ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

ASSESSMENT (EIA)

CHACHA Lilian G
THOMAS Mugwe
LUFYAGILA Ibrahim H
MAGOHE Stephen
Contents:
Introduction
Stakeholders
Methodology & case study
Conclusion
reference
INTRODUCTION;
• Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a
process which can be used to improve decision-
making and ensure that development options under
consideration are environmentally, socially and
economically sound and sustainable (Mwalyosi, R.,
et al 1999)

• EIA can be defined as the study to predict the

effect of the proposed activity or project on the
environment(Prof Sandeep Hedge 2015)
Evolution
EIA evolved from land use planning, cost benefit analysis(CBA),
multiple objective analysis, modelling and simulation and was
established by the 1969 USA National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA)
The act required all the projects to be accompanied by a clear EIS
EIA process has be evolving since 1970s and to date over half of the
country in the world have EIA.
Initially the emphasis was in quantify physical factors for which
there were standard, but eventually EIA begun to include biological
and ecological factors although they were difficult to quantify
More recently social economic factors have been incorporative into
EIA process to find a compromise between
Socio-economic and environmental factors
Why EIA?
EIA is intended to prevent or minimize potentially adverse
environmental impacts and enhance the overall quality of a project. The
main benefits and advantages of EIA are:
Lower project costs in the long-term
Increase project acceptance
Improve project design
Inform decision making
Environmentally sensitive decisions
Increase accountability and transparency
Reduce environmental damage
Improve integration of projects into their environmental and social
settings
Objective of EIA

To foresee the potential environmental problems

that would arise out of a proposed development
and address them in the planning and design
stage of the Project.

The EIA process allows for the communication

of potential environmental problems to:

(a) the project proponent

(b) the regulatory agencies

(c) all stakeholders and interest groups

EIA in Africa and Tanzania

• Many countries in Africa adopted

EIA rather late – in the 1980s
• African countries with formal EIA
procedures include: Ghana,
Zimbabwe, Uganda, Nigeria, Namibia,
South Africa , Egypt, Tanzania, Kenya
and Ethiopia.
Who is involved in EIA??????
 Project proponents
 Service providers
 Reviewers
 Decision makers
 The public
Methodology
Steps involved in EIA as described by Mwalosi R et al.,
1999
 Registration
 Screening
 Scoping
 Compiling Terms of Reference (ToR)
 Organizing the EIA Study
 Undertaking the EIA study
 Reviewing the EIA Report
 Environmental management & monitoring
 Environmental auditing
1.Registration
Is a simple administrative procedure which requires project
proponents to officially register their intention to undertake
development activity.
In Tanzania registration is done by Environmental Regulatory
Body (ERB) and accomplished by National environment
management council (NEMC)
2.Screening
is the process to determine what level of environmental
assessment is necessary or appropriate for a specific project
or proposal.
After the screening of a project the decision will fall into
-Full EIA required
-Preliminary assessment required
-EIA not required
-Project proposal rejected
3.Scoping
Is used to focus the EIA on the key issues for
decision making.
We go to this stage if the screening process
subjected the project into full EIA process
Provides the first, and most important,
opportunity to identify and involve stakeholders
Guidelines and structure of scoping report are
provided in the EIA and audit regulations of
2005
Roles of scoping;
 Identifies assessment methods.
 Identifies project alternatives.
 Determines the boundaries (spatial,
temporal and institutional).
 Helps define the ToR for the EIA
study.
4.Compiling the terms of references
ToR- are special terms set by a registered EIA
consultant firm and the project proponent for
review. ToR must be approved by NEMC
Why ToR?
 Provideformal guidance for practitioners on
issues that must be addressed in the EIA
process
 Clarify to the proponent “what is expected of
them”
 Providethe reviewing agency with a tool for
compliance.
5. Organizing the EIA study
Involves acquisation of relevant environmental
standards and guidelines, knowledge of
relevant policies, laws and institutional
arrangements.
Timing: EIA should commence before project
design details have been finalised and well
before project implementation commences
6.Undertaking the full EIA study
-In this stage EIA predicts which impacts will
occur as a result of the project and their likely
significance.
They also identify measures to mitigate or avoid
these impacts, or optimise the benefits of the
project.
-The key components of a full EIA study are
impact identification, examination of alternatives,
evaluation and assessment of impacts, development
of mitigation options and information dissemination
and documentation
7.Environmental Impact statement;
-Is the way to communicate the findings of the EIA
studies. This is the unique document that is different
from regular academic or consultancy work.
-It is made to influence and guide decision making.
Contrary to other reports it is more than just generating
knowledge.
-The report has to be non-technical, readily accessible
to the public and be made available in local languages
 EIA statement

