EIA-process

Editor's Notes

• #12: SLIDE 9 NOTES ANNEX A ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK PROJECT CATEGORIES 1.OVERVIEW This slide shows the categories used by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to differentiate between projects which require different levels of environmental review. For projects that are anticipated to be funded by ADB, every effort should be made to adhere to ADB procedure from the earliest project development stages. The categorization procedure is explained in Section 21 of ADB's Operations Manual entitled "Environmental Considerations in Bank Operations". The band uses the categorization to prioritize projects that will require the involvement of ADB environmental specialists. Project categorization can be incorporated into a country's national procedures for project screening to facilitate the prioritization of environmental resource assessment expertise. Section 21 of ADB's Operations Manual is reproduced in full in Annex B. 2.PROJECT CATEGORY A Projects in this category typically require an EIA. The project type, scale and location determine this designation. The potential significant environmental issues for these projects may lead to significant changes in land use, as well as changes to the social, physical, and biological environment. ADB suggests that an environmental specialist's advice will be required to determine the scope of the EIA necessary for compliance with ADB's environmental policies. Bank personnel are involved in this category of project from early field reconnaissance through EIA review. Additional examples of projects which fall under this category are provided in Section 21 of ADB's Operations Manual which is reproduced in full in Annex B. 3.PROJECT CATEGORY B This category is for projects that usually require an Initial Environmental Examination, but not an EIA study. Often the only difference between projects in this category and those in category A is the scale. Large power plant projects fall under category A; medium-sized power plant projects are in category B. The environmental impacts from these projects are generally less severe than projects in category A, and these projects are not located in environmentally sensitive areas. Mitigation measures for these projects are more easily prescribed. The Bank suggests that an environmental specialist will be required to assist in formulating the Terms of Reference for the IEE so that the IEE report will comply with the bank policies. Additional examples of projects which fall under this category are provided in Section 21 of ADB's Operations Manual which is reproduced in full in Annex B. 4.PROJECT CATEGORY C This category is for projects that typically do not require an environmental assessment. These projects are unlikely to have adverse environmental impacts.
• #18: OBJECTIVES OF THE INITIAL ENVIRONMENTAL EXAMINATION (IEE) 1. OVERVIEW The objectives of the IEE are to: (1) identify all of the potential environmental issues associated with the project type and location; (2) from the complete set of potential SEIs, determine which are applicable to the specific project; (3) evaluate the significance of each issue's impact on environmental resources, (4) decide which issues may be resolved in the IEE and which require an EIA, (5) resolve all issues possible within the scope of the IEE, (6) develop recommendations for additional studies to resolve outstanding issues. 2. IDENTIFY ALL POTENTIAL SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES (SEIs) AND DETERMINE THOSE THAT APPLY TO A SPECIFIC PROJECT The IEE, as its name suggests, is the initial examination of a project's environmental issues. The examination should be time and resource efficient, using existing information on the environmental resources of the area whenever possible. This function of the IEE may be viewed as a low-cost scoping study that identifies environmental issues to be resolved. A number of methods may be used to facilitate the identification of potential SEIs typical to specific project types, or projects of a particular development sector. These methods are discussed in later slides. The potential SEIs are checked against the project and study area information to determine the actual environmental issues for a particular project. The issues must be evaluated and graded according to their significance and complexity of resolution. 3. RESOLVE ALL SIMPLE SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES A work plan should be created for the simple SEIs that may be resolved within the scope of the IEE. These are the SEIs that may be resolved by easily identified and applied environmental protection measures. For these types of SEIs, the IEE can take the place of an EIA, and if no complex SEIs are found, an EIA may not be necessary. 4. DEVELOP FOCUS FOR FOLLOW-UP STUDIES Complex SEIs must be resolved through follow-up studies whose scope allow for extensive field work, in-depth analysis, and whatever else is required. Recommendations to resolve these issues must be developed and included in the IEE report. If these recommendations are accepted by reviewing agencies, the IEE will have additional responsibility of creating a complete terms of reference for the recommended study.
