or other physical
structures, or the interaction among those factors. It also includes effects
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on cultural heritage or socioeconomic conditions resulting from

alterations to those factors.
 Reconstruction: The actions taken to reestablish a community after a
period of recovery subsequent to a disaster. Actions would include
construction of permanent housing, full restoration of all services, and
complete resumption of the pre-disaster state.
 Recovery: The restoration, and improvement where appropriate, of
facilities, livelihoods, and living conditions of disaster-affected
communities, including efforts to reduce disaster risk factors.
 Response (also called Disaster Relief): The provision of emergency
services and public assistance during or immediately after a disaster in
order to save lives, reduce health impacts, ensure public safety, and
meet the basic subsistence needs of the people affected.

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 WHAT IS EIA?
 EIA full form is Environmental Impact Assessment. In simple terms, the
meaning of EIA is that it is a process through which an environmental
impact of a proposed development is evaluated. While undertaking
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the inter-related socio-
economic, cultural, and human-health impacts are considered.
 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.
 Evolution & History of EIA
 EIA is termed as one of the best policy innovations in the 1900s. The
main aim of EIA is to conserve the environment and bring out the
best combination of economic and environmental costs and benefits. Read
the below-mentioned points to understand the Environmental Impact 4
Assessment evolution and history:
1. The birth of EIA is dated back to the 1970s. In 1969, The USA had
brought its first National Environment Policy Act (NEPA) 1969.
2. The EIA was initially practised by developed nations but slowly it was
also introduced in developing nations including India.
3. Columbia and the Philippines are the earliest examples of developing
nations who introduced EIA in their policies. Columbia brought it in 1974
while the Philippines in 1978.
4. Worldwide, EIA is now practised in more than 100 countries. By the mid-
1990s, some 110 countries applied EIA as a major environmental policy.
5. In 1989, EIA was adopted as the major development project by the World
Bank.

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 BACKGROUND FACTS
 EIA was first introduced in the USA under the
Environmental Policy Act (1969).
 Since then it has evolved and a variety of offshoot
assessment techniques have emerged (focusing, for
example on social, biodiversity, environmental health and
cumulative effects and risk) acting as a broader impact
assessment toolkit.
 Most countries have now introduced formal EIA systems,
usually under dedicated environmental legislation, and
have introduced EIA regulations (and often regulatory
bodies) specifying when and for which developments an
EIA is required, institutional responsibilities and
procedures, and specific steps and processes to be followed.
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 PURPOSE
 EIA is intended to identify the impacts (both beneficial and adverse) of a
proposed public and private development activities.
 Often, the focus is dominantly environmental (biophysical); but good
practice also addresses social and economic aspects.
 EIA is mainly used at the level of specific developments and projects
such as dams, industrial plants, transport infrastructure (eg airport
runways and roads), farm enterprises, natural resource exploitation (eg
sand extraction).
 Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is a sister tool applied
upstream at the level of policies, plans and programmes. Like SEA, EIA
is most valuable when applied early in the planning process for a project
as a support to decision-making.
 It provides a means to identify the most environmentally suitable option
at an early stage, the best practicable environmental option, and
alternatives to the proposed initiative; and thus avoid or minimise
potentially damaging and costly negative impacts, and maximise
positive impacts. 8
Objectives of Environmental Impact Assessment
1. Identifying, predicting, and evaluating economic, environmental,
and social impacts of development activities.
2. Providing information on the environmental consequences for
decision making.
3. Promoting environmentally sound and suitable development by
identifying appropriate alternatives and mitigation measures.

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 PROJECT CLASSIFICATION CRITERIA
The 2017 regulations for Scotland (mygov.scot last updated in 2022) divided
projects into 2 different types: Schedule I projects and Schedule II projects.
 Schedule I projects

Schedule I projects always require an EIA. These include large scale

projects with obvious environmental effects, such as:
 crude oil refineries
 nuclear generating stations and other nuclear reactors
 larger scale quarries and open-cast mines

