ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL

IMPACT ASSESSMENT (ESIA)

Slides compiled by Dr. Bhagwati Prasad

Chaudhary and forwarded by Tank
Prasad Neupane, with permission
 Introduction
Since the onset of industrialization, various activities has impacted our
environment in various ways leading to pollution and environmental degradation
.
Various pollution
sources include :
•Mining
•Acid mine drainage
•Heavy metals – Hg, Cr, Pb
(lead)
•Industrial / Commercial Pollution
•Dyes and pigments
•Petroleum / gasoline Textile Waste
•Agricultural runoff
•Pesticides
•Nutrients – nitrates,
phosphates
•Salinization – Sodium,
chloride Gasoline
•Sewage (dirt)
•Nutrients – Nitrates,
phosphates Mining Waste
•impure animal feed
Introduction
Solid Waste can Directly Impact Human Health

• Solvents – Gasoline,
diesel, chlorinated
• Leachates – Acid waste,
heavy metals
• Hazardous waste –
Metals, paints,
solvents, pesticides
• Leaking fuel tanks –
Gasoline, diesel
• Refuse - Decaying
animal and plant
matter
Introduction
 All this pollutions pose a great
danger and treat to the lives and
well being of humans and plant in
the environment.
 Soas to minimize the negative
effect of this pollutions, scientists
have various geophysical method
to access the Impact on the
environment where such things
are carried out, This process is
called Environment and Social
Impact Assessment (ESIA).
Introduction to EIA
 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) refers to
the evaluation of the environmental impacts likely
to raise from a major project significantly affecting
the environment.
 EIA can be defined as the study to predict the effect
of a proposed project on the environment.
 It is a decision making tool because EIA compares
various alternatives for a project and seeks to
identify the one which represents the best
combination of economic and environmental cost
and benefit.
Introduction to EIA
EIA systematically examines both beneficial
and adverse consequences of the project and
ensures that these effects are taken into
account during a project design.
It helps to identify possible environment
effects of the proposed project, proposes
measures to mitigate adverse effect and
predicts whether there will be significant
adverse environmental effect even after the
mitigation is implemented.
Definition of EIA
Environmental Impact Assessment is a formal process for
identifying:
• likely effects of activities or projects on the
ENVIRONMENT, and on human health and
welfare.
• means and measures to mitigate & monitor these
impacts.

 The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that

decision makers consider the ensuing environmental
impacts when deciding whether to proceed with a
project.
IMPACTS
• The impact of an activity is a deviation (a change) Environmental impacts:
from the baseline situation that is caused by the 1. Depletion of
activity. natural
resources. of habitat
2. Destruction
• The baseline situation is the existing
3. Change oxygen level,
environmental situation or condition in the
toxicity of water.
absence of the activity.
4. Increase in toxicity of
TYPES OF IMPACTS air.

Ecological Impact 5. Global warming.

Fisheries, forests, plantation 6. Ozone depletion.
Physico-chemical Impact
Erosion and Siltation, drainage congestion
/water logging, flooding, obstruction to waste
water flow, dust /noise pollution
Impact on Human Interest
Loss of agricultural lands, generation of employment opportunities, navigation
and boat communication, commercial and service facilities, industrial activities,
irrigation facilities
Aims and objectives of EIA
To establish the baseline condition of the physical , chemical,
biological and socio-cultural and health environment around
the proposed site and within the area of influence prior to
project implementation.
To identify, predict and access the associated as well as
potential impacts of the proposed project/action on the
environment.
To identify ways of improving project’s environmental
sustainability and mitigating adverse impact.
Importance/Benefits of EIA
To ensures safety of living thing in the environment.
To know the extent of damage caused by activities such as pollution.
Reduced environmental damage.
Optimum utilization of resources and saving of time and cost of
the project.
Lower project costs in the long-term
Increased project acceptance.
Improved project design
Informing the consequences to decision maker to make good
decisions.
Environmentally sensitive decisions.
It also helps to lessens conflict by promoting community
participation.
Helping lay the base for environmentally sound project after the
green signal from the government.
EVOLUTION OF EIA
EIA is one of the successful policy innovations of the 20th Century for
environmental conservation. Thirty-seven years ago, there was no EIA but today, it
is a formal process in many countries and is currently practiced in more than
100 countries. EIA as a mandatory regulatory procedure originated in the early
1970s, with the implementation of the National Environment Policy Act (NEPA)
1969 in the US. A large part of the initial development took place in a few high-
income countries, like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (1973-74). However,
there were some developing countries as well, which introduced EIA relatively
early - Columbia (1974), Philippines (1978).

