CE437

EIA Methodologies

Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Professor
Introduction
EIA methodologies – approaches developed to identify,
predict and value changes of an action.

Do not provide complete answers to all questions related

to impacts of a potential project or a set of alternatives

One of the purpose is to ensure that all pertinent

environmental factors are included

No “universal” methodology which can be applied to all

project types in all environmental settings

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

EIA Methods: desirable characteristics
(1) It should be systematic in approach.
(2) It should be able to organize/summerize a large mass of
heterogeneous data with the least loss of information
(3) It should be able to quantify impacts relatively accurately
(4) It should have good predictive capability.
(5) It should be able to extract the salient features
(6) Should be able to display the raw data and the derived
information in a meaningful manner
(7) It should be appropriate to the necessary tasks (impact
identification, comparison of alternatives etc.)
(8) It should be sufficiently free from assessor bias
(9) It should be economical in terms of costs and its
requirements of data, investigation time, personnel and
equipment and facilities
Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed
Objective Criteria for Selecting a Method

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Objective Criteria for Selecting a Method

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Examples of EIA Methodologies

❑ Ad-hoc
❑ Checklists
❑ Matrices
❑ Networks
❑Overlays
❑ Cost-benefit analyses
❑ Adaptive Environmental Assessment and
Management (AEAM)

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Ad-Hoc Method
- Gives a broad qualitative information of value in
comparing alternatives
- Can be prepared rapidly
- Not based on expert opinion, information is stated in an
overly simplistic manner suitable for a lay decision
maker
- No information about the cause-effect relationship
between project actions and environmental components
is provided.
- The actual impacts on specific environmental
components likely to be affected by the project or those
that may require further investigation are not identified.

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Ad-Hoc Method Drawbacks

- Not comprehensive, does not encompass all relevant

impacts
- Lack of consistency in analysis as the criteria used to
evaluate are not comparable
- inherently inefficient, requires sizeable effort to identify
and assemble appropriate panel for each assessment
-it provides minimal guidance for impact analysis while
suggesting broad areas of possible impacts
- can never be replicated, thus making it difficult to review
and critique the conclusions in the EIA.

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Ad-Hoc Method: Example

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Checklists
useful in summarizing information to make it accessible to
specialists from other fields, or to decision makers who may
have a limited amount of technical knowledge.

4 main types of checklists:

(a) Simple Checklist: a list of environmental parameters with no guidelines

on how they are to be measured and interpreted.
(b) Descriptive Checklist: includes an identification of environmental
parameters and guidelines on how to measure data on particular
parameters.
(c) Scaling Checklist: listed impacts are ranked in order of magnitude or
severity
(d) Scaling Weighting Checklist: similar to a scaling checklist, with
additional information for the subjective evaluation of each parameter
with respect to all the other parameters.

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Simple Checklist Example

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Scaling and Weighting-Scaling Checklists
Used primarily for the evaluation of alternatives.

The basic procedure of evaluating alternatives:

1. determine an appropriate set of environmental factors to be
considered (for example, wildlife habitat);
2. determine the environmental impact index for each factor;
2.1 define the units of measurement for each factor
2.2 collect the data on the environmental factor
2.3 decide on a common interval scale for each
environmental factor index (e.g., 0 to 1, 0 to 10),
2.4 convert the data for the environmental factor to
environmental factor index
3. determine a weight for each environmental factor; and
4. decide on the method of aggregation across all factors (usually
additive).

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

 Scaling only and Weighting-scaling

Scaling only
Weighting-Scaling

Each weighting and scaling checklist technique will differ from others in terms of the
assumptions it makes with respect to: 1) environmental factors to be considered; 2)
techniques for constructing the index; 3) methods for determining weights on each factor;
and 4) methods used to aggregate across all factors.
Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed
Types of scales commonly used in EIA

Most descriptive information is categorical data measured on nominal scales.

Evaluative information is normally measured on ordinal, interval, or ratio
scales.

Only interval and ratio scales can be used to aggregate information on

individual environmental factors into an overall grand index.
Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed
Constructing Env. Quality indices
In the context of constructing environmental quality indices for the interval scale, the
following procedure may be followed

1. Collect information on the relationship between the factor and the quality of
the environment.
2. Order the environmental factor scale (normally the x-axis) so that the lowest
(or worst) value for the environmental factor corresponds to zero in the
environmental quality scale (normally the y-axis).
3. Divide the environmental quality scale into equal intervals ranging between
0 and 1, and determine the appropriate value of the factor for each interval.
Continue this process until a reasonable curve may be drawn.
4. Steps 1 to 3 should be repeated independently by various experts. The
average values should produce the group curve.
5. If there are large variations among the different experts, a review may be
performed.
6. Steps 1 through 5 should be repeated by various groups of experts to test
reproducibility.

