ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Environmental Management
CONTENTS
• EIA Definition
• EIA Benefits
• EIA Principle
• EIA Purposes
• EIA Process steps
• Hierarchy in the EIA
• EIS
• Impact Indicators
 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
an environmental management tool
• an activity designed to identify and predict the impact
of legislative proposals, policies, programs, project and
operational procedures on the bio-geophysical env't and
decision-making tool
on the health and well-being of human beings and to • recognised as the most valuable, inter-
interpret and communicate info abt the impact disciplinary and objective decision-making tool
• can be undertaken for individual projects such as dam, wrt to alternate routes for development,
motorway, airport or factory process technologies and project sites
• focuses on problems, conflicts or natural resource
constraints that could affect the project viability
• considered an ideal anticipatory mechanism
allowing measures that ensure env'tal
examines implications of a project that might
compatibility in our quest for socio-economic
harm people, their homeland/livelihoods or development
other nearby developments • generally wider in scope and less quantitative
than other techniques, such as cost-benefit
identifies measures to minimize the problems analysis
& outlines ways to improve the project's
suitablity for its proposed env't
 EIA BENEFITS
FOR PROJECT SPONSORS
v improved project design
ü Reduced cost and time of project
implementation
ü Cost-saving modifications in project design
ü Increased project acceptance
ü Avoided impacts and violations of laws and
regulations
ü Improved project performance
ü Avoided treatment/clean up costs
TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES
ü healthier local env't (forests, water sources,
agricultural potential, recreational potential,
aesthetic values, and clean living in urban areas)
ü Improved human health
ü Maintenance of biodiversity
ü Decreased resource use
ü Fewer conflicts over natural resource use
ü Increased community skills, knowledge and
pride
 EIA PRINCIPLE
• follows a general principle of assessment with that of
other recognized processes Ø potential for a lot of
connections between
Social impact
Risk Assessment Energy Analysis
Health impact diferent forms of assessment
assessment assessment
Ø essential difference: how the
terms, or scope of
Regulatory assessment, are defined
Species Impact Technology Economic
Impact
assessement
assessment Assessment Assessment narrowly, or broadly
Ø assessor: to use personal
Cumulative Strategic Integrated experience and of others
Life Cycle
Impact Environmental impact
Analysis (including available
Assessment assessment assessment
knowledge)
 to aid in the
formation of
development
to facilitate to be an
decision- instrument for
making (e.g., sustainable
local authority) development

PURPOSES
OF EIA
to aid in the formation of development
Ø It can be an aid to the formulation of developmental actions, indicating
areas where the project can be modified to minimize or eliminate
altogether the adverse impacts on the env't
Ø consideration of env'tal impacts early in the planning life of a development
can lead to
ü environmentally-sensitive development
ü to improved relations between the developer, the planning authority and
the local communities
ü to a smoother planning permission process, and sometimes
ü to a worthwhile financial return on the costs incurred
 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
q key characteristics
Ø maintaining the overall quality of life
Ø maintaining continuing access to natural
resources
Ø avoiding lasting environmental damage
q investigation reveal disquieting trends
that could have devastating
consequences for the environment
Ø more pronounced in developing
countries
Ø an interaction among the resources,
sectors and policies is necessary
Steps in EIA Process
• emphasis on prevention -
proactive not reactive
• cyclic - not so linear or
sequential
 Steps in EIA Process
o Project screening - for projects that may have
significant env'tal impacts
o Scoping - to identify the key, significant issues
from among a host of possible impacts of a
project and all the available alternatives
o Consideration of alternatives - to ensure that
proponent has considered other feasible
approaches i.e. alternative locations, scales,
processes, layouts, operating condition and the
no-action option
o Description of the project/dev't action - to
clarify project purpose and rationale and
understand its various characteristics, including
the stages of development, loc and processes
o Description of the env'tal baseline-
establishment of both the present and future
state of the env't, in the absence of the project
o Identification of key impacts - to ensure that all
potentially significant impacts (adverse and
beneficial) are identified and taken into account
o prediction of impacts - to identify the likely
magnitude of the impact when the project is
implemented in comparison with the baseline
o Evaluation and assessment of significance - assess
the relative significance of the predicted impacts to
allow a focus on key adverse impacts (Significance
=consequence X Likelihood)
o Mitigation - introduce measures to avoid, reduce,
remedy or compensate for any significant adverse
impacts
o Public consultation and participation - to assure the
quality, comprehensiveness and the EIA
effectiveness, to ensure that public views are
adequately taken into acct in the decision-making
 Steps in EIA Process
o EIS presentation - a vital step, may
negate the EIA
o Review - a systematic appraisal of the
quality of the EIS, as a contribution to
the decision-making process
o Decision-making - decisions are made
by the relevant authority of the EIS
(including consultation responses)
together with other material
considerations as to whether to accept,
defer or reject the project
o Post-decision monitoring - recording of
outcomes assoc. with development
impacts, after the decision to proceed;
can contribute to effective project
management
o Auditing - comparing actual outcomes
with predicted outcomes, and can be
used to assess the quality of predictions
and the effectiveness of mitigation
 HIERARCHY IN THE EIA
• EIA studies areRapid
broadly
or
categorized as: Carrying
Site selection
comprehensive
Regional capacity
studies studies studies studies
• evaluation of • Rapid - based on • development
the alternative a 1-season in/of a region • extended to
monitoring (i.e., based on the analysis of
sites wrt
3-mo. period) seasonal data supportive
env'tal and collection and
• Comprehensive - capacity in the
project address
based on a 3- region wrt
attributes season themselves to
resource
(proximity to monitoring of the analysis of
assimilative availability/
RM, infra, baseline data
capacity of air, utilization,
facilities, • Rapid - when a
water and land supply/
markets) fair amount of
components of
knowledge abt demand,
• ranking site the env't
infrastructure/
the proposed site
alternatives or the impacts of congestion
proposed dev't and
exists assimilative
capacity /
residuals
 EIA Cycle
• EIA has to be an integral
part of the project life
cycle: from project
conceptualisation to
post implementation
corrective action
 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
STATEMENT
• A typical EIS contains the ff 3 parts:
q EIS
prelim studies, site
§ provides documentation of the statement of description/ baseline
information and estimates methods used and
Part 2 – conditions, description of