• #20: SLIDE 2 NOTES FLOW CHART LINKING THE FUNCTIONS OF PROJECT SCREENING INITIAL ENVIRONMENTAL EXAMINATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT 1. OVERVIEW This slide shows the functional linkage between these three steps in the Environmental Impact Assessment process. 2. PROJECT SCREENING Project screening identifies the projects that typically contain potential Significant Environmental Issues. The projects are identified, or selected, using screening criteria based on project type, size, and location. Projects that are selected must pass through an Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) so that Significant Environmental Issues (SEIs) may be identified, and when possible, resolved. 3. INITIAL ENVIRONMENTAL EXAMINATION The IEE performs four important functions. 1) It identifies the potential SEIs associated with a project. These potential SEIs are effects on environmental resources that may result from various components of a project. They may be related to the design, the construction, or the operation phase of the project. 2) It determines the actual environmental issues for the specific project and grades them according to their significance and whether or not they may be resolved within the scope of the IEE. 3) The SEIs that are simple enough to be resolved within the scope of the IEE are pursued. Environmental protection measures and an environmental management plan are developed. Projects for which all issues have been resolved in the IEE use the IEE in place of an EIA. 4) For SEIs that cannot be resolved within the scope of the IEE, recommendations are made for the work required for resolution. 4. THE EIA The EIA is used to resolve complex environmental issues. The IEE is very important for the EIA because it focuses the tasks to be performed in the study on specific complex issues, and develops the background on these issues. The EIA is a much more efficient study when it can draw on the work of the IEE.
• #21: SLIDE 3.1 NOTES FLOW CHART OF THE FUNCTIONAL STEPS IN THE INITIAL ENVIRONMENTAL EXAMINATION 1. OVERVIEW This slide shows the steps involved in performing an Initial Environmental Examination. Each of these steps will be described in the slide series. 2. USE OF THIS SLIDE The information contained in this slide was for the most part presented in the previous slide. This graphical representation may aid some participants' comprehension through reiteration of the steps in a pictorial format. In addition, the critical step of data collection is included here.
• #23: CLASSIFICATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES 1. OVERVIEW This listing of environmental resources is useful as a general checklist, but as with environmental screening checklists, it lacks situation specific information. 2. CLASSIFICATION
• #25: SLIDE 3.2.1 NOTES SECTORAL MATRICES FOR IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL SEIs 1. OVERVIEW This slide is an environmental screening matrix for the transportation sector. The impacts listed are typical of the project types. They may or may not pose an actual environmental issue to be resolved depending on the specifics of any given project and its location.
• #26: SLIDE 3.2.3 NOTES PROJECT CHECKLIST FOR IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL SEIs 1. OVERVIEW This slide shows a portion of an environmental screening checklist that may be used to identify potential SEIs. The example is a checklist for a thermal power project. The portion shown relates to the issues resulting from the selection of project location. Additional sections deal with other design considerations as well as other project implementation phases. The checklist includes a section containing general suggestions for environmental protection measures. The suggestions can be especially useful to inexperienced IEE staff.
• #28: THE ORDER OF ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS (IMPACTS) 1. OVERVIEW This slide shows an important EIA concept utilized extensively at the IEE stage. This is an important technique in identifying SEIs. It is a chain reaction effect caused by impacts to interdependent resources. In this example, the project activity that initiates the environmental impact chain is a river embankment which usually overflows during the rainy season and supports an extensive flood plains fisheries. This is a common occurrence in many deltaic areas. 2. FIRST ORDER EFFECT The river embankment causes the flood plains to dry up during the rainy season. This is an obvious first order impact. In the past, when only conventional project planning process was utilized (i.e. without an EIA) in river training schemes, consideration of environmental effects went no further than this stage. In fact, the drying up of the flood plains was the purpose of the river embankment scheme in the first place. 3. SECOND ORDER EFFECT The second order effect would be the loss of flood plain fisheries. Although this is obvious to an environmental scientist, it may not be so to an engineer in an office in the city. 4. THIRD ORDER EFFECT The third order effect is the impact on the local people who rely upon the fisheries for consumption and for income. The loss of the fisheries might have a substantial impact on them. 5. FOURTH ORDER EFFECT The fourth order effect might be an increase in social tension which could lead to violence. For instance, if the fishermen were mainly landless farmers who relied on the fisheries for most of their income, the reclamation of the land for agricultural purposes might make the large landowners wealthier and the landless fishermen poorer. This is a social equity issue. 6. CONCLUSION The chain of impacts can quickly become very complicated. The purpose of the IEE and the role of the expert is to determine which issues are substantial and where to draw boundaries on the analysis. For instance, there may or may not be productive fisheries in the flood plains; there may or may not be a substantial population which relies on the fisheries for their income and food; and there may or may not be alternative livelihoods readily available for the displaced fishermen. Through this process, all environmental issues for a project are identified.
