ENVIRONMENT IMPACT ASSESSMENT Student Notes:

Contents
1. Environment Impact Assessment ............................................................................................... 2

1.1. Evolution of EIA ................................................................................................................... 2

1.2. History of EIA in India .......................................................................................................... 2

1.3. EIA Process .......................................................................................................................... 3

1.4. EIA Notification, 2006 ......................................................................................................... 5

1.5. Issues with the Indian System ............................................................................................. 5

1.6. Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 7

1.7. Draft EIA Notification, 2020 ................................................................................................ 9

2. UPSC Previous Year Questions ................................................................................................. 10

3. Vision IAS Previous Year Questions .......................................................................................... 10

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1. Environment Impact Assessment Student Notes:

• Environment Impact Assessment or EIA can be defined as the study to predict the effect of
a proposed activity/project on the environment. A decision making tool, EIA compares
various alternatives for a project and seeks to identify the one which represents the best
combination of economic and environmental costs and benefits.
• EIA systematically examines both beneficial and adverse consequences of the project and
ensures that these effects are taken into account during project design.
• It helps to
o identify possible environmental effects of the proposed project,
o proposes measures to mitigate adverse effects and
o predicts whether there will be significant adverse environmental effects, even after the
mitigation is implemented.
• By considering the environmental effects of the project and their mitigation early in the
project planning cycle, environmental assessment has many benefits, such as protection of
environment, optimum utilisation of resources and saving of time and cost of the project.
• Properly conducted EIA also lessens conflicts by promoting community participation,
informing decision makers, and helping lay the base for environmentally sound projects.
• Benefits of integrating EIA have been observed in all stages of a project, from exploration
and planning, through construction, operations, decommissioning, and beyond site closure.
1.1. Evolution of EIA
Development of EIA
Pre-1970s • Project review based on the technical/engineering and economic analysis.
• Limited consideration given to environmental consequences.
Early/Mid- • EIA introduced by NEPA in 1970 in US.
1970s • Basic principle: Guidelines, procedures including public participation
requirement instituted.
• Major public inquires help shape the process's development.
Late 1970s • Use of EA by developing countries (Brazil, Philippines, China, Indonesia)
and Early • Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA), risk analysis included in EA processes.
1980s • Greater emphasis on ecological modelling, prediction and evaluation methods.
• Provision for public involvement.
• Coordination of EA with land use planning processes.
Mid 1980s to • Increasing efforts to address cumulative effects.
end of • World Bank and other leading international aid agencies establish EA
decade requirements.
• Spread of EIA process in Asia.
1990s • Increased use of GIS and other information technologies. Sustainability principal
and global issues receive increased attention.
• India also adopted the EIA formally.
• Formulation of EA legislation by many developing countries.
• Rapid growth in EA training.
Definition of SEA: Policy tool to assess the environmental consequences of development policies,
plans and programmes.
Definition of risk assessment: An instrument for estimating the probability of harm occurring from
the presence of dangerous conditions or materials at a project site. Risk represents the likelihood and
significance of a potential hazard being realized.

1.2. History of EIA in India

• The Indian experience with Environmental Impact Assessment began over 20 years back. It
started in 1976-77 when the Planning Commission asked the Department of Science and
Technology to examine the river-valley projects from an environmental angle. This was

