Question

What is the EIA in short?​

Answer 1

Answer:

Environmental Impact Assessment

Explanation:

An environmental impact assessment (EIA) is commonly described as an assessment of the impact of planned activities on the environment, including impacts on biodiversity, vegetation and ecology, water, and air. An EIA can be seen as a process of identifying, predicting, and evaluating the likely environmental, socioeconomic, cultural and other impacts of a proposed project or development to define mitigation actions—not only to reduce negative impacts but also provide positive contributions to the natural environment and well-being.

Essentially, an EIA is designed to identify the potential risks of a project (e.g., infrastructure development such as a dam) to environmental and human well-being and identify measures to eliminate and/or mitigate these risks. This can be done by replacing and/or modifying planned activities to reduce impacts. In this context, an EIA can be seen as an information-gathering activity by the project lead to outline (and if possible quantify) the risks, impacts and mitigation actions built into the project’s whole lifecycle from design to closure so that decision makers are fully informed when approving the project.

EIAs are carried out in a wide variety of sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, mining and forestry. Projects requiring an EIA can be large, such as a hydroelectric dam, or small, such as a new hotel on a beach. However, the level of impact on human and environmental health—rather than the size of the project—is the most important aspect of decision-making on the need for an EIA.

Currently, over 100 countries have legislation mandating the implementation of an EIA when a development/project is deemed to potentially have considerable impacts on environmental and social contexts, including nearly every country in North, Central and South America. In some countries, there is also an indirect mandate for EIAs—e.g., if the project is supported by development banks such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, these organizations require EIAs as a condition for financing the proposed project.