• #29: COLLECTION OF INFORMATION ON THE PROJECT AND STUDY AREA 1. PROJECT INFORMATION Project information should be available from the project pre-feasibility team. Project type, size (or scale), and proposed location are the most important information areas. 2. STUDY AREA INFORMATION Information on the environmental resources in the study area is critical for determining the significant environmental issues (SEIs). Depending on the area, there may or may not be reports describing these resources. If there are no existing reports and the area is rich in environmental resources, the SEIs will probably have to be resolved by a full-scale EIA. 4. PREVIOUS REPORTS ON SIMILAR PROJECTS Reports on similar project types, or projects that may cause similar environmental disturbances, should be reviewed. These reports may include valuable baseline data on environmental resources as well as environmental impact assessment methodology. IEE and EIA reports are the most applicable, but feasibility studies and project permitting reports may also be useful.
• #30: OBTAINING INFORMATION ON THE ISSUES 1. OVERVIEW Sufficient information must be collected to determine which of the potential significant environmental issues pose impacts to environmental resources for the specific project in question. Where possible, the information should also be used to determine the level of significance of issues and provide a basis for developing environmental protection measures. Because the IEE is not a full-scale assessment, the information should come primarily from existing reports, whenever possible. Field data may be collected, depending on the scope of the IEE. If the IEE has the potential to act as the EIA final report, then field data is usually collected. 2. EXAMPLE REPORTS Examples of environmental resource reports are presented below. These are only a few of the many kinds of reports which may be produced on environmental resources. 2.1 Natural Physical Resources: * hydrologic surveys, geophysical surveys, soil surveys 2.2 Natural Biological Resources * timber inventories, flora and fauna inventories 2.3 Economic Development Resources * agricultural production summaries, fisheries catch statistics census data, industrial production reports, tourism statistics 2.4 Quality of Life * income stratification statistics, public health statistics
• #33: CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING THE ANTICIPATED EFFECTS (IMPACTS) OF SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 1. OVERVIEW This is one of the many steps in the IEE which require professional judgment. The categories of evaluation are somewhat subjective in their interpretation. Governmental agency guidelines, and the guidelines of international assistance agencies (IAAs), when applicable, should be referred to. 2. IMPORTANCE OF AFFECTED RESOURCE How much value is attached to the resource in its current condition? This question may have notable differences at the local, regional, national and global levels. If IAAs are involved in the project, this is a criteria for which they often specify conditions. 3. EXTENT OF DISTURBANCE How far does the disturbance of environmental resources extend? Disturbances to resources may extend a large distance but diminish rapidly beyond a critical distance. It is important to focus on significant disturbances. 4. DURATION AND FREQUENCY The duration and frequency of a disturbance can often determine its effect on an environmental resource. For example, short term intermittent flows of fresh water from dry season irrigation runoff have been found to produce beneficial impacts on the biological resources in esturine wetlands, whereas long term and frequent flows produce negative impacts on these resources. 5. RISK Risk refers to the probability of an unplanned incident caused by the project with major impacts on the environmental resources, for example a large uncontained chemical spill at a petrochemical plant. 6. REVERSIBILITY For impacts that are short term, for example many construction impacts, can the environmental resources recover? If the impact is reversible, what is the rate of recovery? If the impact is not reversible, is there another beneficial use for the area?