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 subsequently extended to cover those projects, which required the approval of the Public Student Notes:
Investment Board.
• Till 1994, environmental clearance from the Central Government was an administrative
decision and lacked legislative support.
• On 27 January 1994, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MEF), Government of
India, under the Environmental (Protection) Act 1986, promulgated an EIA notification
making Environmental Clearance (EC) mandatory for expansion or modernisation of any
activity or for setting up new projects listed in Schedule 1 of the notification. Since then
there have been 12 amendments made in the EIA notification of 1994.
1.3. EIA Process
• The stages of an EIA process will depend upon the requirements of the country or donor.
However, most EIA processes have a common structure and the application of the main
stages is a basic standard of good
practice.
• Various steps of the EIA process
are presented in brief below:
o Project Proposal:
✓ Any proponent embarking
on any major
development project shall
notify IAA (Impact
Assessment Agency) in
writing by the submission
of a project proposal. The
project proposal shall
include all relevant
information available
including a land-use map
in order to move to the
next stage which is
screening. The submission
of a project proposal signifies the commencement of the EIA process.
o Screening:
✓ Screening helps to clear those types of projects, which from past experience are
not likely to cause significant environmental problems. The activity may take one
of the following several forms:
a. Measurements using simple criteria such as size or location.
b. Comparing the proposal with list of projects rarely needing an EIA (e.g.
schools) or definitely needing one (e.g. coal mines).
c. Estimating general impacts (e.g. increased in infrastructure needed) and
comparing these impacts against set thresholds.
d. Doing complex analyses, but using readily available data.
o Preliminary Assessment:
✓ If screening does not clear a project, the developer may be required to undertake a
preliminary Assessment. This involves sufficient research, review of available data
and expert advice in order to identify the key impacts of the project on the local
environment, predict the extent of the impacts and briefly evaluate their
importance to decision makers.
✓ The preliminary assessment can be used to assist early project planning (for
instance, to narrow the discussion of possible sites) and it can serve as an early
warning to the serious environmental problems that the project may cause. It is in

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 the developer’s interest to do a preliminary assessment since, in practice, this step Student Notes:
can clear projects of the need for a full EIA.
o Scoping:
✓ Scoping is a process of detailing the terms of reference of EIA. It has to be done by
the consultant in consultation with the project proponent and guidance, if need
be, from Impact Assessment Agency. The Ministry of Environment and Forests has
published guidelines for different sectors, which outlines the significant issues to
be addressed in the EIA studies.
✓ Quantifiable impacts are to be assessed on the basis of magnitude, prevalence,
frequency and duration and non-quantifiable impacts (such as aesthetic or
recreational value), significance is commonly determined through the socio-
economic criteria.
✓ After the areas, where the project could have significant impact, are identified, the
baseline status of these should be monitored and then the likely changes in these
on account of the construction and operation of the proposed project should be
predicted.
o Impact Prediction and Assessment of Alternatives
✓ Impact prediction is a way of mapping the environmental consequences of the
significant aspects of the project and its alternatives. For every project, possible
alternatives should be identified and environmental attributes compared.
✓ Alternatives should cover both project location and process technologies.
Alternatives should then be ranked for selection of the best environmental
optimum economic benefits to the community at large.
✓ Once alternatives have been reviewed, a mitigation plan should be drawn up for
the selected option and is supplemented with an Environmental Management Plan
(EMP) to guide the proponent towards environmental improvements. The EMP is a
crucial input to monitoring the clearance conditions and therefore details of
monitoring should be included in the EMP.
o EIA Report
✓ An EIA report should provide clear information to the decision-maker on the
different environmental scenarios without the project, with the project and with
project alternatives. The proponent prepares detailed Project report and provides
information in logical and transparent manner. The IAA examines if procedures
have been followed as per MoEF notifications.
o Public Hearing
✓ After the completion of EIA report the law requires that the public must be
informed and consulted on a proposed development after the completion of EIA
report. The State Pollution Control Boards will conduct the public hearing before
the proposals are sent to MOEF for obtaining environmental clearance.
✓ Any one likely to be affected by the proposed project is entitled to have access to
the Executive Summary of the EIA. The affected persons may include: (a) Bonafide
local residents; (b) Local associations; (c) Environmental groups: active in the area;
(d) Any other person located at the project site/sites of displacement. They are to
be given an opportunity to make oral/written suggestions to the State Pollution
Control Board as per Schedule IV.
o Decision-Making
✓ Decision-making process involve consultation between the project proponent
(assisted by a consultant) and the impact assessment authority (assisted by an
expert group if necessary). The decision on environmental clearance is arrived at
through a number of steps including evaluation of EIA and EMP.
o Monitoring the Clearance Conditions
✓ Monitoring has to be done during both construction and operation phases of a
project. It is done not just to ensure that the commitments made are complied

