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Mestrado em Engenharia do Ambiente"

Master on Environmental Engineering"
Impactes Ambientais / Environmental Impacts 5/9"

5
Metodologias e técnicas de AIA /
EIA Methodologies and techniques
"

"



Prof. Doutora Maria do Rosário Partidário
1

Content

1.  Significance of environmental impacts

2.  Methods and techniques
3.  Uncertainty in impacts prediction
4.  Current state of the environment
5.  Alternatives identification and comparison

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Bibliography!
CANTER, L. 1996, Environmental Impact
Assessment. McGraw-Hill. (ch 3, ch
15)"
Morris, P. and Therivel, R. (Eds), 2001.
Methods of Environmental Impact
Assessment, 2nd edition, Spon Press,
London (2008 reprint).
Partidário e Jesus, 2003. Fundamentos
de Avaliação do Impacte Ambiental.
Universidade Aberta. "

Significant impacts
Canadian guidance
•  Determine adverse negative impacts
•  Determine magnitude, including cumulative impacts
• Determine geographical extension of negative impacts
• Determine duration and frequency
•  Determine the degree of reversibility
•  Assess its probability of occurrence
•  Assess the scientific uncertainty of the probability of
occurrence of a significant impact

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Key elements to establish the

significance (importance) of an
impact
•  Cultural Importance
•  Social Importance
•  Ecological Relevance
•  Environmental Patterns
•  Statistic significance
•  Technical issues
•  Political/institutional issues

Themes of interest in EIA

•  Public health
•  Safety and security, occupational
health
•  Vulnerable groups
•  Gender
•  Economic organization and well-
being
•  Population growth
•  Cultural and aesthetic values

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Impact assessment – criteria for

significant impacts - USA (1/2)
•  health and safety
•  unique characteristics in a geographical area, such as historical
and cultural resources, wetlands, scenic rivers, critical areas for
nature conservation
•  human environmental quality at highly controversial levels
•  Unceratin, unique or unknown risks on the human environment
•  Precedent for future projects with significant impacts

Impact assessment – criteria for

significant impacts - USA (2/2)
• Cumulative impacts

•  destruction of designated buildings, places or objects (cultural

and historical) or scientific resources

•  species or designated habitats

•  Risk of violation of any law or regulation for environmental
protection

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Finding the significance of impacts

All the possible effects of proposed project

Environmental filter

Significant impacts

Impact analysis
 Decision factors
 Environmental
relevance
Scaling impacts

Methods and techniques in EIA

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EIA methodologies
Introduction! 1/3
EIA methodologies – approaches developed to
identify, predict and value changes of an
action.

Reflected in the sequence of activities, steps, as

well on the range of environmental issues
considered (physical, chemical, biological,
socioeconomic, cutlural, landscape values and
processes)

EIA methodologies
Introduction! 2/3

•  Uses methods and techniques to quantify or

to qualify those changes. All aspects and
variables can be measured, problem is to
value them.

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EIA methodologies
Introduction! 3/3

The development of METHODOLOGIES to assess

impacts depend on:!

a)  The relationships between territorial elements (or

characteristics) and the actions

b)  The specific measurements and the necessary

information to estimate the impacts

c)  The mitigation measures, compensation and

follow-up

Objectives of methodologies!
1.  Understand the nature and location of the project and
possible alternatives"
2.  Identify factors of analysis and assessment objectives"
3.  Preliminary identification of impacts and scoping"
4. Baseline studies and evolution in the absence of projects"
5. Prediction and assessment of impacts and alternatives
comparison"
6. Mitigation"
7. Monitoring and impacts management"

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Example of methods!
1.  Experts judgement
2.  Checklists and matrices
3.  Flowcharts and decision trees
4.  Multicriteria analysis
5.  Case comparison
6.  Simulation Models
7.  GIS and map overlays
8.  Contingency analysis
9.  CBA, CEA, other economic evaluation

Checklist
•  Structured list of environmental factors potentially affected."
•  Extensive and complete. Main function: identify ALL possible
consequences of the proposal"
•  Should enable identification of impacts on:

  Soil
  Water
  Atmosphere
  Flora
  Fauna
  Resources
  Recreation
  Cultural

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Checklists
Three types:

1.  Simple : no information needed on magnitude or importance of

impacts"
2.  Descriptive, require information on magnitude or importance of
impacts as well as indication on prediction methods and
indicators."
3.  Questionnaires, three types of answer: yes , no , may be "

Simple checklists
Impactes Project phase
Design Construction Operation Abandonnement
1. On water
1.1. Poluição X
1.2. Decréscimo do caudal X
1.3. Cambio de uso X
2. On air
2.1. Poluição X
2.2. Incremento do ruído X
2.3. Presencia de maus cheiros X
3. On climate
3.1. Cambio de temperatura X
3.2. Aumento das chuvas X
3.3. Aumento da evaporação X
3.4. Aumento de nebulosidade X
4. On soil
4.1. Perda de solo X
4.2. Dunas X
4.3. Acidificação X
4.4. Salinizaçao X
4.5. Geração de pântanos
4.6. Problemas de drenagem X
5. On vegetation and fauna
5.1. Perda de biodiversidade X
5.2. Extinção de espécies X
5.3. Alteração sobre espécies endémicas X
5.4. Alteração sobre espécies protegidas X

