BHM 403 ENVIRONMENT & ECOLOGY
MODULE-1(ECOLOGY) BHM 4 TH SEM
1. PRINCIPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT.
Environmental assessment (EA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan,
policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed
action. In this context, the term "environmental impact assessment" (EIA) is usually used when
applied to actual projects by individuals or companies and the term "strategic environmental
assessment" (SEA) applies to policies, plans and programmes most often proposed by organs of
state.[1][2] It is a tool of environmental management forming a part of project approval and
decision-making.[3] Environmental assessments may be governed by rules of administrative
procedure regarding public participation and documentation of decision making, and may be
subject to judicial [Link] purpose of the assessment is to ensure that decision makers
consider the environmental impacts when deciding whether or not to proceed with a project.
The International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) defines an environmental impact
assessment as "the process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical,
social, and other relevant effects of development proposals prior to major decisions being taken
and commitments made".EIAs are unique in that they do not require adherence to a
predetermined environmental outcome, but rather they require decision makers to account for
environmental values in their decisions and to justify those decisions in light of
detailed environmental studies and public comments on the potential environmental impacts.
METHODS
General and industry specific assessment methods are available including:
• Industrial products – Product environmental life cycle analysis (LCA) is used for
identifying and measuring the impact of industrial products on the environment.
These EIAs consider activities related to extraction of raw materials, ancillary
materials, equipment; production, use, disposal and ancillary equipment.
• Genetically modified plants – Specific methods available to perform EIAs of genetically
modified organisms include GMP-RAM and INOVA.
• Fuzzy logic – EIA methods need measurement data to estimate values of impact
indicators. However, many of the environment impacts cannot be quantified, e.g.-
landscape quality, lifestyle quality and social acceptance. Instead, information from
similar EIAs, expert judgment and community sentiment are employed. Approximate
reasoning methods known as fuzzy logic can be used. A fuzzy arithmetic approach has
also been proposed and implemented using a software tool (TDEIA).
Overview of the stages of the EIA process
This section very briefly presents an overview of the stages of EIA to help place them in the context of
the whole process. More detail about each stage is provided later.
• Screening: - The EIA process begins from the very start of a project. Once a developer has
identified a need and assessed all the possible alternatives of project design and sites to select
a preferred alternative, two important questions must be asked: 'What will be the effects of this
development on the environment? Are those effects significant?' If the answer to the second
question is 'yes', an EIA may be required. Answering this question is a process known
as screening and can be an essential first step into a formal EIA. The EIA process is, it must be
stressed, iterative. This is demonstrated at this early stage of screening where the requirement
for a formal EIA and its associated cost implications can lead the developer to reassess the
project design with a view to reducing the significant impacts to a level where an EIA is not legally
required (Nielsen et al 2005).
• Scoping: - Where it is decided that a formal EIA is required, the next stage is to define the issues
that need to be addressed, that is, those impacts that have a significant effect on the
environment. This is known as scoping and is essential for focusing the available resources on
the relevant issues.
• Baseline study: -Following on from scoping, it is essential to collect all relevant information on
the current status of the environment. This study is referred to as a baseline study as it provides
a baseline against which change due to a development can be measured.
• Impact prediction: -Once the baseline study information is available, the important task
of impact prediction can begin. Impact prediction involves forecasting the likely changes in the
environment that will occur as a result of the development.
• Impact assessment: - The next phase involves the assessment of the identified impacts - impact
assessment. This requires interpretation of the importance or significance of the impacts to
provide a conclusion, which can ultimately be used by decision-makers in determining the fate
of the project application.
• Mitigation: - Frequently, the assessment of impacts will reveal damaging effects upon the
environment. These may be alleviated by mitigation measures. Mitigation involves taking
measures to reduce or remove environmental impacts and it can be seen that the iterative
nature of the EIA process is well demonstrated here. For example, successful design of
mitigation measures could possibly result in the removal of all significant impacts; hence a new
screening exercise would reveal that there might have been no need to carry out a formal EIA
had the mitigation measures been included from the start.
• Producing the environmental impact statement: - The outcome of an EIA is usually a formal
document, known as an environmental impact statement (EIS), which sets out factual
information relating to the development, and all the information gathered relating to screening,
scoping, baseline study, impact prediction and assessment, mitigation, and monitoring
measures. It is quite common that a requirement of an EIS is that it also produces a non-technical
summary. This is a summary of the information contained within the EIS, presented in a concise
non-technical format, for those who do not wish to read the detailed documents. This is very
important, as EISs are public documents intended to inform the public of the nature and likely
consequences of a development in time to comment and/or participate in the final project
design.
Thanks & regards
Mili Saha
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Hospital Management
KSMS