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 with but also to observe whether the predictions made in the EIA reports are Student Notes:
correct or not.
✓ Where the impacts exceed the predicted levels, corrective action should be taken.
Monitoring also enables the regulatory agency to review the validity of predictions
and the conditions of implementation of the Environmental Management Plan
(EMP).
✓ The Project Proponent, IAA and Pollution Control Boards should monitor the
implementation of conditions. The proponent is required to file once in six months
a report demonstrating the compliance to IAA.
✓ Above figure shows a general flow diagram of the EIA process, how EIA fits with
parallel technical and economic studies and the role of public participation. In
some cases, the process may be rapid and some steps in the EIA procedure may be
omitted, for example small-scale irrigation schemes.
1.4. EIA Notification, 2006
• Objectives: The objectives of EIA Notification, 2006 inter alia include:
o to formulate a transparent, decentralized and efficient regulatory mechanism to
integrate environmental concerns into developmental process with a view to facilitating
sustainable development.
o to ensure incorporation of necessary environmental safeguards at planning stage in the
project cycle, so as to ensure minimal impact on different components of environment.
o to ensure involvement of stakeholders in public consultation process through public
hearing and to ascertain the views of the public on the proposed project or activity.
• Salient Features: The salient features of EIA Notification, 2006 inter alia include:
o The EIA Notification, 2006 has categorized the projects into two categories namely;
Category ‘A’ and Category ‘B’ based on their impact potential.
o Category ‘A’ projects will be appraised at the Central level while Category ‘B’ project at
the State level.
o State level Environment Impact Assessment Authorities and Committees (SEIAAs and
SEACs) have been constituted for the purpose of appraisal of Category ‘B’ projects.
o The stage of scoping for prescribing terms of reference by the Regulatory Agency for
the EIA studies has been incorporated in accordance with the International practice. It
is expected to improve the quality of EIA thereby improving the quality of decision
making and minimizing the delays.
o The public consultation process has been made more structured. It has two
components i.e. comments through correspondence and by public hearing at site.
Provision to videograph the proceedings of the public hearing has been made.
o NOCs ( No-Objection Certificates) from other regulatory agencies such as SPCB etc. are
not a pre-requisite for considering application for environmental clearance.
1.5. Issues with the Indian System
• Screening
o Even though some of the industrial set ups do not require EIA as per the statutory
norms, they might involve certain technological processes which could be harmful to
the environment, as a result of which such enlisted industries could have potential
impacts on the environment and on public health.
o Exempting industries from the EIA requirements based on the investment value of
specific projects is not acceptable. There are no specific studies conducted till now
which demonstrate that environmental impacts are always inconsequential for projects
under a given value. It is a well established fact that the small scale industries are
contributing more pollution with respect to the major industry

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• Formation of EIA Team Student Notes:
o It is being found that the team formed for conducting EIA studies is lacking the
expertise in various fields such as Anthropologists and Social Scientists (to study the
social impact of the project) or even wild life experts.
• Scoping
o There is a lack of exhaustive ecological and socio-economic indicators for impact
assessment.
o Public comments are not taken into account at the early stage, which often leads to
conflict at the later stage of project clearance.
• Base Line Data Collection
o There is always a lack of reliable data sources.
o The secondary data is also not reliable.
o The data collectors do not pay respect to the indigenous knowledge of local people.
o The credibility of the primary data collected by the data collectors is doubtful.
• Impact Prediction and Assessment of Alternatives
o The detail method used for the prediction and evaluation of the project is not
mentioned in the report. Limited explanations are given both to quantitative estimation
of magnitude of impact and to the assumptions and judgments used in the evaluation
of impacts.
o The limited coverage of scoping is confined mainly to direct impacts.
o Details regarding the effectiveness and implementation of mitigation measures are
often not provided.
o Often, and more so for strategic industries such as nuclear energy projected, the EMP s
are kept confidential for political and administrative reasons
o Emergency preparedness plans are not discussed in sufficient details and the
information not disseminated to the communities.
• EIA Report
o The reports are generally incomplete and provided with false data. EIA reports ignore
several aspects while carrying out assessments and significant information is found to
omitted. Many EIA report are based on single season data and are not adequate to
determine whether environmental clearance should be granted. All this makes the
entire exercise contrary to its very intent.
o The EIA is actually funded by an agency or individual whose primary interest is to
procure clearance for the project proposed. There is little chance that the final
assessment presented is unbiased, even if the consultant may provide an unbiased
assessment that is critical of the proposed project. Some times it is found that a
consultancy which is working in the project area has no specialization in the concerned
subject.
o The EIA document in itself is so bulky and technical, which makes it very difficult to
decipher so as to aid in the decision making process. There are so many cases of
fraudulent EIA studies where erroneous data has been used, same facts used for two
totally different places etc. This is due to the lack of a centralized baseline data bank,
where such data can be crosschecked.
o There is no accreditation of EIA consultants, therefore any such consultant with a track
record of fraudulent cases cannot be held liable for discrepancies. It is hard to imagine
any consultant after being paid lakh of rupees, preparing a report for the project
proponents, indicating that the project is not viable. In nearly every case, the
consultants try to interpret and tailor the information looking for ways and means to
provide their clients with a report that gives them their moneys worth
• Public Hearing Process
o A number of projects with significant environmental and social impacts have been
excluded from the mandatory public hearing process. There are also concerns on how

