Practical Environmental Impact Assessment, Environmental Audit and Social Impact Assessment

A must read book for environmental planners, managers, policy makers, professors and students.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a critical examination of the effects of a project on the environment. An EIA identifies both negative and positive impacts of any development activity or project, how it affects people, their property and the environment. EIA also identifies measures to mitigate the negative impacts while maximizing positive ones. It is basically a preventive process, which seeks to minimize adverse impacts on the environment and reduces risks. If properly conducted, then the safety of the environment can be properly managed at all stages of a project cycle- planning, design, construction, operation/ implementation, monitoring and evaluation as well as decommissioning.

Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines

The environmental impact assessment guidelines require that environmental impact assessment be conducted in accordance with the issues and general guidelines spelt out in the second and third schedules of the regulations NEMA.

Goal and objectives of EIA:
According to NEMA, and GoK the goal of EIA is to ensure that decisions on proposed projects and activities are environmentally sustainable. The specific objectives of EIA are:

1. To identify impacts of a project on the environment;
2. To predict the likely changes on the environment as a result of the development;
3. To evaluate the impacts of the various alternatives on the project (including a no project alternative);
4. To propose mitigation measures for the significant negative impacts of the project on the environment
5. To generate baseline data for monitoring and evaluating impacts, including mitigation measures during the project cycle;
6. To highlight environmental issues with a view to guiding policy makers, planners, stakeholders and government agencies to make environmentally and economically sustainable decisions.

Which projects require EIA?
Projects warranting EIA are specified in the 2nd schedule of EMCA 1999. The environmental impact assessment guidelines require that environmental impact assessment be conducted in accordance with the issues and general guidelines spelt out in the second and third schedules of the regulations. This include coverage of the issues on schedule 2 (ecological, social, landscape, land use and water considerations) and general guidelines on schedule 3 (impacts and their sources, project details, national legislation, mitigation measures, a management plan and environmental auditing schedules and procedures). The full list is as shown below:

1. General: (i) an activity out of character with its surroundings; (ii) A structure out of scale with its surrounding; (iii) Major changes in land use.
2. Urban development
3. Transport
4. Dams, rivers, water resources;
5. Aerial spraying;
6. Mining, including quarrying and open cast extraction;
7. Forestry related activities;
8. Processing and manufacturing industries;
9. Electrical infrastructure
10. Management of hydrocarbons;
11. Waste disposal;
12. Natural conservation areas;
13. Nuclear reactors
14. And major developments in biotechnology