Impacts of Development on Environment

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 Grouping of Environmental Impacts
Environmental impacts resulting from proposed actions can be grouped into the
following categories (MOEF, 2010)

• Beneficial or detrimental
• Naturally reversible or irreversible
• Repairable via management practices or irrepairable
• Short term or long term
• Temporary or continuous
• Occurring during construction phase or operational phase
• Local, regional, national or global
• Accidental or planned (recognized before hand)
• Direct (primary) or Indirect (secondary)
• Cumulative or single

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 Project level EIA Effects

Project Level EIA Effects

Economic Impacts
Social Impacts Environmental Impacts
Markets, Technologies,
Health, Demography, Global Environmental
Resource, Management,
Work, Recreation, Systems, Eco systems,
Industrial, Structure,
Consumption, Culture, Habitats, Resources, Air,
Regional Development,
Values Water, Soil
Business Practices, Trade

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 Direct Impacts
Direct impacts occur through direct interaction of an activity with an
environmental, social or/and economic component.

Example:
Discharge of any industry or an effluent from the Effluent Treatment
Plant (ETP) from industrial estates into a river may lead to a decline in
water quality in terms of high Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) or
Dissolved Oxygen (DO) or rise of water toxins.

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Direct Impacts – Discharge of Effluent

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 Indirect Impacts
Indirect impacts on the environment are those which are not a direct
result of the project, often produced away from or as a result of complex
impact pathway. The indirect impacts are also known as secondary or
even third level impacts.

Example:
Ambient air SO2 rise due to stack emissions may deposit on land as SO4
and cause acidic soils

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Indirect Impacts

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Acid rain cycle

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 Cumulative Impacts
Cumulative impact consists of an impact that is created as a result of the
combination of the project evaluated in the EIA together with other
projects causing related impacts.

Example:
Expansion of the production capacity in any cement plant and
establishment of captive power plant on the same premises.

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Cumulative Impacts

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Cumulative Impacts – Captive Power Plant

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 Induced Impacts
Cumulative impacts can be, due to induced actions of projects and
activities that may occur. The action under assessment is implemented
such as growth inducing impacts and other effects related to induced
changes to the pattern of future land use or additional road network,
population density or growth rate.

Example:
New roads leading from those constructed for a project, increased
recreational activities and construction of new service facilities are
examples of induced actions.

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