• #36: GRADING A PROJECT'S ANTICIPATED ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 1. OVERVIEW This slide shows a grading scale for anticipated environmental issues that may be used to determine which course of action to take to resolve them. The general matrix methodology is used to review each project activity against the list of environmental resources. Evaluation criteria are employed to assign a rating to each effect of an environmental resource by each project activity. The rating scale is described below. 2. NO EFFECT It is usually very obvious when an activity is definitely not expected to have an effect on an area of the environment. For example, if a project site is in an area lacking surface water, environmental resource categories such as surface water quality, aquatic ecology, and water related aesthetics will obviously be rated - "no effect." 3. INSIGNIFICANT EFFECTS If a potential adverse environmental effect is known, but is not considered significant, it is rated as "insignificant." An example would be an industry that uses very small amounts of cooling water which it discharges into a sewer to be treated at a centralized wastewater treatment plant. It is obvious that the discharge will have some impact on the local receiving water body, but this impact can be considered as insignificant. 4. UNKNOWN SIGNIFICANCE If there is a lack of knowledge concerning the possible environmental effects of an activity, it should be rated as having unknown significance. For example, the introduction of a large irrigation system into an area with many different types of farmers will probably have a profound socioeconomic impact, benefiting some farmers and hurting others. Without a detailed socioeconomic review, it may be difficult to anticipate what will happen. More information must be collected and this should be assigned to the EIA stage. 5. SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS BUT ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION MEASURES EASILY IMPLEMENTED Many environmental problems have standard solutions which can be easily implemented; for example pollution control for industries. If an industry burns fuel for its boiler, some air pollution will result. If a large amount of fuel is used but the industry is located in a suitable industrial area, then only standard air quality modeling needs to be performed to determine the height of the stack. This can occur as part of a follow-up study and does not need a full-scale EIA by itself. 6. SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS WITHOUT EASILY IDENTIFIABLE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION MEASURES These include environmental effects which are very large and need special or unique solutions for their resolution.
• #37: SLIDE 3.7 NOTES TREATMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES BASED ON THEIR SIGNIFICANT GRADING 1. OVERVIEW This slide shows the action to be taken on differently rated environmental issues contained in a single project. The example shows the most complex project and possible includes each of the five grades. Many projects contain issues with no significant effect, or no effect at all, and can be resolved with no further examination. 2. ISSUES WITH "NO EFFECT" OR "INSIGNIFICANT EFFECT" These issues require no further examination. The findings of the examination and the justification for the rating must be included in the appropriate section of the IEE. 3. ISSUES WITH "UNKNOWN SIGNIFICANT EFFECT" OR "SIGNIFICANT EFFECT OUTSIDE THE SCOPE OF THE "IEE" These issues require additional study, which in most cases means full scale EIA. For projects with special circumstances, additional specialized reports may be needed. The social design study, which focuses on socioeconomic issues, is one of these. A social design study report may be required for a project involving major resettlement issues. In this case, the EIA and social design study would be separate interactive reports. The IEE develops the tasks and scope for these studies. This information is the foundation for the terms of reference for future studies. All of the findings on these issues as well as the requirements for additional studies, must be included in the IEE report. 4. ISSUES WITH "SIGNIFICANT EFFECT WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE IEE" These issues may be resolved by the IEE, but environmental protection measures (EPM) and an environmental management plan must be produced. This can only be accomplished in the IEE stage if the EPMs are obvious and simply developed. For these issues, the IEE report will serve as a final EIA report. For projects whose only SEIs are of this grade, no additional reports will be required. 5. CONCLUSION The issues resolved in the IEE will undergo a similar regulatory critiquing and final approval process as that required for the EIA. This ensures that the justifications for grading the significance of environmental issues was sound and agreeable to responsible agencies. If an international assistance agency is involved in the project, it will also pursue a thorough critiquing.