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 much value is given to opinions expressed during the public hearing. Student Notes:
o Most projects are located in the resource rich tribal and rural areas. Due to the inherent
social conditions in such areas, such as lack of literacy and the simple nature of Tribals,
people are easily convinced and lured by the prospect of money and jobs. The local
environmental and social groups face a uphill task educating the people about the true
nature and impacts of the project and getting them to forcefully raise objections and
issues of concern.
o Similarly the affected peoples are informed just few days before the stipulated date of
public hearing. In many cases it is found out that the owners of the project employs
antisocial peoples to suppress the voices of people during the public hearing. The SPCB
which are responsible for conducting the public hearings are not equipped in terms of
manpower or infrastructure.
o In many cases minutes of public hearing or recommendations of the public hearing
panels do not reflect the actual proceedings and objections raised. Further the
recommendations of the public hearing panel are only advisory and it is not mandatory
for the impact assessment agency to even consider these while granting environmental
clearance to projects.
• Capacity Building
o There is an urgent need to build capacities of government agencies, communities,
NGOs and the judiciary with regard to the implementation of the existing EIA
notification. Even in the instances where the provisions allow for peoples participation
or monitoring, the lack of information and capacity are great hindrances in
implementation.
o For instances, the public hearing panel often has no clue on the scope of their role in
environmental clearance process. Judiciary, which is involved in the redressal, is
comprised of judges who may not be clued into the environmental issues and their
interface with laws. No matter how good the provisions of the law are, their
implementation hinges on the capacities of official who are meant to do it.
1.6. Recommendations
• Independent EIA Authority:
o Civil society groups have suggested the need for an independent Environmental Impact
Assessment authority headed by a judicial officer and comprising of representatives
from communities, peoples group, scientists, sociologists and environmentalists. Such
body would be independent of the ministry of environment and forests. The decision of
this authority would be binding on the MOEF.
• Sector wide EIA s needed:
o There is a need to conduct policy-level and sector-wide EIAs in the form of strategic
impact assessments ( for various sectors including mining , power and so on). This is
critical to judge the impacts of macro- economic, developmental and other policies,
schemes and programmes.
• Conduct options Assessment:
o EIA s should follow only after an options assessment and a least cost plan for a project
is done by the state or central government.
• Creation of an information desk:
o An information dissemination desk may be assigned within the MOEF which anyone can
write to regarding the status of clearance of projects. This desk should be mandated to
respond within a maximum of ten days by post/ courier and a maximum of two days by
email, to the contact information that has been furnished by the person seeking the
information.
o Since all meetings and discussion are documented as electronic data, the officers
should furnish this information regarding the status of clearance, with a record of the