 Schedule II projects
Schedule II projects will only require EIA if it's decided that the project is
likely to have 'significant' environmental effects. There will usually be a
threshold to determine if a case by case screening decision is required.
 Examples of Schedule II projects include:

 industrial estate development projects (threshold - the area of the

development exceeds 0.5 hectare) 10

 an electric line installed above ground (threshold - with a voltage of 132

kilovolts or more)
 TYPES OF EIA PROCEDURES
There are three options to consider in establishing EIA procedures.
1. Legislative option : formal legal approach in which environmental
assessment procedures become law and are enforced by the courts.
This is a more formal legal approach in which EIA procedures become law
and are enforced by courts. The advantages are
• Mandatory procedures
• Regulations developed to direct and control activities
• Enforceable requirements
The disadvantages are
• The cost of the bureaucratic machinery required for administration
• The time lost when the law is challenged in the courts.
• The loss of flexibility in dealing with unique types of projects and/or
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environments.
Middle ground option : adoption of environmental assessment
principles within accepted planning procedures. This option takes
elements of both the legislative and policy options as outlined in this
notes.
3. Policy option : systems are developed and incorporated within the
administrative machinery of government. Under this option the
rules and regulations are not enforceable in a legal sense.
The advantages are
• Greater direct control over the process
• More opportunity to alter procedures in the light of experience
• Less administrative costs 12

• Avoidance of long delays on projects due to legal arguments.

 IMPORTANCE OF EIA
o The EIA process makes sure that environmental issues are raised when
a project or plan is first discussed and that all concerns are addressed as
a project gains momentum through to implementation.
 Recommendations made by the EIA may necessitate the redesign of
some project components, require further studies, suggest changes
which alter the economic viability of the project or cause a delay in
project implementation.
 To be of most benefit it is essential that an environmental assessment is
carried out to determine significant impacts early in the project cycle so
that recommendations can be built into the design and cost-benefit
analysis without causing major delays or increased design costs.
 To be effective once implementation has commenced, the EIA should
lead to a mechanism whereby adequate monitoring is undertaken to
realize environmental management. An important output from the EIA
process should be the delineation of enabling mechanisms for such
effective management.
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PROS AND CONS
Pros (main advantages) and Cons (main constraints in
use and results)
 EIA often focuses on biophysical issues (often a fault of
poor terms of reference); Where environment, social
and economic aspects are addressed, they are not
always addressed in an integrated way (EIA reports
tend to present as separate chapters)
 EIA provides an opportunity to learn from experience
of similar projects and avoids the (often high) costs of
subsequently mitigating unforeseen negative and
damaging impacts.
 EIA Improves long-term viability of many projects
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 STAGES OF AN EIA PROCESS
 The way in which an EIA is carried out is not rigid: it is a process
comprising a series of steps. These steps are outlined below and
the techniques more commonly used in EIA are described in some
detail in the section Techniques. The main steps in the EIA process
are:
• screening
• scoping
• prediction and mitigation
• management and monitoring
• audit
 Figure 1 shows a general flow diagram of the EIA process, how it
fits in with parallel technical and economic studies and the role of
public participation. In some cases, such as small-scale irrigation
schemes, the transition from identification through to detailed
design may be rapid and some steps in the EIA procedure may15be
omitted.
16
Importance of Environmental Impact Assessment
1.EIA is a good tool for prudent environment management.
17
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.
FIGURE 1 : PROCESS UNDERTAKING

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 Screening often results in a categorization of the project and from
this a decision is made on whether or not a full EIA is to be carried
out.
 During this phase, the regulatory authorities, often in consultation
with the project proponent, determine whether a project requires a
full EIA. This screening filters out projects with minimal
environmental impact. It also ensures EIA resources serve projects
needing in-depth evaluation.
 Scoping is the process of determining which are the most critical
issues to study and will involve community participation to some
degree. It is at this early stage that EIA can most strongly influence
the outline proposal.
 Detailed prediction and mitigation studies follow scoping and
are carried out in parallel with feasibility studies. The main output
report is called an Environmental Impact Statement, and contains
a detailed plan for managing and monitoring environmental impacts
both during and after implementation.
 Finally, an audit of the EIA process is carried out some time after
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implementation. The audit serves a useful feedback and learning
function.
 RESOURCES
 An EIA team for an irrigation and drainage study is likely to be composed
of some or all of the following:
a team leader a hydrologist an irrigation/drainage engineer;
a fisheries biologist/ecologist an agronomist/pesticide expert
a soil conservation expert a biological/environmental scientist
an economist a social scientist a health scientist (preferably a
epidemiologist).
The final structure of the team will vary depending on the project.
Specialists may also be required for fieldwork, laboratory testing, library
research, data processing, surveys and modelling.
The team leader will require significant management skill to co-ordinate
the work of a team with diverse skills and knowledge.
 There will be a large number of people involved in EIA apart from the
full-time team members. These people will be based in a wide range of
organizations, such as the project proposing and authorizing bodies,
regulatory authorities and various interest groups. Such personnel would
be located in various agencies and also in the private sector; a 22
considerable number will need specific EIA training.
 The length of the EIA will obviously depend on the programme, plan
or project under review. However, the process usually lasts from
between 6 and 18 months from preparation through to review.
 It will normally be approximately the same length as the feasibility
study of which it should form an integral part. It is essential that the
EIA team and the team carrying out the feasibility study work
together and not in isolation from each other. This often provides the
only opportunity for design changes to be made and mitigation
measures to be incorporated in the project design.