• #38: SLIDE 3.8 NOTES IEE REPORT TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. OVERVIEW The IEE report is similar in content to the EIA report. It covers the description of project, the environment of the study area, and the significant environmental issues (SEIs). It also contains a development of the environmental protection measures and environmental monitoring required to resolve simple, yet significant environmental issues. Recommendations must be included for additional studies when SEIs remain unresolved due to their complex nature, or a lack of necessary information. 2. INTRODUCTION This section should include background information for the IEE study. The following subject areas are relevant: 2.1 Identification of project and project proponent 2.2 A brief description of the nature, size and location of the project 2.3 A description of the project's importance 2.4 A description of the IEE study 2.4.1 Scope 2.4.2 Staffing requirements 2.4.3 Identification of the lead agency overseeing the study 3. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT The description of the project must be sufficiently detailed so that reviewers of the study can understand the cause of the anticipated environmental impacts. The amount of detailed information available is necessarily limited by the stage of the project (ideally it should be at the pre-feasibility stage at the time of the IEE). The important subjects to be covered in this section are: 3.1 Project Type 3.2 Need for the project 3.3 Location (including maps detailing project site and the IEE study area) 3.4 Size and magnitude of project operations 3.5 Proposed schedule for implementation
• #40: SLIDE 1.1 NOTES FLOW CHART OF TERMS OF REFERENCE, INITIAL ENVIRONMENTAL EXAMINATION, AND FULL-SCALE EIA 1. OVERVIEW This slide shows the inter-relation between the Initial Environmental Examination, the Terms of Reference, and the Environmental Impact Assessment. Through this process, the significant environmental issues which remain unresolved in the IEE are linked to the study area resources which may be impacted. The research and analysis of resource impacts are the tasks to be performed in the EIA. THE TOR: 1) Delineates the study area; 2) Lists the significant issues and the related resources to be investigated and describes how the findings will be presented; 3) Details a work plan for the EIA so that the process will run smoothly, on time and within budget.
• #43: SLIDE 2.1 NOTES ANNEX A DETAILED BREAKDOWN OF TERMS OF REFERENCE BACKGROUND INFORMATION SECTION 1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1) Project Description The project information available during the initial engineering examination is likely to be preliminary. The project type (dam/hydroelectric, wastewater treatment, etc.) will be known, as well as its magnitude, proposed location, project status and project proponent. The additional project information layout, material mass balance and design criteria - represent aspects which will be dealt with in the EIA report. 2) Environmental Setting The focus of this section is the delineation of the geographical area of study, as well as description of the area in terms of environmental resources and locations of special value. The information provided by the initial examination of potentially significant issues is often insufficient to evaluate them. Extensive surveys of "at risk" environmental resources may be required. Base maps showing resource distribution are valuable for orienting these resources with respect to the proposed project location. 2. BACKGROUND REPORTS These include any reports which may be of value to the EIA team in their detailed study of the project's significant impacts on the environmental resources. The following examples relate to the environmental classification grouping on slide 2.1.1: 1)streamflow surveys, geophysical surveys, soil surveys; 2)timber inventories, ecosystem inventories; 3)agricultural production summaries, fisheries catch statistics, livestock production reports; 4)census data, public works department reports, industrial production reports, reports from the national tourism board; 5)national or regional energy board reports, United Nations ESCAP reports, reports from governmental and non-governmental agencies involved with the protection of endangered species.
• #44: SLIDE 2.1 NOTES ANNEX A DETAILED BREAKDOWN OF TERMS OF REFERENCE BACKGROUND INFORMATION SECTION 1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1) Project Description The project information available during the initial engineering examination is likely to be preliminary. The project type (dam/hydroelectric, wastewater treatment, etc.) will be known, as well as its magnitude, proposed location, project status and project proponent. The additional project information layout, material mass balance and design criteria - represent aspects which will be dealt with in the EIA report. 2) Environmental Setting The focus of this section is the delineation of the geographical area of study, as well as description of the area in terms of environmental resources and locations of special value. The information provided by the initial examination of potentially significant issues is often insufficient to evaluate them. Extensive surveys of "at risk" environmental resources may be required. Base maps showing resource distribution are valuable for orienting these resources with respect to the proposed project location. 2. BACKGROUND REPORTS These include any reports which may be of value to the EIA team in their detailed study of the project's significant impacts on the environmental resources. The following examples relate to the environmental classification grouping on slide 2.1.1: 1)streamflow surveys, geophysical surveys, soil surveys; 2)timber inventories, ecosystem inventories; 3)agricultural production summaries, fisheries catch statistics, livestock production reports; 4)census data, public works department reports, industrial production reports, reports from the national tourism board; 5)national or regional energy board reports, United Nations ESCAP reports, reports from governmental and non-governmental agencies involved with the protection of endangered species.
