all Flashcards
9 planetary boundaries?
- Climate change
- Biodiversity loss
- Biogeochemical
- Ocean acidification
- Land use
- Freshwater
- Ozone depletion
- Atmospheric aerosols
- Chemical pollution
EIA?
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is dealing with the identification, analysis and assessment of environmental impacts of certain (infrastructure) projects; it is involving the public; it is reporting its results, which serve as support for the (elected) decision-makers.
Env. issues in EIA?
A description of the aspects of the environment likely to be significantly affected by the proposed project, including, in particular population and human health; biodiversity; fauna; flora; land; soil; water; air; climate; material assets, cultural heritage and the landscape; and the interaction between the above factors.
describe austrian EIA process?
Competent authority checks both permit application and project proponent‘s environmental statement
Providing those two documents to different stakeholders for getting their comments
Sending all documents to the municipality concerned, where these are publicly available
Elaborating the environmental report (ER)
Providing the ER to project proponent, authorities concerned, general public and other stakeholders, opportunity to comment on the documents
Public hearing
Decision-making
Approval of project before operation phase starts
Monitoring
what’s the histrorical development of EIA?
- First EIA Act worldwide introduced in…
- … the United States: NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act [of 1969]), came into effect on 1 January 1970
- In particular, NEPA regulates procedural requirements for all federal government agencies in order to prepare Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs), which try to predict and assess the environmental effects of proposed federal agency actions
- 1970 CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act)
- 1974 Australia
- 1976 France
- 1985 EU (then European Community)
- 1994 India
- Today, the most countries on our planet have introduced EIA legislation. However, often there is gap between legislation on the one hand and implementation/enforcement on the other hand!
what is NEPA? describe?
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a United States environmental law that promotes the enhancement of the environment and established the President’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The law was enacted on January 1, 1970.
- Six objectives in Sec. 101 (b)
- The NEPA process contains the typical elements/stages of any EIA process, so it’s worth to have a closer look to it
- Key terms: Screening; scoping; public involvement; EIS/environmental report
(! )Desctibe EIA process?
The EIA process makes sure that environmental issues are raised when a project or plan is first discussed and that all concerns are addressed as a project gains momentum through to implementation. Recommendations made by the EIA may necessitate the redesign of some project components, require further studies, suggest changes which alter the economic viability of the project or cause a delay in project implementation. To be of most benefit it is essential that an environmental assessment is carried out to determine significant impacts early in the project cycle so that recommendations can be built into the design and cost-benefit analysis without causing major delays or increased design costs. To be effective once implementation has commenced, the EIA should lead to a mechanism whereby adequate monitoring is undertaken to realize environmental management. An important output from the EIA process should be the delineation of enabling mechanisms for such effective management.
The way in which an EIA is carried out is not rigid: it is a process comprising a series of steps. These steps are outlined below and the techniques more commonly used in EIA are described in some detail in the section Techniques. The main steps in the EIA process are:
- screening
- scoping
- prediction and mitigation
- management and monitoring
- audit
Figure 1 shows a general flow diagram of the EIA process, how it fits in with parallel technical and economic studies and the role of public participation. In some cases, such as small-scale irrigation schemes, the transition from identification through to detailed design may be rapid and some steps in the EIA procedure may be omitted.
- Screening often results in a categorization of the project and from this a decision is made on whether or not a full EIA is to be carried out.
- Scoping is the process of determining which are the most critical issues to study and will involve community participation to some degree. It is at this early stage that EIA can most strongly influence the outline proposal.
- Detailed prediction and mitigation studies follow scoping and are carried out in parallel with feasibility studies.
- 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.
- Finally, an audit of the EIA process is carried out some time after implementation. The audit serves a useful feedback and learning function.
Desctibe EIA steps (5)? how many, meaning of each?
The main steps in the EIA process are:
- screening
- scoping
- prediction and mitigation
- management and monitoring
- audit
- Screening often results in a categorization of the project and from this a decision is made on whether or not a full EIA is to be carried out.
- Scoping is the process of determining which are the most critical issues to study and will involve community participation to some degree. It is at this early stage that EIA can most strongly influence the outline proposal.
- Detailed prediction and mitigation studies follow scoping and are carried out in parallel with feasibility studies.
- 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.
- Finally, an audit of the EIA process is carried out some time after implementation. The audit serves a useful feedback and learning function.
Describe EU EIA Directive?
Structure: 16 articles plus 5 annexes. Important:
•Article 2.1 (main goal); Article 3 (environmental factors to be considered); Article 4 (projects that have to undergo an EIA or that might be subject to an EIA; refers to Annex I and Annex II); Articles 5 to 9 (EIA process); its elements: E.g., information to be provided by the developer (= project proponent), EIA report (Art. 5); public participation (Art. 6); impact on other Member States (Art. 7); decision (Art. 8a)
•As already mentioned, the Directive has to be implemented by Member States (deadline 16 May 2017)
- “The results of consultations and the information gathered pursuant to Articles 5 to 7 shall be duly taken into account in the development consent procedure”. (but do not substitute the decision-making; see Art. 8);
- Annex I and Annex II with list of projects and thresholds corresponding screening
- Annex IIa: Information to be provided by developer for Annex II projects
- Annex III: Screening criteria for Annex II projects
- Annex IV: Information for EIA Report, to be elaborated by the developer
Describe Austrian EIA Act?
- Transposition of the requirements of the EIA Directive into Austrian legislation
- Difference EU Directive/EU Regulation
•Annex I of the Austrian EIA Act for screening, covers 89 different types of projects
•Distinguishes between full EIA (column 1) and simplified EIA (column 2 and column 3)
•Different thresholds, different procedure, different time scale, certain protected areas for column 3
Too specific, so no further details
what is Espoo Convention?
The Espoo (EIA) Convention sets out the obligations of Parties to assess the environmental impact of certain activities at an early stage of planning. It also lays down the general obligation of States to notify and consult each other on all major projects under consideration that are likely to have a significant adverse environmental impact across boundaries (see some examples).
The Convention was adopted in 1991 and entered into force on 10 September 1997
- EIA in a transboundary context
- http://www.unece.org/env/eia/eia.html
- Deals with obligations of countries concerning major projects under consideration that are likely to have a significant adverse environmental impact across boundaries
Link b-n World Bank and EIA?
- Key document: Operational Manual (OP) 4.01 - Environmental Assessment (as of February 2011)
- Crucial for projects funded by development aid/development assistance/development co-operation
EIA: Technical terms: Describe Screening?
•Screening
–Whether or not an EIA is required; can be done with thresholds (like Austrian EIA Act), case-by-case analysis, checklist (like Annex 1 and Annex 2 of EU EIA Directive as of 2014)
EIA: Technical terms: Describe Scoping?
–the important issues/environmental factors/significant effects to be considered in an EIA
–the appropriate time and space boundaries of the EIA
–methods and indicators to be used
–any alternatives for the proposed project including the do-nothing one
EIA: Technical terms: Describe Impact prediction?
•Impact prediction
–Magnitude of impact (none, some, major, irreversible)
–Temporal distribution (short, medium or long term)
–Direct or secondary, …
EU EIA Directive requirements?
To identify, describe and assess in an appropriate manner, in the light of each individual case, the direct and indirect significant effects of a project on (…), considering the items listed in Annex III, issue 3
EIA: Technical terms; last slide
Impact assessment
–Often done with a table/matrix
–Example:
–http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/nee-14a-impact-assessment-tables.pdf/$FILE/nee-14a-impact-assessment-tables.pdf
•Decision-making (often approval, but mitigation measures required)
•Monitoring
•All, some or at least one stage/s including public involvement