Prior to this there was no former idea of EIA when any project was undertaken.
Considering the environmental changes condition and climate changes taking
place, this concept came into relevance more and more.
Evolution of EIA
In India the concept of EIA was started in
1978-79 with the River valley project.
In 1986, under the environmental protection
act, EIA became mandatory for 29 categories
of developmental activities that involves
investments of Rs 5o crore and above.
In 1994, the amendments were made in the
environmental protection act 1986, and 12
new notification were released.
Evolution of EIA
In 2006, again some changes were made
to previous Environment protect act 1994
concepts and these made it mandatory for
Industries like mining, thermal, river
valley, infrastructure (roads, highway,
port, airport etc), and industries which
mainly were related to electroplating.
Evolution of EIA
 After 2006 amendments, In the screening process the
project is divided into category A project and Category
B project.
 Category A project are appraised at national level by
impact assessment agency (IAA) and the expert
appraisal committee (EAC) for providing
environmental clearance.
 Category B project are appraised at state level by state
level environment impact assessment authority
(SEIAA) and state level expert appraisal committee
(SIAC) are constituted to provide clearance to category
B project.
Evolution of EIA
The EIA process really took off after the
mid-1980s. In 1989, the World Bank
adopted EIA for major development
projects, in which a borrower country
had to undertake an EIA under the Bank's
supervision.
PROCESS OF EIA

1)Screening:
Screening often
results in a
categorization of the
project and from this
a decision is made on
whether the proposed
project requires an
EIA or not and if does
then how much level
of assessment is
required.
Process of EIA
2) Scooping: This stage identifies the key issues and
impacts that should be further investigated. This stage
also defines the boundary and time limit of the study.
TOR or Terms of Reference is a document produced by
the authority conducting the EIA study. It is formed
during Scoping-the second stage in the EIA process. A
TOR is drawn up with the following questions in mind.
 The purpose of the study/project.
 The extent of the study.
 The stakeholders’ requirements; each stakeholder looks
at different aspects of the project differently. Complex
information needs to be explained appropriately.
 Process of EIA
2. Scooping
 This stage of EIA also identifies and predicts the likely
environment and social impact of the proposed project
known as impact assessment.

 After we have screened a project to see if it requires an

EIA or not, and after we have conducted the scoping
process (which includes baseline study, impact assessment
in the form of checklists/matrices/networks and creating a 
ToR), we come to the third step of Environmental Impact
Assessment: Prediction and Mitigation.
Process of EIA
3) Prediction and Mitigation: Predictions help us investigate how severe
the activity could impact on an environmental aspect. For example, if
the water quality in the area is to be affected by the waste disposal of
our developmental activity, we would, in this step, try to figure out
 how much will be the pollution.
 what will be the pollutants.
 how far will these pollutants travel in the water.
 what areas will these pollutants affect.
 what life forms will the pollutants affect.
 for how long will their effects linger.

Once the social and environmental impact is identified then in this step
EIA recommends the actions to reduce and avoid the potential adverse
environmental consequences of developmental activities.
Process of EIA
4) Reporting: This stage presents the result of EIA in a form of
a report to the decision making body and other interested
parties. The main output report is called an Environmental
Impact Statement, and contains a detailed plan for managing
and monitoring environmental impacts both during and after
implementation.

5) Review of EIA: It examines the adequacy and effectiveness

of the EIA Report and provides the information necessary for
decision making.