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 discussions in the Expert committee on the projects. Student Notes:
• Environmental Risk Assessment:
o New approaches such as Environmental Risk Assessment which enable more flexible
and dynamic assessments of direct and indirect impacts must be explored.
o As part of this process, recognized Safety and Environmental Auditors must
compulsorily meet local populations and submit a detailed report of potential risks due
to the project.
• Quality of EIA Reports:
o The checklist needs to include impacts on agricultural biodiversity, biodiversity related
traditional knowledge and live hoods .Further, cumulative impacts of projects that are
technically linked or located in the same ecological region, and impacts of the eventual
closure of the project or components of the project should also be incorporated in to
the checklist.
o Finally the list should contain details on a full exploration of alternatives , especially
decentralized alternatives, to mega projects .the checklist also needs to cover various
kinds of impacts resulting from a particular activity.
• Public Hearings:
o The public hearing should be held for all projects which are likely to have environmental
and social impacts. This should be strictly implemented. The scope of the public
hearings needs to be widened to at least those projects which require forest clearance
under the forest conservation act,1980.
• Composition of Expert Committees:
o The present executive committees should be replaced by experts people from various
stakeholder groups , who are reputed in environmental and other relevant fields.
o The process of selection of those committees should be open and transparent , the
minutes of the committee meetings , decisions and advice by these committee should
be open to public.
• Capacity Building:
o NGO s, civil society groups and local communities need to build their capacities to use
the EIA notification towards better decision making on projects that can impact their
local environments and live hoods.
o Capacities can be built to proactively and effectively use the notification rather than
respond in a manner that is seen as negative or unproductive.
• Monitoring, Compliance and Institutional Arrangements:
o The EIA notification needs to build within it an automatic withdrawal of clearance if the
conditions of clearance are being violated, and introduce more stringent punishment
for noncompliance.
o At present the EIA notification limits itself to the stage when environmental clearance is
granted. The MOEF should set up more regional offices, each with smaller areas of
jurisdiction, to effectively monitor the compliance of clearance conditions.
o It would be useful to have advisory Expert committees at the MOEF regional offices,
comprising of ecologists, sociologists, local community members, government officials
and representative of local institutions to help with the clearance of projects at the
regional levels and monitoring of compliance of conditions.
o A robust monitoring mechanism should be established by the state department where
the central projects involving forest clearance is given out. Such a monitoring body
should be given powers to address compliance of both sets of clearance conditions
together and to take punitive action against the project proponent in case of non
compliance of any of the conditions.
o Local communities should be brought in to the formal monitoring and reporting process
of the compliance of conditions presently done by the regional offices of the MOEF.
This would help the regional office as well since the geographical areas and number of

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 project that comes under each office is vast which affects the efficiency and regularity Student Notes:
of the monitoring process.
1.7. Draft EIA Notification, 2020
• To address unprecedented situation arising from global outbreak of Novel Corona Virus
(COVID-19), and to ramp up availability or production of various drugs, Ministry of
Environment,Forest and Climate Change has made an amendment to EIA Notification 2006.
All projects or activities in respect of bulk drugs and intermediates, manufactured for
addressing various ailments, have been re-categorized from the existing Category ‘A’ to ‘B2’
category.
• Projects falling under Category B2 are exempted from requirement of collection of Base line
data, EIA Studies and public consultation. The re-categorization of such proposals has been
done to facilitate decentralization of appraisal to State Level so as to fast track the process.
This step of the Govt is with a view to help in increasing the availability of the important
medicines/ drugs in the country within short span of time. This amendment is applicable to
all proposals received up to 30th September 2020. The states have also been issued
advisories to expeditiously process such proposals.
• Further, to ensure expeditious disposal of the proposals within given time-line, Ministry has
also advised states to use information technology e.g. video conference, considering the
fact that in view of the prevailing situation on ground, appraisal of proposals may not be
possible through physical meetings.
Issues involved
• Public Consultation: It proposes to reduce the period of public consultation hearings to a
maximum of 40 days, and reduces from 30 to 20 days the time provided for the public to
submit their responses during a public hearing for any application seeking environmental
clearance. This can particularly pose a problem to those affected people who are forest
dwellers or otherwise do not have access to information and technology and those that are
not aware of the process itself.
• Wide discretionary powers to government: It also allows the central government to
declare some areas as “economically sensitive areas” without a public hearing or
environmental clearance, and several “red” and “orange”-classified toxic industries could
now operate as close as 0-5 km from a Protected Area. The government also gets to decide
on the “strategic” tag for any projects for which no information on such projects shall be
placed in the public domain. This opens a window for summary clearance for any project
deemed strategic without having to explain why.
• Provisions for post-facto project clearance: Projects that have commenced operations – by
way of construction, installation, excavation, production, etc – without obtaining necessary
clearances can be legalised after payment of a penalty. Post facto clearance is the violation
of the fundamental principles of environmental jurisprudence and is contrary to both the
precautionary principle as well as the need for sustainable development.
• Exemptions: The new draft exempts a long list of projects from public consultation and
prior clearance. For example, linear projects such as roads and pipelines in border areas will
not require any public hearing. All inland waterways projects and expansion/widening of
national highways including roads that cut through forests and dredging of major rivers, will
be exempt from prior clearance.
• Baseline data: The latest draft EIA notification does away with the need to carry out studies
covering all seasons in a year. This will lead to less reliable data and projections for
pollutants and will mask the full environmental impact of a project.
• Private consultation: The notification allows project proponents to engage private
consultants for preparing the EIA reports propelling a situation where expertise and
technicalities would be adopted to obscure the process and make it difficult to understand

