EIA

Environmental Impact Assessment

Environmental Impact Assessment

Introduction

The exhaustion of natural resources and environmental humiliation by human deeds has raised the concern and issues in the last decades. These issues and concerns made it clear for the authorities and environmentalists to work on the environmental effects of the large scale construction and development. Environmental Impact Assessment or EIA is one of the procedures available to block these flooding environmental issues. EIA takes in the organised identification and estimation of the impacts on the environment that will be the cause of a proposed project.

To estimate the scope and importance of EIA, in this paper or essay we will discuss if Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is an essential process for confirming that the impacts of new proposed project on the environment have been totally taken into account and are fully understood. And if EIA is necessary before the construction is allowed to go ahead or not.

Discussion

Definition and Objectives of EIA

There are several definitions of Environmental Impact Assessment such as

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a systematic process to determine the environmental impacts caused directly or indirectly by a future proposed development project.

Environmental impact assessment is an activity which recognizes, calculates, deduces and communicates information, and suggests methods, to the effects of a projected work or development plan on the ecosystem of that area.

The term “Environmental Impact Assessment” is described as a technique that helps the developer to collect the information regarding environmental effects on his project from different sources.

The information collected during EIA is taken into consideration by the proper supervisory body to decide whether the development should go ahead or not. It is necessary for the Agency before considering the licence application from the developer, to ask the developer to provide information about the projects especially its effects on eco-system of the proposed development area. In UK EIA is well established procedure mainly in development consent. It provides a public scrutiny of the proposed project and help in evaluating the importance of expected effects and scoping their modification before issuing the license to the developer.

Main objectives of Environmental Impact assessment are

To develop the best possible eco-logical design of the plan.

To ensure the efficient use of natural resources.

To recognize the proper method for determination of the possible impacts of the plan.

To implement the environmental terms and conditions on the projected plan.

To protect human health and safety.

To evade serious damages and permanent changes to the environment.

To defend the ecosystem and its resources.

To make the proposal socially acceptable for all stakeholders.

Steps required in EIA Processes

EIA is usually carried out in eight different steps that starts from the screening and ends at post monitoring. These eight steps are briefly discussed below.

Screening is the first stage of EIA and it is used to determine if the project needs an EIA or not. If required then what will be the level of assessment.

Scoping is the stage that finds out the key effects that should further be inspected in detail. This stage also draws the limitation and time required for ...