 The cost of the study will vary considerably and only very general
estimates can be given here. Typically, costs vary from between 0.1
and 0.3 percent of the total project cost for large projects over US$ 100
million and from 0.2 to 0.5 percent for projects less than US$ 100
million. For small projects the cost could increase to between 1 and 3
percent of the project cost.

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 SCREENING
 Screening is the process of deciding on whether an EIA is required.
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. For
example, the repair of a recently destroyed diversion structure is
unlikely to require an EIA whilst a major new headwork structure
may.
 Guidelines for whether or not an EIA is required will be country
specific depending on the laws or norms in operation. Legislation often
specifies the criteria for screening and full EIA. All major donors
screen projects presented for financing to decide whether an EIA is
required.
 The output from the screening process is often a document called an
Initial Environmental Examination or Evaluation (IEE). The
main conclusion will be a classification of the project according to its
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likely environmental sensitivity. This will determine whether an EIA
is needed and if so to what detail.
 SCOPING
 Scoping occurs early in the project cycle at the same time as outline
planning and pre-feasibility studies. 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, (Wathern 1988).
 Scoping is important for two reasons.
 First, so that problems can be pinpointed early allowing mitigating
design changes to be made before expensive detailed work is carried out.
 Second, to ensure that detailed prediction work is only carried out for
important issues. It is not the purpose of an EIA to carry out exhaustive
studies on all environmental impacts for all projects. If key issues are
identified and a full scale EIA considered necessary then the scoping
should include terms of reference for these further studies.
 At this stage the option exists for cancelling or drastically revising the
project should major environmental problems be identified. Equally it
may be the end of the EIA process should the impacts be found to be25
insignificant. Once this stage has passed, the opportunity for major
changes to the project is restricted.
 Before the scoping exercise can be fully started, the remit of the study
needs to be defined and agreed by the relevant parties. These will vary
depending on the institutional structure. At a minimum, those who
should contribute to determining the remit will include those who decide
whether a policy or project is implemented, those carrying out the EIA (or
responsible for having it carried out by others) and those carrying out
parallel engineering and economic studies relating to the proposal. A
critical issue to determine is the breadth of the study. For example, if a
proposed project is to increase the area of irrigated agriculture in a region
by 10%, is the remit of the EIA to study the proposal only or also to
consider options that would have the same effect on production?
 A major activity of scoping is to identify key interest groups, both
governmental and non-governmental, and to establish good lines of
communication. People who are affected by the project need to hear about
it as soon as possible. Their knowledge and perspectives may have a
major bearing on the focus of the EIA. Rapid rural appraisal techniques
provide a means of assessing the needs and views of the affected
population.
 The main EIA techniques used in scoping are baseline studies, checklists,
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matrices and network diagrams. These techniques collect and present
knowledge and information in a straightforward way so that logical
 PREDICTION AND MITIGATION
decisions can be made about which impacts are most significant.
 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. Several major options are likely to have been
proposed either at the scoping stage or before and each option may
require separate prediction studies. Realistic and affordable mitigating
measures cannot be proposed without first estimating the scope of the
impacts, which should be in monetary terms wherever possible. It then
becomes important to quantify the impact of the suggested improvements
by further prediction work. Clearly, options need to be discarded as soon
as their unsuitability can be proved or alternatives shown to be superior
in environmental or economic terms, or both. It is also important to test
the "without project" scenario.
 An important outcome of this stage will be recommendations for
mitigating measures. This would be contained in the Environmental
Impact Statement. Clearly the aim will be to introduce measures which
minimize any identified adverse impacts and enhance positive impacts.
Formal and informal communication links need to be established with
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teams carrying out feasibility studies so that their work can take
proposals into account. Similarly, feasibility studies may indicate that
some options are technically or economically unacceptable and thus
 environmental prediction work for these options will not be
required.uncertainty are discussed further in the section Managing
uncertainty.
 Many mitigating measures do not define physical changes but require
management or institutional changes or additional investment, such as
for health services. Mitigating measures may also be procedural changes,
for example, the introduction of, or increase in, irrigation service fees to
promote efficiency and water conservation. Table 6 in Chapter 4 describes
the most common adverse impacts associated with irrigation and
drainage schemes and some appropriate mitigating measures.
 By the time prediction and mitigation are undertaken, the project
preparation will be advanced and a decision will most likely have been
made to proceed with the project. Considerable expenditure may have
already been made and budgets allocated for the implementation of the
project. Major changes could be disruptive to project processing and only
accepted if prediction shows that impacts will be considerably worse than
originally identified at the scoping stage. For example, an acceptable
measure might be to alter the mode of operation of a reservoir to protect
downstream fisheries, but a measure proposing an alternative to dam 28
construction could be highly contentious at this stage. To avoid conflict it
is important that the EIA process commences early in the project cycle.
 This phase of an EIA will require good management of a wide range of
technical specialists with particular emphasis on:

