Environmental

Impact Assessment
(EIA)

GROUP NO. – 08
Arush Jain
Ashish Pandey
Deepika Chaurasiya
Vandana Malpani
Vinod Chaubey
“There is a sufficiency in the

world for man's need but

not for man's greed”... 

- Mohandas K. Gandhi
 ti on
duc
tr o
In
 Human Inhumane Activities
• The city of today is a major performer for the secondary sector of the
economy.

• Manufacturing and processing facilities for industrial development

have led to an adverse impact on the local environment at costs which
are much higher than the benefits actually accrued.

• In view of the deteriorating environmental conditions in and around

industrial townships, it has become necessary to account for the
environment while planning for such areas.
 n t a l
n m e n t
v i r o s m e
En s s e s
a c t A )
Im p I A
(E
Environmental impact assessment is defined as:

"the process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and

mitigating the biophysical, social, and other relevant effects
of development proposals prior to major decisions being
taken and commitments made”

- International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA)

 EIA
• EIA is an assessment of the possible positive or negative impact that
a proposed project may have on the environment, together
consisting of the natural, social and economic aspects.

• It is a formal study process used to predict the environmental

consequences of any development project.

• EIA thus ensures that the potential problems are foreseen and
addressed at an early stage in project planning and design.
 Evolution

EIAs began to be used in the 1960s as part of a rational

decision making process. EIA was made legislation in the US
in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 1969. It
has since evolved as it has been used increasingly in many
countries around the world.
 Objectives

• Predict environmental impact of projects.

• Find ways and means to reduce adverse impacts.

• Shape project to suit local environment.

• Present the predictions and options to the decision maker

 Techniques Used
• Industrial products - Product environmental life cycle
analysis is used for identifying and measuring the impact on
the environment of industrial products.

• Genetically modified plants - There are specific methods

available to perform EIAs of genetically modified plants.
Some of the methods are GMP-RAM, INOVA etc.

• Fuzzy Arithmetic - To assess the impacts we need to take the

help of information from similar EIAs, expert criteria,
sensitivity of affected population etc.
 Critical Steps
01 • Preliminary activities

02 • Impact identification

03 • Baseline study
04 • Impact evaluation
05 • Assessment
06 • Documentation
07 • Decision-making

08 • Post audits
 Procedure
• Only for Annex II projects
Screening

• Upon request of the developer

Scoping

• The “Report”
Environmental information

Consultation on • Public, Environmental Authorities

environmental information

• Takes into account environmental

Decision information and consultations
 Project Bifurcations

• Annex I Mandatory
Projects EIA

• Annex II Screening
Projects by Competent authorities to
decide if EIA is needed or not
 Annex I
All projects listed in Annex I are large scale developments and are
considered as having significant effects on environment and therefore
always require an EIA. Some Examples:

Overhead electrical Long-distance Disposal of non- Waste water

power lines railway lines, hazardous waste treatment plants
motorways, express
roads, airports

Installations Waste water

Voltage of
for disposal > treatment plants
220kV or more Basic runway 100 tonnes/day > 150 MT
length ≥ 2100 m

Length more
than 15 km
 Annex II
• Annex II projects are smaller in scale such as small instalments, and
maintenance works. These are those projects which do not feature in
Annex I and do not require an EIA.

• For projects listed in Annex II, the national authorities have to

decide whether an EIA is needed. This is done by the "screening
procedure", which determines the effects of projects on the basis of
thresholds/criteria or a case by case examination.

• Railways, roads waste disposal installations, waste water treatment

plants, other types of urban development projects, flood-relief
works, changes of Annex I and II existing projects are some
examples.
 n di a
in I
E IA
 India fails yet again!!!

Yamuna River Protection and Rehabilitation

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.

Commonwealth Games Village (CGV)

 Criticism

• There is growing dissent on the use of EIA as its influence on

development decisions is limited and there is a view it is
falling short of its full potential.

• EIAs have often been criticized for having too narrow spatial
and temporal scope. At present no procedure has been
specified for determining a system boundary for the
assessment.
 Challenges

• Approach of shifting focus from projects proponent to people

affected - both beneficially and adversely.

• Clarity of EIA scheme.

• Reliability of information/data.

• Adequacy of methods for assessing impacts and placing

appropriate weight on negative environmental impacts in relation
to developmental factors.

• Availability of resource capabilities.

 Conclusion

“The difference between animals and

humans is that animals change themselves

for the environment, but humans change

the environment for themselves”

- Ayn Rand
 u!! !
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