6) Decision making: It decides whether the project is rejected,

approved or needs further change.
Process of EIA
7) Post Monitoring: This stage comes into play
once the project is commissioned. It checks to
ensure that the impacts of the project do not
exceed the legal standards and implement
action of the mitigation measures are in the
manner as described in the EIA report.
8) Audit: Finally, an audit of the EIA process
is carried out some time after implementation.
The audit serves a useful feedback and
learning function.
EIA Procedure
1) Start with submitting the Application with
proper documentation to Scrutiny Board
2) The document submitted are scrutinize by
the Scrutiny Board as per the notification
released by the government.
3) Now these Scrutiny Board will release No
Objection Certificate (NOC)
4) This NOC is then submitted to SPCB
(State pollution control Board)
EIA Procedure
5) Now once this SPCB arranges a hearing,
it may ask some additional document
that it require.
6) Then finally the document is reviewed by
Environmental Appraisal committee. It
will either accept it, reject it or suggest
some changes to make. If it suggest
some changes to make, then after the
incorporation of changes again EIA
procedure repeats.
Tools for EIA
Ad hoc Methods
Checklist Method
Matrix Method
Network Method
1. Ad hoc Methods
 Here in this method the impact of project on
environment is done through expert based on their
experience.
 A team of specialists depending on their area of
expertise would provide minimum guidance
without going into detailed scientific investigation
of environmental impacts of projects.
 When more scientific methods are available, it is
not recommended.
 The types of Ad hoc method are Opinion poll,
Experts Opinion, Delphi Methods etc.
Ad hoc Method
Advantage Disadvantage

Specialists on a particular area Short/long term impacts are

will provide guidance
merely examined on guess
basis.
Identification, prediction and
interpretation of impacts are
quite poor.
2. Checklist Method
More specifically, checklists are prepared
as part of the impact prediction step in the
Scoping stage of EIA. This step follows the
baseline study, and incorporates much of
the data obtained from it. Basically, this
impact prediction step is to understand
which activities of the project is going to
affect which environmental aspects in the
study area.
 2. Checklist Method
This form of impact assessment forces the EIA team to think creatively. They
are required to come up with all possible impacts a project can have. For
example, let’s take a proposed oil drilling project. The drilling itself, is likely to
have the following impacts-
 The drilling action will impact the physical properties of the soil.
 Since the drilling fluid can alter the physical properties. It can be potentially
fatal to the organisms living there.
 The drilling will send vibrations laterally as well as deep into the earth. It can
therefore, impact the soil and life in the soil not just in the drilled area, but
areas beyond.
 The drilling fluid can interact with groundwater, polluting it. Further, it can go
on to impact the populations depending on this groundwater source for their
water needs.
 Drilling is going cause a lot of noise pollution.
 Siesmicity generated due to drilling can impact possible faults below the point
of origin. It could potentially trigger earthquakes and landslides.
 Things to look out for during the preparation of the checklist are-

 It is important to consider the different levels of

impact caused by an activity. For example, a change in
site run-off can affect the hydrology in the watershed
(primary impact); it can also affect the fishes living in the
river (secondary impact).
 Certain effects are temporary, while others are long-
term. Both form of effects need to be identified and
specified.
 Intermittent effects, caused by freak accidents or
abnormal natural events should also be considered.
 All of these effects should be viewed individually as well
as cumulatively.
 When answered, it looks like this
No Questions Yes/ Which characteristics of the Is the effect likely to be
. No project environment could be significant? Why?
affected and why?
 Different forms of Checklist
 Simple- Where a list of activities is drawn up against
which the aspects it will impact is written down.
 Descriptive- Along with the aspects, information on
how this aspect is affected is written down. This is
where levels of impact is considered.
 Scaling- Against each impact, a scale of 1-3 is used
to quantitatively estimate the impact (completely
subjective).
 Questionnaire- This is what is described above. This
also takes stakeholders’ opinion into account. It is
detailed and comprehensive.
3. Matrix Method
• Simple matrix
This is simply a list of environmental aspects listed along
the vertical axis, against which we determine whether an
activity would have an adverse effect, no effect or
beneficial effect. A simple “x” or “tick” is given under the
appropriate column.
 • Simple matrix
Sometimes, the activities are listed along the horizontal axis with the
environmental aspects in the vertical axis, and the same “x” is given to
those pairs that have an interaction between themselves.
• Leopold matrix
This matrix consists of a list of 100 project
activities on the horizontal axis, and about
88 environmental/social aspects on the
vertical axis. The environmental aspects
listed on the vertical axis are those that are
likely to be affected by any of the project
activities. This was designed by Leopold in
1971.
• Leopold matrix

