what necessitated to introduce the concept of EIA
Answers
Explanation:
The need for environmental assessment
Economic, social and environmental change is inherent to development. Whilst development aims to bring about positive change it can lead to conflicts. In the past, the promotion of economic growth as the motor for increased well-being was the main development thrust with little sensitivity to adverse social or environmental impact
In order to predict environmental impacts of any development activity and to provide an opportunity to mitigate against negative impacts and enhance positive impacts, the environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure was developed in the 1970s. An EIA may be defined as:
a formal process to predict the environmental consequences of human development activities and to plan appropriate measures to eliminate or reduce adverse effects and to augment positive effects.
EIA thus has three main functions:
• to predict problems,
• to find ways to avoid them, and
• to enhance positive effects.
The third function is of particular importance. The EIA provides a unique opportunity to demonstrate ways in which the environment may be improved as part of the development process. The EIA also predicts the conflicts and constraints between the proposed project, programme or sectoral plan and its environment. It provides an opportunity for mitigation measures to be incorporated to minimize problems. It enables monitoring programmes to be established to assess future impacts and provide data on which managers can take informed decisions to avoid environmental damage.
EIA is a management tool for planners and decision makers and complements other project studies on engineering and economics. Environmental assessment is now accepted as an essential part of development planning and management. It should become as familiar and important as economic analysis in project evaluation.
The aim of any EIA should be to facilitate sustainable development. Beneficial environmental effects are maximized while adverse effects are ameliorated or avoided to the greatest extent possible. EIA will help select and design projects, programmes or plans with long term viability and therefore improve cost effectiveness.
It is important that an EIA is not just considered as part of the approval process. Volumes of reports produced for such a purpose, which are neither read nor acted upon, will devalue the process. A key output of the EIA should be an action plan to be followed during implementation and after implementation during the monitoring phase. To enable the action plan to be effective the EIA may also recommend changes to laws and institutional structures.
Initially EIA was seen by some project promoters as a constraint to development but this view is gradually disappearing. It can, however, be a useful constraint to unsustainable development. It is now well understood that environment and development are complementary and interdependent and EIA is a technique for ensuring that the two are mutually reinforcing. A study carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency (USA) in 1980 showed that there were significant changes to projects during the EIA process, marked improvements in environmental protection measures and net financial benefits. The costs of EIA preparation and any delays were more than covered by savings accruing from modifications, (Wathern, 1988)
An EIA is concerned both with impacts of irrigation and drainage on the environment and with the sustainability of irrigation and drainage itself. Clearly an EIA will not resolve all problems. There will be trade-offs between economic development and environmental protection as in all development activities. However, without an objective EIA, informed decision making would be impossible.
Objective
This guide aims to assist staff in developing countries from various disciplines and backgrounds (government officials, consultants, planners) to incorporate environmental considerations into planning, designing, implementing and regulating irrigation and drainage programmes, plans and projects, thus leading to sustainable projects. The guide aims to be of general use throughout the developing world and has three main functions:
• to describe the methodology and output of an EIA;
• to provide inter-disciplinary advice related to irrigation and drainage to those engaged in preparing EIAs; and,
• to enhance institutional capacity for carrying out an EIA.
In developing countries irrigation development is mainly the responsibility of the public sector. This document therefore concentrates on public sector irrigation projects. Whilst national irrigation authorities will not usually carry out EIAs, they will commission them, either as part of a feasibility study or separately. They must therefore be familiar with EIA in order to formulate the terms of reference and to appraise the impact statement. Private developers should also be required to demonstrate that their proposals are environmentally sound.