NEMC (review)

CENTRAL GOVERNMENT(minister responsible

for env. approves)
8.EIA review
It provides an impartial mechanism for assessing
the quality of the EIA and its adequacy for
decision making.
The reviewer would be interested to see whether
some important questions have been addressed in
the report.
NEMC has a role of secretariat in this.
All the affected stakeholders should be provided
with the report copies by NEMC
Key issues to consider during EIA review
Sufficiency of information provided
Sufficient attention to EIA process
Reliability of analysis or interpretation
Utility for decision making
9.ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT & MONITORING;
Monitoring assess the effect of the project on natural
and cultural environment. Environmental monitoring
provides feedback about the actual environmental
impacts of a project
Helps judge the success of mitigation measures in
protecting the environment
10.EIA FINAL DECISION MAKING & AUDITING
Decision on the project is made by the planning
authority. Decision can be made into either of the
following categories.
 Proposal approved
 Proposal approved with conditions
 Proposal on hold pending further study
 Proposal returned for revision and resubmission
 Proposal rejected
No decision taken until EIA report considered
Auditing
 NEMC will undertake periodic and independent
re-assessment of any project, whereby the
negative and positive impacts of the undertaking
are identified at each stage of the project
operations. This allows for gaining lessons and
experience from the practices
CASE STUDY
Environmental evaluation for ASWAN dam
(HAD)
Highest dam in the world with the biggest man
made reservoirs built in 1956 by the
EGYPTIAN government.
Aswan was a famous example of poorly
conceived civil engineering projects.
Claire sterling critiques in “the great
environmental catastrophe of mankind” &
“more damn than dam”
EIA was not conducted before the dam
construction.
Letter on sterling's prognostication were
coming true after construction as well as
other effects.
Several environmental impact studies have
been conducted to areas surrounding the
Aswan dam. Though EIA was conducted in a
scattered matter i.e.. There were no
integration of all impacts to produce
auditing for the project.
The EIA study revealed the following impacts:
Schistomiasis had became an endemic disease in Egypt.
Storage capacity of lake Nasser and Nubia would be
compromised due to rapid sediment fill.
There was a threat of reservoir induced seismicity
(Aswan was situated on a natural fault zone)
High ground water level was suspected to deteriorate
the ancient Egyptian monuments.
Water loss due to high evaporation leading to down
stream salinization in the dam. (10-16 bill cubic
meter/year)
Coastal erosion.
High water level
near the Egyptian
monuments
Active
sediment
deposition
Source. Landsat 8, June
2014
Coastal
erosion in
Damietta
pennisula
1990-
2014
Source , Landsat 8
Location of proposed
by pass canal
Source ,Landsat
 Location of rafat and
Abu Sembel
meteorological station
Source , Landsat

The canal would reduce evaporation by

327mill, meter cubic saving 1450 cubic
meters per year.
Coastal
protect
ion
device
at Ras
El Barr.
Source , Landsat
 conclusion
The budget for the EIA should be 1% of the entire project
budget but this is not the rule of thumb, it can change
depending on certain circumstances.
When EIA is skipped at early stage of the project, the cost
of conducting EIA later after the project establishment
would be greater than the required cost.
References:
Glasson J Therivel ,R. Chadwick A, Introduction to EIA, (2005)
Flora Stephano, Environmental conservation and management,
(2006)
Prof. Sandeep Hedge, EIA ppt
Ahmed Moussa,Moustafa Soliman, Medhat Aziz, Environmental
evaluation for HAD since its construction until present,(2001)
Hesham Abd-El Monsef,Scot E Smith, Kamal Darwish, Impacts
of HAD after 50 years,(2015)
Raphael Mwalyosi, Ross Hughes and David Howlett,
Introduction Course on
Environmental Impact Assessment in Tanzania,(1999)