• prediction methods;
• interpretation of predictions, with and without mitigating measures;
• assessment of comparisons.

 It is important to assess the required level of accuracy of predictions.

Mathematical modelling is a valuable technique, but care must be taken
to choose models that suit the available data. Because of the level of
available knowledge and the complexity of the systems, physical systems
are modelled more successfully than ecological systems which in turn are
more successfully modelled than social systems. Social studies (including
institutional capacity studies) will probably produce output in non-
numerical terms. Expert advice, particularly from experts familiar with
the locality, can provide quantification of impacts that cannot be
modelled. Various techniques are available to remove the bias of
individual opinion. 29
 Checklists, matrices, networks diagrams, graphical comparisons and
overlays, are all techniques developed to help carry out an EIA and
present the results of an EIA in a format useful for comparing options.
 The main quantifiable methods of comparing options are by applying
weightings, to environmental impacts or using economic cost-benefit
analysis or a combination of the two.
 Numerical values, or weightings, can be applied to different
environmental impacts to (subjectively) define their relative importance.
Assigning economic values to all environmental impacts is not
recommended as the issues are obscured by the single, final answer.
However, economic techniques, can provide insight into comparative
importance where different environmental impacts are to be compared,
such as either losing more wetlands or resettling a greater number of
people.
 When comparing a range of proposals or a variety of mitigation or
enhancement activities, a number of characteristics of different impacts
need to be highlighted. The relative importance of impacts needs
agreeing, usually following a method of reaching a consensus but
including economic considerations. The uncertainty in predicting the30
impact should be clearly noted.
SIMPLE MATRIX

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LEOPOLD 1971 MATRIX

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LEOPOLD 1971 MATRIX

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CHECKLIST

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 MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING
 Finally, the time frame in which the impact will occur should be
indicated, including whether or not the impact is irreversible.
 The part of the EIS covering monitoring and management is often
referred to as the Environmental Action Plan or Environmental
Management Plan. This section not only sets out the mitigation measures
needed for environmental management, both in the short and long term,
but also the institutional requirements for implementation. The term
'institutional' is used here in its broadest context to encompass
relationships:
• established by law between individuals and government;
• between individuals and groups involved in economic transactions;
• developed to articulate legal, financial and administrative links among
public agencies;
• motivated by socio-psychological stimuli among groups and individuals
(Craine, 1971).
 The above list highlights the breadth of options available for
environmental management, namely: changes in law; changes in prices; 39
changes in governmental institutions; and, changes in culture which may
be influenced by education and information dissemination.
 All the management proposals need to be clearly defined and costed. One
of the more straightforward and effective changes is to set-up a
monitoring programme with clear definition as to which agencies are
responsible for data collection, collation, interpretation and
implementation of management measures.
 The purpose of monitoring is to compare predicted and actual impacts,
particularly if the impacts are either very important or the scale of the
impact cannot be very accurately predicted. The results of monitoring can
be used to manage the environment, particularly to highlight problems
early so that action can be taken. The range of parameters requiring
monitoring may be broad or narrow and will be dictated by the 'prediction
and mitigation' stage of the EIA. Typical areas of concern where
monitoring is weak are: water quality, both inflow and outflow; stress in
sensitive ecosystems; soil fertility, particularly salinization problems;
water related health hazards; equity of water distributions; groundwater
levels.
 The use of satellite imagery to monitor changes in land use and the
'health' of the land and sea is becoming more common and can prove a
cost-effective tool, particularly in areas with poor access. Remotely sensed
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data have the advantage of not being constrained by political and
administrative boundaries.
 They can be used as one particular overlay in a GIS. However,
authorization is needed for their use, which may be linked to national
security issues, and may thus be hampered by reluctant governments.
 Monitoring should not be seen as an open-ended commitment to collect
data. If the need for monitoring ceases, data collection should cease.
Conversely, monitoring may reveal the need for more intensive study and
the institutional infrastructure must be sufficiently flexible to adapt to
changing demands. The information obtained from monitoring and
management can be extremely useful for future EIAs, making them both
more accurate and more efficient.

