Lecture 2 Flashcards

1
Q

What is EA?

A

A process designed to identify the potential environmental impacts of a project or action. used to help countries work towards more sustainable development

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2
Q

What is sustainable development?

A

Develoment that meets the needs of todays generation without compromising those of future generation

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3
Q

What are the 2 basic steps of EA?

A
  1. Impact identification

2. Impact Avoidance/ mitigation

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4
Q

Is EA technical or political?

A

both

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5
Q

When was EA introduced?

A

In 1969 it was introduced as the US National Environmental Policy- motivated by public concern regrding the quality of the environment and the lack of environmental and social considerations in the decision making process for major projects

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6
Q

What did the 2002 Earth Summit result in?

A

3 major agreements focused on changing traditional thoughts and approaches to development
and 2 legally binding conventions to prevent global climate chnge and the destruction of biodiversity

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7
Q

What did Agenda 21 state?

A

Set of principles providing gudance on acheiving sustainable development.
(Nations are not legally obligated to comply wiht it)

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8
Q

What did the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development state?

A

Principles suporting agenda 21, defines the responsibilities and rights of States with respect to achieving sustainable development

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9
Q

What did the statement of forest principles outline?

A

underlying set of principles for worldwide sustainable forest management

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10
Q

What did the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change State?

A

Legally binding international convention to stabalize greenhouse gas emissions and concentrations in the atmosphere

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11
Q

What did the Convention on Biodiversity state?

A

Legally binding international convention to conserve biology

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12
Q

What is a short term goal of EA?

A

To inform decision makers of the potentially significant environmental effects and risks associated with development proposals

  • Improve environmental design of projects
  • Resource use is efficient and appropriate
  • id appropriate measures for mitigating impacts
  • facilitating informed decision-making
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13
Q

What are long-term objectives for EA?

A
  • Protecting human health and safety
  • Avoiding irreversible changes and serious environmental damage
  • Safeguard calued resources, ecosystem components, and natural areas
  • enhancing the social aspects of the proposal
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14
Q

What are the 3 core values of EA?

A

Integrity, Utility and Sustainability

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15
Q

What is EA integrity?

A

The process should meet internationally accepted requirements and standards of practice

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16
Q

What is EA Utility?

A

Process should provid the info which is sufficient and relevant for decision making

17
Q

What is EA sustainability?

A

proces should result in the implementation of environmental measure that are sufficient to avoid the irreversible loss of resource and ecosystem function, as well as mitigate serious adverse effects

18
Q

What are some targets of good EA practice?

A
  • Screens out projects with unacceptable environmental risks
  • Allows for the design of feasible projects to be modified in order to reduce thier impact
  • identifies the best, practical envr option
  • Predicts, with accuracy, the significant adverse effects of proposals
  • identifies mitigation measures that successfully avoid, reduce and offset major impacts
  • results in environmental benefits and gains relative to other options
19
Q

What are principles of good EA practice?

A

purposive, rigorous, practical, relevant, cost-effective, efficient, focused, adaptive, participative, interdisciplinary, credible, integrated, transparent, and systematic

20
Q

What are some benefits of EA?

A
  • Better environmental and human health protection
  • Improved environmental planning and project design
  • Better compliance with environmental standards
  • increased project acceptance
  • reduced time and cost associated with gaining approvals
21
Q

What are some costs of EA?

A

CAn be expressed monetarily or in terms of project schedule or time.

  • EA cost estimations can be difficult with extensive investigations and reporting
  • EA can cause excessive delays to the project
22
Q

What are some Limitations of EA?

A

Technical shortcomings from poor quality reports not meeting internationally accepted standards

  • Impact predictions are of questionable accuracy
  • mitigation and management measures are of questionable utility
  • reports for decision making are of questionable relevance
23
Q

What are examples of formal EA?

A

NEPA (US), EARP (60s+70s CAN) ,CEAA, ONTARIO