The cells of the matrix are

divided by a diagonal
line. The top division is used
to describe the magnitude of
the impact that activity will
have on the environmental
aspect, and the bottom
division is used to describe
the significance of that
impact. 

Both, the magnitude and the significance, are rated on a scale of 1 to 10.
This is subjective to the surveyor and is based on the baseline data
collected. If a cell has no division, it means that the activity has no
impact on the environmental aspect.
• Leopold matrix
 Disadvantage of Leopold matrix
 The one big disadvantage of the Leopold matrix is that it does
not clearly describe sequential effects of the environmental
activity. It merely gives us the magnitude and significance of the
interaction.

 Second, it tends to be too simplified when you require a

comprehensive analysis of the impacts on the project area. A
numerical value of the magnitude and impact is not sufficient for
a contractor to understand the impact.
 Third, they cannot explain linkages between two environmental
aspects. In other words, it does not describe secondary and
tertiary impacts. It is extremely likely that more than one
activity will have multiple levels of impacts on the environmental
aspects of the project area. How will you collect this information?
4. Network Method
The third common method of assessing
impacts in EIA is called the Network
method. This was first developed by
Sorenson in 1971, primarily to explain
linkages between different environmental
aspects.
It is solely used to illustrate and understand
primary, secondary and tertiary impacts of
a developmental activity.
4. Network Methods

Networks are usually in the form of flow charts as shown above.

Advantage of Network Method
Networks help us follow the chain of
events of a developmental projects, and its
associated impacts.
It can assess multiple impacts at the same
time, helping us identify links that can easily
be overlooked in the checklist or matrices
forms of impact assessment.
It can be artistically pleasing and easy to
follow if done in a proper way. Often,
networks are called “impact trees”.
 Disadvantage of Network Method
However, networks do have considerable
disadvantages.
Unlike matrices, networks give no
information at all about the magnitude and
the significance of impacts.
Further, no matter how hard you try,
the networks can get very long and messy.
This is especially the case if the project being
assessed is a large scale project.  
.
IMPACT MITIGATION
 Mitigation is the step where experts sit down with the
project supporters to come up with alternatives to certain
project activities so that they can reduce the adverse
impacts on the environmental aspects of the project area.
Priority is given to those activities that are having an
extremely severe impact. The mitigation measures can
be in the form of alternative technology, design,
machinery, process, location, raw materials, etc.
 Alternatives are also looked at from the monetary
perspective. Depending on the budget of the project,
certain extremely beneficial alternatives are discarded
(unfortunately) and less costly alternatives are arrived at.
Impact Mitigation Conti..
 Ideally, the project should only start once all the
impacts are assessed, predicted and mitigation
measures are suggested. However, EIA tends to
take a long time and the project proponents will
have already started preparation of the project.
Sometimes, the project may even be underway. In
such cases, some of the predicted values may be
wrong (for better or worse) and some of the
mitigation steps cannot be implemented. Again,
alternatives are suggested unless the predicted
values show that the impact will be very severe.
Thank You
Reference
https://
eco-intelligent.com/2016/12/10/networks-in-enviro
nmental-impact-assessment/
https://eco-intelligent.com/2016/11/12/checklists-i
n-environmental-impact-assessment
/
https://books.google.com.np/books?
id=5lBTMVw7yU4C&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=
opinion+poll+method+in+EIA&source=bl&ots=Bj
V8x1f7xL&sig=oh9oKrw4deZh_n7r4eOEbuold98
&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQq5Tk56zcAhUS
SX0KHdvhBqMQ6AEIYzAF#v=onepage&q=opi
nion%20poll%20method%20in%20EIA&f=false