Environmental Impact Assessment

Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) is an activity designed to identify and predict the impact on the biogeophysical environment and on man’s health and well-being of legislative proposals, policies, programmes, projects, and operational procedures, and to interpret and communicate information about the impacts. EIA should be an integral part of all planning for major actions, and should be carried out at the same time as engineering, economic, and socio-political assessments. This book responds to both the evolution in EIA thinking and to the maintenance of the basic approach. The emphasis in this book is on developing understanding of the EIA processes. It is intended to place the reader in the position of being able to apply these processes to any situation –While being aware of the strengths and limitations of the approaches being used and the assumptions being made. The intended readers of this book include decision-makers, policy and management advisors, the assessors, technical staffs, students and teachers of environmental science and laymen with an interest in environmental quality.