 The Environmental Management Plan needs to not only include clear

recommendations for action and the procedures for their implementation
but must also define a programme and costs. It must be quite clear
exactly how management and mitigation methods are phased with project
implementation and when costs will be incurred. Mitigation and
management measures will not be adopted unless they can be shown to
be practicable and good value for money. The plan should also stipulate
that if, during project implementation, major changes are introduced, 41 or if
the project is aborted, the EIA procedures will be re-started to evaluate
the effect of such actions.
 AUDITING
 In order to capitalize on the experience and knowledge gained, the last
stage of an EIA is to carry out an Environmental Audit some time after
completion of the project or implementation of a programme. It will
therefore usually be done by a separate team of specialists to that
working on the bulk of the EIA.
 The audit should include an analysis of the technical, procedural and
decision-making aspects of the EIA.
 Technical aspects include: the adequacy of the baseline studies, the
accuracy of predictions and the suitability of mitigation measures.
 Procedural aspects include: the efficiency of the procedure, the fairness
of the public involvement measures and the degree of coordination of
roles and responsibilities.
 Decision-making aspects include: the utility of the process for decision
making and the implications for development, (adapted from Sadler in
Wathern, 1988).
 The audit will determine whether recommendations and requirements
made by the earlier EIA steps were incorporated successfully into project
42
implementation. Lessons learnt and formally described in an audit can
greatly assist in future EIAs and build up the expertise and efficiency of
the concerned institutions.
 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
 Projects or programmes have significant impacts on the local population.
Whilst the aim is to improve the well being of the population, a lack of
understanding of the people and their society may result in development
that has considerable negative consequences. More significantly, there
may be divergence between national economic interests and those of the
local population. For example, the need to increase local rice production
to satisfy increasing consumption in the urban area may differ from the
needs as perceived by the local farmers. To allow for this, public
participation in the planning process is essential. The EIA provides an
ideal forum for checking that the affected public have been adequately
consulted and their views taken into account in project preparation.
 The level of consultation will vary depending on the type of plan or
project. New projects involving resettlement or displacement will require
the most extensive public participation. As stated before, the purpose of
an EIA is to improve projects and this, to some extent, can only be
achieved by involving those people directly or indirectly affected. The
value of environmental amenities is not absolute and consensus is one
way of establishing values. Public consultation will reveal new 43
information, improve understanding and enable better choices to be
made. Without consultation, legitimate issues may not be heard, leading
to conflict and unsustainability.
 The community should not only be consulted they should be actively
involved in environmental matters. The International Union for the
Conservation of Nature, IUCN promotes the concept of Primary
Environmental Care whereby farmers, for example, with assistance from
extension services, are directly involved in environmental management.
The earlier the public are involved, the better. Ideally this will be before a
development proposal is fully defined. It is an essential feature of
successful scoping, at which stage feedback will have the maximum
influence. Openness about uncertainty should be a significant feature of
this process.
 As the EIA progresses, public consultation is likely to be decreased
though it is important to disseminate information. The publication of the
draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), will normally be
accompanied by some sort of public hearing that needs to be chaired by a
person with good communication skills. He/she may not be a member of
the EIA team.
 There are no clear rules about how to involve the public and it is
important that the process remains innovative and flexible. In practice,
the views of people affected by the plan are likely to be heard through 44
some form of representation rather than directly.
 It is therefore important to understand how decisions are made locally
and what are the methods of communication, including available
government extension services. The range of groups outside the formal
structure with relevant information are likely to include: technical and
scientific societies; Water User Groups; NGOs; experts on local culture;
and religious groups. However, it is important to find out which groups
are under-represented and which ones are responsible for access to
natural resources, namely: grazing, water, fishing and forest products.
The views of racial minorities, women, religious minorities, political
minorities and lower cast groups are commonly overlooked, (World Bank,
1991).
 There has been an enormous increase in the number of environmental
NGOs and "Green" pressure groups throughout the world. Such
organizations often bring environmental issues to the attention of the
local press. However, this should not deter consultation with such
organizations as the approach to EIA should be open and positive with
the aim of making improvements. Relevant NGOs should be identified
and their experience and technical capacity put to good use.
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 In some countries, open public meetings are the most common technique
to enable public participation. However, the sort of open debate
engendered at such meetings is often both culturally alien and
unacceptable. Alternative techniques must be used. Surveys, workshops,
small group meetings and interviews with key groups and individuals are
all techniques that may be useful. Tools such as maps, models and
posters can help to illustrate points and improve communication. Where
resettlement is proposed, extensive public participation must be allowed
which will, at a minimum, involve an experienced anthropologist or
sociologist who speaks the local language. He/she can expect to spend
months, rather than weeks, in the field.
 Information dissemination can be achieved using a number of
mechanisms including the broadcasting media, in particular newspapers
and radio. Posters and leaflets are also useful and need to be distributed
widely to such locations as schools, clinics, post offices, community
centres, religious buildings, bus stops, shops etc. The EIA process must be
seen to be fair.

