Environmental Impact Assessment Quiz

What is an impact? Review: Definition of EIA Environmental Impact Assessment is A formal process for identifying: •likely effects of activities or projects on the ENVIRONMENT, and on human health and welfare. •means and measures to mitigate & monitor these impacts ✓ Environment is broadly interpreted: physical, biological, and social.

What is an impact? The impact of an activity is a deviation (a change) from the baseline situation that is caused by the activity. To measure an impact, you must know what the baseline situation is! The baseline situation is the existing environmental situation or condition in the absence of the activity. The baseline situation is a key concept in EIA.

The baseline situation In characterizing the baseline situation, many environmental components MAY be of interest Water Quantity, quality, reliability, accessibility Soils Erosion, crop productivity, fallow periods, salinity, nutrient concentrations Flora Composition and density of natural vegetation, productivity, key species Fauna Populations, habitat Special Key species ecosystems Env Health Disease vectors, pathogens The components of interest are those that are likely to be affected by your activity—or upon which your activity depends for its success

The baseline situation The baseline situation is not simply a “snapshot.” Describing the baseline situation requires describing both the normal variability in environmental components & current trends in these components. time Water table This chart of groundwater levels shows both variability and a trend over time. Both are part of the groundwater baseline situation.

Types of impacts & their attributes Direct & indirect impacts Short-term & long-term impacts Adverse & beneficial impacts Cumulative impacts The EIA process is concerned with all types of impacts and may describe them in a number of ways  Intensity  Direction  Spatial extent  Duration  Frequency  Reversibility  Probability But all impacts are NOT treated equally.

It is ESSENTIAL in EIA to focus on the most significant impacts. Don’t waste effort & time analyzing and discussing impacts that are less important. Specifically, Impact Significance Determination Impact Characteristics (e.g., spatial extent) Impact Importance (e.g., value) x= Impact Significance Characteristics Affecting Impact Significance ❖Nature of impact (e.g., positive, negative, synergistic) ❖Extent and magnitude ❖Timing (i.e., construction, operation, closure) ❖Duration (i.e., short, chronic, intermittent) ❖Reversibility/irreversibility ❖Likelihood (i.e., probability, uncertainty) Some Criteria for Significance ❖Importance: the value that is attached to the affected environmental component ❖Extent of disturbance: the area expected to be impacted ❖Duration and frequency of disturbance ❖Reversibility ❖Risk: probability of an unplanned incident caused by the project Assessing Significance ❖Considerable expert judgment and technical knowledge are often required to fully understand the nature and extent of environmental impacts ❖Categories of significance include: ▪no impact » unknown impact ▪significant impact » mitigated impact ▪insignificant impact

What is an activity? ACTIVITY: market access road rehabilitation ACTIONS: Survey, grading, culvert construction, compaction, etc. . . a desired accomplishment or output E.g.: a road, seedling production, or river diversion to irrigate land An activity is: ✓ Accomplishing an activity requires a set of actions We are discussing the impacts of activities. What are activities? A project or program may consist of many activities Understand the proposed activity Understand the proposed activities Why is the activity being proposed? What is being proposed? ALL EIA processes begin with understanding WHAT is being proposed, and WHY. The question “WHY IS THE ACTIVITY BEING PROPOSED? Is answered with the development objective (D.O.). “If we don’t understand it, we can’t assess it!” “building a road” “increasing access to markets” We must understand the Development Objective to identify environmentally sound alternatives  ✓ Not a D.O.! Is a D.O. Understand the proposed activity Understand the proposed activities Why is the activity being proposed? What is being proposed? Once we understand the development objective, we must fully understand WHAT is being proposed. “Oops. I forgot about the borrow pit.” This includes associated actions! PRIMARY ACTIVITY: construction of diversion dam & irrigation canal ASSOCIATED ACTIONS: •Survey •negotiate land tenure •construct borrow pit •establish construction camp •construct temporary diversion structure •dispose of soil, debris