Nature and Scope of

Environmental
Impacts
ENVS304

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Nature and Scope of Environmental Impacts

 Various reports indicate the environmental problems facing society.

 e.g. The Global Environmental Outlook (GEO, prepared by UNEP) provides an
overview of the major issues and their regional variations.

 Issues facing the environment (GEO,2000)

 water scarcity,
 land degradation,
 tropical forest clearance,
 species loss and
 global warming.

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Extent of environmental issues
 Some are global e.g. global warming

 Some are regional in nature and

 thus affect only certain countries or are more serious
for some than others.

 Some can be local

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Regional nature of issues
Africa
 World’s poorest and most resource dependent
population.

 Environmental problems include:

 desertification and soil degradation,
 declining food security and
 increasing water scarcity and stress in north, east and southern
Africa.

Sources: UNEP, 1999; World Bank, 2000

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Regional nature of issues
Asia and the Pacific
 High population densities in Southern and South
East Asia.

 Rapid economic growth, urbanisation and

industrialisation - helped alleviate poverty but
 also increased pressure on land and water resources,
 widespread environmental degradation and
 high pollution levels.
Sources: UNEP, 1999; World Bank, 2000

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Regional nature of issues
Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Despite progress with economic restructuring and environmental clean up
 There exists a legacy of industrial pollution and
contaminated land.

 In many areas, emissions of particulates, SO2, lead,

heavy metals and toxic chemicals

 In the Balkans, war and regional conflict have caused

serious environmental and social problems
Sources: UNEP, 1999; World Bank, 2000

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Regional nature of issues
Latin America and the Caribbean
 Approximately three-quarters of the population live in
urban areas.

 Many cities are poor, overcrowded, polluted and lack

basic infrastructure.

 Major issue is the destruction of tropical forests and

consequent loss of biodiversity
 a serious issue in the Amazon basin.

Sources: UNEP, 1999; World Bank, 2000

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Regional nature of issues
Middle East
 Most land subject to desertification or
 vulnerable to deterioration from saline, alkaline deposition.

 Water resources are under severe pressure and

 groundwater sources are in a critical condition.

 Rapid and uncontrolled urbanisation

 worsening air and water pollution in urban areas.

Sources: UNEP, 1999; World Bank, 2000

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Best EIA Practice
 3 core values on which EIA is based are
identified by:
 the International Association for Impact
Assessment (IAIA) and
 the Institute of Environmental Management
and Assessment (IEMA)

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The Core Values
1. Integrity: the EIA process should meet internationally
accepted requirements and standards of practice

2. Utility: the EIA process should provide the information

which is sufficient and relevant for decision-making and

3. Sustainability: the EIA process should result in the

implementation of environmental measures which are
sufficient to mitigate serious adverse effects and avoid
irreversible loss of resource and ecosystem functions.

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The philosophy
 EIA is designed as a preventive measure.

 It should give environmental considerations equal

weight with technical and economic aspects.

 Environmental considerations should be introduced

early in the planning processes.

 Broad and public participation should ensure wide

acceptance of projects implemented.

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Guiding principles of EIA good practice

Principle Practical application

 Purposive  EIA should meet its aims of informing decision
making and ensuring an appropriate level of
environmental protection and human health.

 Focussed  EIA should concentrate on significant

environmental effects, taking into account the
issues that matter.

 Adaptive  EIA should be adjusted to the realities, issues

and circumstances of the proposals under
review.
Source: Sadler, 1996; IAIA and IEMA, 1999

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Guiding principles of EIA good practice

Principle Practical application

 Participative  EIA should provide appropriate opportunities to
inform and involve the interested and affected
publics, and their inputs and concerns should be
addressed explicitly.

 EIA should be a clear, easily understood and open

 Transparent process, with early notification procedure, access to
documentation, and a public record of decisions
taken and reasons for them.

 EIA should apply the best practicable

 Rigorous methodologies to address the impacts and issues
being investigated.
Source: Sadler, 1996; IAIA and IEMA, 1999

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Guiding principles of EIA good practice

Principle Practical application

 Practical  EIA should identify measures for impact
mitigation that work and can be implemented.

 EIA should be carried out with

 Credible professionalism, rigor, fairness, objectivity,
impartiality and balance.

 EIA should impose the minimum cost burden

 Efficient on proponents, consistent with meeting
process requirements and objectives.

Source: Sadler, 1996; IAIA and IEMA, 1999

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Guiding principles of EIA good practice

 It is important to consider the principles as a single

package,
 recognising their varying interrelationships.

 The principles should be applied as part of a systematic

and balanced approach,
 having regard to the context and circumstances.

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What is an impact?
 The impact of an activity is a deviation (a change) from
the baseline situation that is caused by the activity.

 Baseline situation is the existing environmental situation

or condition in the absence of the activity.

 To measure an impact, you must know what the

baseline situation is.

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The environmental impacts of a project are
those resultant changes in environmental
parameters/variables, in space and time
(spatiotemporal), compared with what would
have happened had the project
not been undertaken (baseline).

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The baseline situation
In characterizing the
baseline situation,
many environmental
components MAY be
of interest
The components of
interest are those that
are likely to be affected
by your activity—or
upon which your
activity depends for its
success
Source: www.encapafrica.org
Water Quantity, quality, reliability,
accessibility
Soils Erosion, crop productivity,
fallow periods, salinity,
nutrient concentrations
Fauna Populations, habitat
Env Health Disease vectors, pathogens
Flora Composition and density of
natural vegetation,
productivity, key species
Special Key species
ecosystems
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The baseline situation
The baseline situation is not

Water table
simply a “snapshot.”
Describing the baseline situation
requires describing both the
normal variability in
environmental components &
current trends in these time
components. Above, chart of
groundwater levels
shows both variability
and a trend over time.

Both are part of the

Source: www.encapafrica.org groundwater baseline
situation.

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 time

Source: Wathern, 1988

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

Source: www.encapafrica.org 21
Description of Impacts
 Nature
 Direction
 Magnitude or severity
 Extent/spatial dimension
 Timing
 biophysical, social, health
or economic
 direct or indirect,
cumulative, etc.
 high, moderate, low
 local, regional,
international or global
 immediate/long term
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Description of Impacts
 Duration  temporary/permanent

 Uncertainty  low likelihood/high

probability high

 Reversibility  reversible/irreversible

 Significance  unimportant/important

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Significance -importance
 In EIA it is necessary to focus on the most
significant impacts.
 Don’twaste effort and time on impacts that are less
important.

 Impact significance is not necessarily related to

the impact magnitude.
 Sometimes very small impacts may be significant.

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Integrated impacts
 Early EIA practice, only considered the
biophysical impacts such as
 effects on air and water quality, flora and fauna, noise levels,
climate and hydrological systems

 Now an integrated consideration of a range of

impacts within a single framework.
 Include social, health, and economic aspects.

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 Environment is broadly interpreted as
physical, biological, and social.

Despite a lack of internationally

consistent practice
Integrated impact assessment, linking biophysical
and socio-economic effects, is identified as an
important priority in Agenda 21

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