46
 The public participation/consultation and information
dissemination activities need to be planned and budgeted.
The social scientist team member should define how and
when activities take place and also the strategy: extensive
field work is expensive.
 It is important to note that public participation activities
are often reported as a separate section of the final EIA.
Where experience of managing community involvement is
limited, training is highly recommended.
 Further reading on public participation can be obtained
from: Ahmed L and G K Sammy (1988) and on Rapid Rural
Appraisal from Chambers R (1981). Rapid Rural Appraisal
techniques may be an appropriate and cost effective method
of assessment.
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48
Importance of Environmental Impact Assessment
1.EIA is a good tool for prudent environment management.
49
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.
 MANAGING UNCERTAINTY
 An EIA involves prediction and thus uncertainty is an integral part.
There are two types of uncertainty associated with environmental impact
assessments: that associated with the process and, that associated with
predictions. With the former the uncertainty is whether the most
important impacts have been identified or whether recommendations will
be acted upon or ignored. For the latter the uncertainty is in the accuracy
of the findings. The main types of uncertainty and the ways in which they
can be minimized are discussed by de Jongh in Wathern (1988). They can
be summarized as follows:
1. uncertainty of prediction: this is important at the data collection
stage and the final certainty will only be resolved once implementation
commences. Research can reduce the uncertainty;
2. uncertainty of values: this reflects the approach taken in the EIA
process. Final certainty will be determined at the time decisions are
made. Improved communications and extensive negotiations should
reduce this uncertainty;
3. uncertainty of related decision: this affects the decision making
element of the EIA process and final certainty will be determined by50
post evaluation. Improved coordination will reduce uncertainty.
 The importance of very wide consultation cannot be overemphasized in
minimizing the risk of missing important impacts. The significance of
impacts is subjective, but the value judgements required are best arrived
at by consensus: public participation and consultation with a wide sector
of the community will reduce uncertainty. One commonly recurring
theme is the dilemma of whether to place greater value on short-term
benefits or long-term problems.
 The accuracy of predictions is dependent on a variety of factors such as
lack of data or lack of knowledge. It is important not to focus on
predictions that are relatively easy to calculate at the expense of impacts
that may be far more significant but difficult to analyse. Prediction
capabilities are generally good in the physical and chemical sciences,
moderate in ecological sciences and poor in social sciences. Surveys are
the most wide-spread technique for estimating people's responses and
possible future actions.
 The results of the EIA should indicate the level of uncertainty with the
use of confidence limits and probability analyses wherever possible.
Sensitivity analysis similar to that used in economic evaluation, could be
used if adequate quantifiable data are available. A range of outcomes 51 can
be found by repeating predictions and adjusting key variables.
 EIA cannot give a precise picture of the future, much as the
Economic Internal Rate of Return cannot give a precise
indication of economic success. EIA enables uncertainty to
be managed and, as such, is an aid to better decision
making. A useful management axiom is to preserve
flexibility in the face of uncertainty.

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