GE ELEC 101

EIA PROCESS
Presented by: Carlin Miel L.
Perioles
 7 Steps in EIA
Procedure
• Screening
• Scoping
• Impact Assessment &
Mitigation
• Impact Management
• The EIA Report
• Review & Licensing
• Monitoring
1. Screening
Screening is the first stage of the EIA process
which results in a key EIA decision, namely to
either conduct the assessment (based on the likely
significant impacts) or not conduct it (in the
anticipated absence of such impacts). Screening
needs to follow specific procedures often
described in the legislation so all the projects
follow the same process.
 Why conduct screening?
An essential aspect of conducting an EIA is to determine the level of impact of the
proposed project, development or initiative. When we look at major development projects—
especially those involving natural resources, such as mining, hydroelectric dams, or oil
extraction—we can say for certain that they will require an environmental and social impact
assessment. On the other hand, while the development of a tourism project may seem low-
risk at first, a second look could reveal that the project requires large amounts of drinking
water, energy, the removal of endangered flora or fauna, and will result in extensive sewage
production. It may also lead to increased road and air traffic to deliver supplies, visitors and
workers.
 How is a screening conducted?
To determine whether or not the project requires an EIA, project
proponents assess their project based upon a set of criteria determined by a
designated agency. It is important that screening be done as early as
possible in the development of the proposal in order for the proponent and
other stakeholders to be aware of possible EIA obligations. It is also
important that screening be applied systematically and consistently, so that
the same decision would be reached if others did the screening.
2. Scoping
Scoping is a critical step in the preparation of
an EIA, as it identifies the issues that are likely to
be of most importance during the EIA and
eliminates those that are of little concern. Scoping
is a systematic exercise that establishes the
boundaries of your EIA and sets the basis of the
analyses you will conduct at each stage.
Scoping
A quality scoping study reduces the risk of including inappropriate
components or excluding components that should be addressed. It
involves:
• Identifying all relevant issues and factors, including cumulative
effects, social impacts, and health risks.
• Facilitating meaningful public engagement and review.
• Determining the appropriate time and space boundaries of the EIA.
• Identifying the important issues to be considered in the EIA, such as
setting the baseline and identifying alternatives.
 Why conduct a scoping?
Scoping is critical as it sets up the boundaries of the EIA, including the project
area; it establishes what the EIA will include and how to put the EIA together in
accordance with the terms of reference (TOR). An EIA is an intensive process in
terms of costs, cross-sectoral expertise and assessments that must be completed, and
the types and extent of the consultations that must be conducted. Scoping helps to
select what is needed and what is not relevant, and thus it serves as a work plan for
the entire EIA process. The information gathered during the scoping phase is used in
the next steps of the EIA.
 How is a scoping process conducted?
A project scoping activity can be carried out in nine main steps. These are:
• Set up the team of experts that will conduct the EIA.
• Describe the project area and the area of project influence.
• Outline project alternatives for preparation, implementation and closure.
• Conduct public meetings and stakeholder consultations; integrate comments
and collected feedback into project planning and the alternatives.
• Outline a set of environmental, biological and socioeconomic resources and
issues that will be addressed in the assessment.
 How is a scoping process conducted?
6. Define a set of criteria to assess the planned project/development.
7. Identify the project impacts, during its all stages, list the significant and non-
significant impacts and explain why.
8. Identify a set of data for baseline descriptions and potential additional data
collection needs.
9. Start inserting this information in the appropriate section of the TOR.
3. Impact Assessment &
Mitigation
Impact assessment refers to the detailed evaluation of the
environmental and social impacts of the planned project and
identified alternatives, compared to the baseline conditions. This
includes qualitative descriptions such as measuring high, medium
and low impacts, and quantitative descriptions, such as indicating the
cubic metres of water withdrawn, sewage produced, and pollutants
released. This is done for the planned project as well as the identified
alternatives, allowing for comparisons. Once the detailed assessment
is complete, mitigation measures to reduce or avoid impacts are
identified.
3. Impact Assessment &
Mitigation
Mitigation refers to minimizing or avoiding
the described impacts.Overall, mitigation
measures are a response to the findings of impact
assessment; they need to cover all the areas
identified.
Impact Assessment and Mitigation
The key focus of mitigation actions should be on:
• Preventive measures that avoid the occurrence of impacts and thus
avoid harm or even produce positive outcomes.
• Measures that focus on limiting the severity and the duration of the
impacts.
• Compensation mechanisms for those impacts that are unavoidable
and cannot be reduced further.
 Why conduct impact assessment and mitig
ation?
The purpose of conducting an EIA is to clearly identify and understand (assess), and
then prevent or minimize (mitigate) the adverse impacts of the planned project on the
environment and people. Because the impacts of the project can change over time, the
impacts need to be assessed and measured over the lifetime of the project – from its
construction through to operations and after closing.
 How to conduct impact assessment and
mitigation?
Impact assessment and mitigation is done by a multidisciplinary team of experts who have
the skills and qualifications to assess diverse environmental and social impacts.
These are the key steps for conducting impact assessment and related mitigation:
• Perform a detailed assessment of impacts of all project phases on the environment,
socioeconomic systems and other areas as requested by the designated agency’s
guidelines and legislation, taking into consideration regional and international best
practices.
• Based on the completed analyses, conduct an assessment of cumulative impacts.
 How to conduct impact assessment and
mitigation?
These are the key steps for conducting impact assessment and related mitigation:
3. Compile similar impacts into groups in order to make the impact analyses easier to
understand.
4. Identify specific mitigation measures to reduce cumulative impacts.
5. Identify mitigation actions to eliminate and/or reduce the identified impacts.
4. Impact Management
Essentially, impact management is the creation
of a series of plans and protocols aiming to manage
and monitor the identified mitigation measures and
risks that may occur over the project lifetime, such
as technology failures and natural disasters. Some
of the plans are compulsory, such as an
environmental management plan (EMP), which is
required as part of an EIA report in most countries.
 Why conduct impact management?
The analyses of the impacts and the creation of mitigation measures (carried out in
the previous step) will likely identify a number of changes in the project design,
implementation and closure. Additional action plans to manage risks and carry out
monitoring will also be required. The need for these plans depends on the type of
project, the identified impacts, and the risks associated with the project, taking into
consideration the natural and social context where the project activities will take
place.
 How is impact management conducted?