6. On population
6.1. Perda de base de recursos X
6.2. Alterações culturais X
6.3. Perdas de recursos arqueológicos X
6.4. Traslado de população X
7. Other
7.1. Perda de valores paisagísticos X X X

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Issue Yes May be No Observation

Noise. Will the project:

Checklists: impact identification

• Increase existing noise levels? ! ! !
Vegetation. Will the project:
• Change the diversity or productivity of ! ! !
species or the number of any species
(including trees, shrubs, aquatic plants,
etc.)?
Energy. Will the project:
• Use substantial amounts of energy? ! ! !
Transports and traffic. Will the project:
• Generate additional traffic? ! ! !
• Have effects or increase demand on ! ! !
parking infrastructures?
Public services Will the project have effects on, or
result in, need for new services or changes in the
following areas:
• Fire services?
• ..... ! ! !
Public reaction. Is the project:
• Potentially controverse? ! ! !
• Conflictual with objectives in ! ! !
environmental plans locally adopted?

EIA process and activities.

EIA applications (sessions 5 and 6)

Checklists: environmental sources

Key criteria Key Environmental sources
Air and climate ! Air quality levels;
changes ! Sulfur dioxide levels;
! CO2 emmission
Protected areas ! Designated areas (ha) under national or international protection (for example
Natura 2000 – Special Conservation Areas and Special protection Areas
Natural ....
resources
Water ....
Soil ....
Landscape ....
Noise ....
Coastal areas ....

INTERNATIONAL MASTER IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND CORPORATE

RESPONSIBILITY / Professor Maria do Rosário Partidário

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Checklists

Advantage
•  structured list of key potential factors for analysis or key impacts - aide-
memoire;
•  often result from experts judgement published by public / international
organizations;
•  enable interdisciplinary discussions;
•  preparatory stage for matrix assessment (checklist of actions /activities and
checklist of environmental components);
Disadvantage
•  Guided tour - standard analysis, misses specific issues

Matrices!
Double entrance tables, permit establishment of
relationships: "
1.  Project actions or activities (causes) "
2.  And the environmental factors (effects)"
"

Functions:"
"
- Preliminary identification of impacts (scoping)"
- Comparative analysis of alternatives"
- Impact assessment"
-Presentation of evaluation results"

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Matrices!
a b c d e

a 2 +8
1 5
b 7 8 1 9
2 8 3 7

Leopold Matrix (Leopold et al., 1971). 100 causes per 100

effects.
Magnitude (left-hand corner) and Importance or significance
(right-hand corner). Scale 1 to 10. Values can still be
signaled as positive ( “+”) or negative (“-”).

Matrices – Basic rules

"
1.  Objectives and assumptions clear."
2.  Matrices can be used creatively to identify indirect
impacts, cumulative impacts or contributions to
mitigation measures."
3.  Its better to use colour codes and graphical symbols in
matrices."
4.  The development ofa matrix does not imply that it
needs to be used in the report, it may simply be an
element of work "
5.  Each impact analysis needs to be contextualized."

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FLOWCHARTS!

Flowcharts and impacts trees, including network diagrams,

enable the analysis of the inter-relationship between
causes and effects and enables de analysis of indirect and
cumulative impacts. "
"
"

FLOWCHARTS!
Strong decrease of
rangelands and
grasslands & strong
Shrub erosion of biodiversity
encroachment,
extension of pine
Strong increase of
forest: fast
Strong decrease of farms number Land abandonment forest areas & strong
landscape closure
fire risks
and cultivated
land turned in
D4: End of direct Decrease of
fallows
payments cultivated areas

Incomes maintained for some farms thanks to

Local agriculture with
the development of labels and niche products Tourism
high value products
integrated in industrial ranges

D5: Roquefort and Féta

separated ; Méjan Arable lands
Strategies of farms: to maximise Intensive ovine Intensification of
specialised in Féta : concentrated on high
profitability breeding cultivated areas
industrialists set potential lands
volumes and rules

Extension of pine Increase of wild

D6: End of local
forest: fast ungulate Hunting
measures to pine control
landscape closure populations

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Fluxograma de impactes da aplicação aérea de herbicida

(Bisset, 1983)
Aplicação aérea
de herbicidas

Contaminação
da água por
herbicidas

Decréscimo do Contaminação Perda de Mortalidade de

crescimento de de cadeia vegetação vegetação para alem
algas, alimentar no ripícola da pretendida com o
fitoplancton, etc meio aquático herbicida

Decréscimo do Aumento da Aumento do Contaminação de

oxigénio temperatura da escoamento cadeia alimentar
dissolvido água superficial no meio terrestre

Danos na Poluição da água Aumento da Aumento do

desova por sólidos erosão caudal
flutuantes

Aumento da Aumento dos Aumento da

carência de sedimentos perda de água
oxigénio
dissolvido

Flowcharts / Networks

Advantages:

- integrated assessment, instead of discipline by

discipline
-  inter-relations between causes and effects, including
indirect impacts
-  cumulative impact assessment
-  communication (when simple).