• #45: SLIDE 2.3.2 NOTES ANNEX A WORK PLAN TASK SCHEDULE EXAMPLE IRRIGATION PROJECT 1. OVERVIEW The scheduling of EIA tasks in the TOR is important to: a) facilitate the resolution of any task conflicts, b) properly manage the various tasks, and c) plan the budget for the tasks. Each task must be scheduled by action item (sub-task) and compared with the schedule for interdependent tasks. 2. TASK CONFLICT AND TASK MANAGEMENT Due to the interdependent nature of tasks in environmental impact assessment, the evaluation of a Task (A) often requires completion of a separate task (Task B) in another scientific discipline. If Task A and Task B are scheduled for completion at the same time, a conflict arises. Task B must be completed first. The independence of tasks and action items within tasks must be taken into account by the entire EIA team. Task interdependencies should be noted in the work plan task schedules and monitored during the production of the EIA by the planner and management staff. 3. BUDGETING Task level budgeting is facilitated by the scheduling process. Once time requirements for action items and tasks are determined, a man-hour or man-month budget can be constructed. The monetary task budget may be computed by applying the overhead rate and expected salaries to the time requirement budget. An example of a task budget developed from the work plan task schedule slide is provided in Annex B (Selected References).
• #48: SLIDE 5.2 NOTESANNEX A FLOW CHART OF THE PRIMARY ANALYSIS AND DESIGN STEPS IN THE EIA Each significant environmental issue undergoes a similar process in assessing its environmental impact. The first step is to evaluate the treatment of the issue in the IEE. This determines: (1) the adequacy of the data available on the issue, the casual aspects of the project and the baseline data on the resources affected; and (2) the adequacy of the impact prediction that was made, i.e. do the impact pathways include all of the probable higher order effects to the resources in the study area? The second step is to conduct field research to fill in the information gaps and confirm that all of the environmental resources in the study area have been taken into consideration. The information collected by the feasibility study teams helps to fill in the information gaps. Detailed descriptions of project activities are required for impact prediction. In this context, public participation is essentially field data collection from the study area and often the surround communities as well. Impact prediction is the step in which specialists determine a project's probable impacts to environmental resources. This step is divided into socioeconomic and other resources categories because socioeconomic resources are so important that they are often treated separately. An entire module is devoted to socioeconomics. Risk assessment is a specific type of impact prediction used for assessing the risks of a major project-related accident. It applies predominantly to industrial and large structure projects, but can also be applied to other projects with the potential for large impacts from unplanned occurrences. A review of standards follows the impact predictions in order to ascertain whether there are any existing standards regarding the impacts or disturbances the project may cause. Finally, an economic evaluation of the issue is performed to determine what kinds of actions are justified, based on the severity of the impacts in the issue. Environmental protection measures (EPM) are designed to address the impacts to environmental resources. They either: (1) limit the impacts to resources by reducing the disturbance that creates the impacts; or (2) replace the lost value of the resource by creating a new resource or enhancing an existing one. The monitoring plan measures the effectiveness of the EPMs in achieving their objective of maintaining levels of environmental parameters. The results of the monitoring program may suggest a change in the EPM or conclude that the EPMs are not being implemented. The environmental management plan is the terms of reference for the monitoring plan. The management plan also incorporates implementation strategies for such monitoring related activities as strengthening regulations for environmental resource protection and developing local or regional environmental protection agencies to continue ambient monitoring beyond the time frame of the EIA related monitoring.