A core part of this step is developing an Environmental Management Plan (EMP), which
forms the basis for impact management during project construction and operation, and
outlines activities for continuous monitoring. It also translates recommended mitigation
measures into specific actions that will be carried out by the project proponent. The typical
elements of EMPs can be summarized as follows:
• Mitigation measures: Summary of all mitigation measures and details on how these will
be implemented; the measures are linked to the impact analyses.
• Monitoring: The plans for monitoring the environmental impacts and the effectiveness of
mitigation measures in addressing the impacts.
 How is impact management conducted?

• Capacity Development: The assessment of capacity-building needs required to involve

stakeholders in managing environmental and social impacts and monitoring efforts.
• Implementation Schedule and Cost Estimates: Costs of the outlined mitigation activities,
capacity-building and monitoring; this will include cost of implementation and then
ongoing monitoring and follow-up capacity development costs.
• Integration of the EMP with the project: The EMP needs to be developed in a way that
fits with the planned project, the mitigation actions, and other activities linked to the
project.
5. The EIA Report
The EIA Report is a compilation of several
important project components, including the project
description, the assessment of its environmental and
social impacts, mitigation measures, and related
management and monitoring plans. During this step,
all the information gathered during the previous
steps is compiled into a comprehensive report that
analyzes and synthesizes the data, structuring it as
stipulated in the terms of reference (TOR).
The EIA Report
A quality EIA Report has the following characteristics:
• It is well-structured and uses non-technical language supported by
data and well-executed analyses.
• It provides information that is helpful and relevant to decision
making.
• It results in the satisfactory prediction of the adverse effects of the
proposed actions and their mitigation using conventional and
customized techniques.
 Why should The EIA Report be conducted?

Reporting is an important part of the EIA process in order to convey the outcomes of the
assessment and proposed mitigation actions, and thereby provide information for
decision making. An EIA report should be complete, easily understood, objective,
factual and internally consistent. Therefore it is very important to allocate enough time
for writing the EIA report so there is ample opportunity to process the outcomes of each
EIA step and ensure they are presented as stipulated in the TOR.

Once the EIA report is submitted, designated authorities will review it to determine how
the planned project will address major environmental and social impacts and decide
whether or not it should be granted a license.
6. Review & Licensing
Review and Licensing is the final check on the
quality of the EIA report submitted to obtain a
project license. Once the EIA report is submitted,
designated authorities will usually go through it
thoroughly, weighing the methods used, data,
interpretations, measures and conclusions to assess
the impacts of the planned development.
 Why conduct Review and Licensing?

The review is carried out to confirm the quality of the information and methods used
in the EIA, and to verify that the EIA report addresses all the relevant mitigation
measures as well as all the critical and cumulative impacts.
 How to conduct Review and Licensing?
The review may be undertaken by the responsible authority itself, another government agency or
committee, or an independent body. It can be carried out in three steps:

• Identify the deficiencies in the EIA report, using the Terms of Reference, relevant guidelines,
criteria and information on standards by national agencies and comparable EIA reports.
• Focus on any shortcomings in the EIA report and identify gaps and areas that require further
information and improvements in the methods based on suggested protocols; look at key gaps in
areas that prevent qualified decision making. If no serious omissions are found, this should be
stated clearly.
• Recommend how and when any serious shortcomings are to be remedied, in order to facilitate
informed decision making and appropriate measures for project implementation.
6. Review & Licensing
Monitoring provides data on the environmental and social impacts of the
project for the whole project lifecycle. As part of their operations, most
development projects involve regular monitoring of indicators (including
such things as quantity of ores extracted, materials processed, energy used
and sewage released, etc.).
6. Review & Licensing
More specifically, the information collected during monitoring activities
helps to ensure that the priorities listed in the Environmental Management
Plan (EMP), mitigation measures, and contingency plans are properly
implemented, and that these plans and measures are effective in addressing
the project’s impacts.
 Why conduct Monitoring?
Monitoring is critical to ensuring the fulfillment of all the commitments made in the
approved EIA. It is one of the ongoing outcomes of EIA for a given project. Monitoring
is also important for keeping track of any changes that happen in the environment and in
communities because of the project and other local and/or global events, such as
changes in livelihoods due to economic crisis or migration, or differences in water
availability due to drought. After the project is implemented, basic monitoring efforts
will continue during project remediation.
 How is Monitoring conducted?
Monitoring is usually carried out by the project proponent, under the supervision of independent
agencies and/or government agencies. The key steps in creating a monitoring plan are:

• Identify the focus areas to be considered for the plan (based on the impacts, mitigation measures
and other issues from the contingency plans).
• Select of a long list of indicators for the focus areas, such as those on population, health, and
natural elements used by the population (soil, drinking water, etc.).
• Prioritize a core set of indicators based upon agreed criteria.
• Identify data collection protocols.
• Develop data interpretation methods and create a reporting template.
• Schedule activities, evaluate program and personnel costs, define personnel responsibilities.
Thank You!