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Constructing Env. Quality indices

Environmental
Value function
curves

• Requires skilled personnel.

• Not recommended for developing countries (due to potential misuse
of these methods and inherent difficulties in developing factor
indices)
Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed
Batelle Environmental Eval. System (EES)

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Environmental Impact Unit (EIU)
The EIU with and without the project in an Environmental
Evaluation System (EES) may be computed as:

𝐸𝐼𝑈 = σ𝑚 𝑚
1 𝑉𝑖 1 𝑊𝑖 - σ1 𝑉𝑖 2 𝑊𝑖

(Vi)1 = value in environmental quality of parameter i

with project
(Vi)2 = value in environmental quality of parameter i
without project
Wi = relative weight of parameter i
m = total number of parameters

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Matrices
Display of project actions or activities along one axis, with
appropriate environmental factors listed along the other axis.

They should preferably cover both the construction and the

operation phases of the project

Simple matrices are useful: 1) early in EIA processes for scoping the
assessment; 2) for identifying areas that require further research;
and 3) for identifying interactions between project activities and
specific environmental components.

Disadvantages: tend to overly simplify impact pathways, they do

not explicitly represent spatial or temporal considerations, and they
do not adequately address synergistic impacts.

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Example of Simple Matrix

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Leopold Interaction Matrices
Magnitude and importance of the impact in each cell of a matrix
can be denoted by assigning numerical values.
“Magnitude” is based on
objective evaluation

Assignment of numerical
values for “importance” is
based on the subjective
judgement of the
interdisciplinary team
working on the EIA study.

Lohani and Thanh (1980):

Relative weights are assigned
to each development activity
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Leopold Interaction Matrices: Example
Leopold Matrix showing magnitude and intensity on a scale
of 1 to 10

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Other Matrices

Fischer and Davies (1983) proposed a 3-step procedure

(1) “Environmental Baseline Evaluation”: identification of

environmental elements, evaluation of their present
condition and evaluation of their susceptibility to
management
(2) “Environmental Compatibility Matrix”: an overall
assessment of impacts from proposed development
activities
(3) “Decision Matrix”: consists of a list of the major impacts
carried forward from both steps 1 and 2.

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Environmental Compatibility Matrix

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Decision Matrix

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Information in Checklists and Matrices

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Networks
integrate impact causes and consequences through identifying
interrelationships between casual actions and the impacted
environmental factors, including those representing secondary and
tertiary effects.
Networks overcome the
limitations of matrices by
accommodating higher order
impacts.

They are also far better at

explicitly identifying the causal
basis for impacts.

They are well-suited to

identifying the interaction
between a number of activities,
components, and a single target
resource.
Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed
Network method: road sector example

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Network method: Pulp mill impacts

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Limitations of Networks
• No weighting and rating of impacts, suitable for expressing
ecological impacts but of lesser utility in social, human and
aesthetic aspects

• Temporal impacts (short and long term) are not differentiated

• Only adverse impacts are considered, decision-making based on

cost-benefit not amenable to network analysis

• The display becomes very large and unwieldy for large regional
plans

• Provide no avenue for public participation

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Overlays
Superimposed transparencies
to identify, evaluate, compare
and communicate impacts in
a geographical reference
framework

Application of GIS can make

the overlay process very
efficient and less time-
consuming

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Cost-Benefit Analysis
Strives to evaluate effects and benefits in monetary terms
and hence enables easy understanding and aids decision-
making.

Not useful for small-scale development projects, but is better

suited for large regional development plan

Disadvantage:
Explicit monetary interpretation of impacts is not always
possible (e.g. damages to health)

Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed

Adaptive Env. Assessment and Mgt. (AEAM)
o Combines various simulation models to predict impacts.

o Assumes changing conditions or project impacts unlike

other methods

o Overcomes built-in bias towards compartmentalization

and fragmentation of the relationship between project
actions and impacts.

o Can handle higher order impacts and interaction between

impacts.

Drawbacks: no public participation, simulation models

usually expensive, time-consuming, solely depend on high-
quality data
Environmental Impact Assessment Dr. Tanvir Ahmed