E nvironmental I mpact A ssessment

1. EnvironmentalImpactAssessment Geog 456 – Spring 2008 Paul Fraser

2. Introduction Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) “an assessment of the impact of a planned activity on the environment.” {United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (1991)} “ an examination, analysis, and assessment of planned activities with a view to ensuring environmentally sound and sustainable development.” (Thompson & Ross, 2002)

3. Brief History • Established in the USA in 1969. • EIA was created because of increasing environmental awareness. • The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act was passed on January 19, 1995. • Encourages actions that promote sustainable development. • Promotes cooperation and coordinated action. • Ensures that development does not cause adverse environmental effects in areas surrounding the development. • Ensures opportunity for public participation throughout the process.

4. Objectives of the EIA process • To identify and predict the impacts of human activities on the biophysical environment and on human health and well-being. • To interpret and communicate information regarding those impacts and to investigate and propose means for their management. • To allow people to adjust development projects to enhance their benefits and to minimize their environmental costs. • During the process, Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) are prepared to document the information and estimates of impacts derived from the various steps in the EIA process. • EIA is both an ASSESSMENT TOOL and a MANAGEMENT TOOL.

5. Assessment Tool • EIA is an assessment tool because the impacts are interpreted, which means that, while having a substantial scientific component to it, it is very much based on human values. Management Tool • EIA also involves proposing means for managing the impacts of the project.

6. The EIA Process • A systematic process… focussing on prevention and utilizing holistic, multidisciplinary methods. • Normally implemented by governments and lending agencies • Involves an interdisciplinary team approach integrating the natural and social sciences and the environmental design arts.

7. The Stages of EIA Stage 1: Screening - Is an EIA needed? • Screeningseeks to focus on projects with potentially significant adverse environmental impacts or whose impacts are not fully known. • Two main approaches: • The use of thresholds - Project characteristics or anticipated project impacts • A case-by-case approach –Appraisal of project characteristics against guidelines and criteria.

8. Stage 2: Scoping - Which impacts and issues to consider? • Scoping is identifying the issues and determining their priority for the EIA process, by way of information gathering and negotiation. • Involves: • scientific and technical specialists, • the developer, • members of the affected public, • interest groups, • and the project proponent. • The result: • the identification of the main issues and impacts, • an explanation of why other issues are not considered significant • Description of the project / development action and alternatives • Description of an environmental baseline

9. Stage 3: Impact Prediction and Assessment • To identify the magnitude and other dimensions of change in the environment with a project or action, in comparison with the situation without that project or action. • Methods of prediction are quite varied, reflecting the wide variety of issues that can be seen throughout the process. • There are many predictive methods: • Extrapolative: trend analysis, scenarios, analogies • Normative: working backwards from desired outcomes • Once predicted, significance must be determined.

10. Stage 3: Impact Prediction and Assessment • Significance may be determined by considering such factors as: • The nature and extent of the impacts (type, duration) • Likely adverse effects on the receiving environment (sensitive areas) • Magnitude of impacts (low, medium, high) • Options for impact mitigation (reduction, avoidance) • Reversibility • Availability of compensation or offsets (new wetland construction to replace lost wetland) • Identification of mitigating measures • Public consultation and participation

11. Stage 4: Presentation, Review, and Decision-Making – Submission of EIS & Project Planning Application. • An EIS should: • Be comprehensive and at least fulfil the requirements of the relevant EIA legislation. • Explain why some impacts are not dealt with. • Emphasize key points. • Be honest, unbiased, and objective. • Good presentation can convey: • a concern for the environment, • and a positive attitude to the public. • Bad presentation can suggest: • lack of care, • perhaps lack of financial backing, • and can also negatively affect even a well-organized EIS.

12. Stage 4: Presentation, Review, and Decision-Making – Submission of EIS & Project Planning Application. • A review aims to: • Ensure all relevant information has been analysed and presented; • Assess the validity and accuracy of information contained in the EIS; • Consider whether additional information is needed; • Assess the significance of the project’s environmental effects; • Evaluate the need for mitigation and monitoring of environmental impacts; • Advise on whether a project should be allowed to proceed. • In the decision-making phase, the decision to authorize or reject a project is made. (in the form of a public document.)

13. Stage 5: Post-decision Monitoring and Auditing of Predictions and Mitigation Measures. • Monitoring and Auditing can provide for better planning and EIA of future projects. • Monitoring involves the measuring and recording of physical, social and economic variables associated with development impacts (ex: traffic flows, air quality, noise, employment levels). • can be used to identify harmful trends in a locality before it is too late for remedial action. • can help to identify and correct unanticipated impacts. • Auditing compares the impacts predicted in an EIS with those that actually occur after implementation, in order to assess whether the impact prediction performs satisfactorily.

14. Stage 6: Follow-up Studies. • It is essential to ensure that the good environmental management plans developed for the project are actually implemented. • EIAs should not be looked at as a means of obtaining a planning permission, but rather as a means to obtain good environmental management over the whole life of the project. • Very effective and necessary means of continuing the EIA process. • The EIA process involves learning from the project for application to future projects.

15. Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 6 if project proceeds to implementation phase. Stage 5

16. Strengths and Weaknesses • EIA focuses on prevention of harmful impacts. It is a proactive, rather than reactive approach to development! • Information about the impacts must be communicated to both the decision makers and the public who might be affected by the proposed developments, before the project is implemented. • The scoping stage can be underestimated. Accuracy is essential. • Impact prediction and determining the impact significance. Intuition is often labelled as expert opinion. • Few developers make a real effort to gain a sense of the public’s view before presenting their applications for authorization. • EISs are often used to justify, not assess decisions; therefore, lack of objectivity can pose a problem.

17. References • Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, accessed online from http://www.ceaa.gc.ca • Glasson, John, Therivel, Riki, & Chadwick, Andrew, (2005). Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment: 3rd Edition. Routledge, New York, NY. • Joao, Elsa (2001). How scale affects environmental impact assessment. Environmental Impact Assessment Review. Vol. 22, Issue 4. Pg 289-310. • Thompson, Dixon, Ross, William A. (2002). Tools for Environmental Management. New Society Publishers, Gabriola, BC. • Wood, Christopher (1995). Environmental Impact Assessment: A Comparative Review. Longman Group Limited, Essex, England.