derived from the EIA process

a summary of key Background to proposed dev't and
construction activities and
issues
the proposed programs
§ provides the decision-makers /
development Environmental
regulators with valuable
Part 1 –
information that could impact
Methods and
ultimately contribute to either assessments
the abandonment or substantial
key issues
on topic areas
modification of a proposed dev't

EIS
action land use, landscape and visual
quality, geology, topography
and soils, hydrology and water
quality, air quality and climate,
terrestrial and aquatic ecology,
noise, transport, socio-
economic , interrelationships
 IMPACT INDICATORS
v impact indicator
Ø an element or a parameter that
provides a measure (in at least some
qualitative sense) of the significance
of the effect
-i.e., the magnitude of an env'tal impact
v the selection of a set of indicators
Ø often a crucial step in the impact
assessment process, requiring input
from the decision-maker
Ø most widely used impact
indicators are those within
statutory laws, acts
• i.e., indicators such as air and
water quality standards
Ø Factors such as the
displacement of arable land by
industry are also equally
important.
 ASSIGNMENT
• PD 1151 Philippines Environment • 1-PAGE handwritten:
Policy, 1975
• PD 1586 Establishing the
what are the legal
Environmental Impact Statement mandates and
(EIS), 1978 important provisions
• DAO 42 Rationalizing the
implementation of the Philippine
wrt EIA as stated in
EIS System, 2002 these laws/policies?
• DAO 2003-30 IRR for the
Philippine EIS System, 2002
FORECASTING Environmental Changes
A EIA should be able to
ü predict the nature and extent of the impact of
human activities on the environment.
ü Of importance:
Ø estimates of changes in environmental quality
Ø estimates of rate of change
v A slow change may be acceptable, especially if it
leads to a new stability, whereas rapid change or
large fluctuations may place intolerable burdens
on ecosystems.
Ø degree of irreversibility of an env'tal change
v absolute, as in the extinction of a species, or
v partly absolute in that the situation can only be
reversed over long periods of time or with
unacceptable expenditures of money and energy,
A list of human-induced env'tal changes, which can be as in the case of catastrophic erosion
either benign or malignant to the environment
 EIA information
• A typical EIA contains information
on the ff 3 areas, as they relate to
environmental effects:
(i) A determination of the initial
reference state
(ii) An estimate of the future state
without action
(iii) An estimate of the future state
with action
• table presents the main
areas of concern that
may affect human
beings with regard to
forecasting the
environmental state in
the presence of actions
PREPARE FOR A QUIZ/SEATWORK ON FRIDAY, MAY10 REGARDING THE TOPIC.
ASSIGNMENT DUE FRIDAY AS WELL.