Disadvantages:

- complexity (especially visually complex)

- difficult to distinguish and quantify magnitudes (and
importance) of different impacts

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Mapping spatial areas

Overlays and GISs

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Overlays and GISs

Cartográfica
IMPACTE 1 IMPACTE 2

Área de análise Lavado de suelos Modificación de hábitats

IMPACTE 3 IMPACTE 4 IMPACTES ACUMULADOS

Ruidos Alteración cobertura vegetal Área de influencia

Arcview

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Definition of areas of maximum infiltration

IFI=  valorTHS+valorT+valorAGUT  
Fonte: Luis Ribeiro, PU Carregueira, 2009

Sinopse dos Métodos de avaliação de

impactes vs. etapas do AIA

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There is no single ideal

method!

Uncertainty in impacts
prediction

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Sources of uncertainty:
•  information on baseline and on the project
(quantity, precision, reliability)
•  associated to the model
•  preparation of the model
•  application of the model

Uncertainties related to:

quantity: spatial and temporal resolution, reading

mistakes, bias and imprecisions associated to the
technique.
precision: detail on measurements
reliability: correctin of such measurements
The more precise is the information the more
difficult it is to get reliable data.

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Baseline characterization

Baseline

Characterization should:
"
•  limit itself to the relevant affected factors"
"
• be proportional to the probable significant impact"
"

1st step- establish objectives in information collection"

"
Do not collect and present available information just because it is
available, if it is irrelevant, concentrate efforst on relevant
information"

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2nd step- analysis of available information and verification of such

information to the defined objectives."
- spatial and temporal representativeness"
variável ambiental

t1 t2 tempo

3rd stage- identify additional information needs, field work/ time

available"
4th stage- synthesize collected information and identify gaps in
knowledge and how important they are to the keyobjectives"
"

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Baseline - methods
•  Methods vary depending on natural, social or economic
variables"

•  Function of scoping and impacts identification"

Criteria for selection of methods:"

"
-  Objectives"

-  impact indicators (relationship with monitoring)"

-  limitation: time and budget"

Prediciton of impacts - Methods

Prediction of impacts is based on the quantification
or descriptive qualification of impacts identified.
Prediction impacts are clearly dependent on impacts
and disciplines.

Type of methods:
• Experts opinion
• Case comparison
• Use of models
• Experiments

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Prediciton of impacts - Models

Physical models – representation of the reality ina reduced scale,
simulating processes. (Exs. Wind tunnels or coastal area physical
models that simulate waves)
Visual models – elaboration of images that represent the
environment before and after the development of a project and its
alternatives. It can also address the timing dimension (e.g., seasonal
changes, vegetation growth).
Mathematic models- maths or statistic simulations applied to the
deterministic or probabilistic calculation, based on quantitative values.
Cartographic models- representation of reality that will be affected
by the project through maps or charts. Cartographic overlaps enable
impact preditions.

Impact Assessment
Meaning (or importance) of an impact depends on its scale
(geographic scale and duration) and its intensity.
Impacts can be positive or negative. Significative negative
impacts may occur even when the global balance of
impacts is positive.

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Alternatives comparative
assessment

The object of analysis in alternatives assessment is to

define the merits and disadvantages of realistic
alternatives, enabling to decision-makers and to the
public a clear basis for the choice of option (World
Bank, 1996)
Technical, economic, social and environmental viability
of alternatives: the proponent needs to be willing to
develop any of the alternatives being considered

Alternatives comparative
assessment
Analyse separately the sets of alternatives, whenver
possible.

1
4
A B C
2

3
5

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Alternatives comparative assessment

In relation to decision factors
• Define the alternatives to be analysed
• Define the factors of analysis (decision factors)
• Weighting the decision factor

Decision factors Alternatives

A1 A2 A3 A4 A5
F1
F2
F3
F4

Methods for alternatives comparative

" assessment
Multi-criteria assessment"
1.  Quantitative and qualitative assessment"
2.  Weighting the decision factors"
Methods: "
Process of nominal group (group intercative technique)"
1) Nominal generation of ideas (silent and independent) "
2) Table checklist"
3) Group discussion (clarification, evaluation) (e.g. Delphi method)"
4) Order voting or assessment in a numerical scale "
Delphi method"
Preparation of an individual questionnaire per panel member.
Communication of results to each panel member and new round of
voting."

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Preparation of the following table for experts selection and

assessment"

Factor (ou área de Reduzida Elevada Total Peso

impact e ) importância importância
1 2 3 4 5
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5
….

1.  Each experts fills in the table based on comparison of factors "
2.  Calculation of total"
3.  Weight results from the division of each factor by the total "
4.  Calculate the average of the tables as filled in by each expert"
5.  Each expert compares the average of the group with its own value"

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