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 – something that should have been open and comprehensible to the communities for the Student Notes:
process to be remotely transparent.
Various provisions of Draft EIA aimed at facilitating the government’s doctrine of “ease of doing
business”. Though the Environmental regulation must balance damage to the environment with
sustainable development and possible benefits. Government must incorporate the concerns of
all stakeholder before finalising the regulation.

2. UPSC Previous Year Questions

1. Environmental Impact Assessment studies are increasingly undertaken before a project is
cleared by the Government. Discuss the environmental impacts of coal-fired thermal plants
located at coal pitheads. (2014)
2. "In spite of adverse environmental impact, coal mining is still inevitable for development."
Discuss (2017)

3. Vision IAS Previous Year Questions

1. Comment on the state of EIA (Environment Impact Assessment) reports in India. What
in your opinion can be done to improve the EIA reporting.
Answer:
• EIA – What is it?
• Lacunae in EIA- Eg EIA done by third party which is paid by the interested party.
• Some recent cases
• Measure to improve

2. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an important management tool for

ensuring optimal use of natural resources for sustainable development. Elaborate.
Approach:
• Briefly define EIA
• Provide details of each stage of EIA and how it is related to natural resource uses
and sustainable development
• Conclude suitably.
Answer:
An environmental impact assessment (EIA) is an assessment of the possible potential
impacts (beneficial and adverse) that a proposed project may have on the environment.
The complete exercise also involves the solutions to the adverse impacts which ensure
that natural resources are used judiciously in a sustainable manner and therefore,
promotes sustainable development.
While all industrial projects may have some environmental impacts, all of them may not
be significant enough to warrant elaborate assessment procedures. An initial evaluation
decides need of such exercise. Projects which alter the landscape, modify forests and
stream patterns, manufacturing of environmentally hazardous products, located in
ecologically sensitive areas, have high potential of polluting air, soil or water etc. are
covered under EIA.
EIA study involves inventorisation of the natural resources available, current
environmental setting, impact of projects on natural resources etc. ‘Hot Spots’ are
identified that require immediate remedial action to overcome air, water or land
pollution.

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 During the process, negative impacts on environment are studied extensively. Parts of Student Notes:
project which are causing such negative impacts are either replaced with alternative
technologies or compensated in some form. For instance, if there is a need to cut down
forest, it is possible to plant saplings, though in more quantity, at some other location.
However, if such compensatory mechanism is not always available, project has to be
shut down.
Governments across the world are putting extra effort to design norms to protect
natural resources. Ecological sensitive zones (ESZ) or no-go areas are few policy steps
that prohibit construction or mining activities in such zones. These policies act as input
in EIA studies.
Methods such as Product environmental life cycle analysis (LCA) is used for identifying
and measuring the impact of projects on the environment. Such methods are very
helpful in ensuring sustainability of project as well as environment.
In conclusion, sustainable development can be attained only by managing our natural
resources in a rightful manner where future generations are not devoid of their natural
rights. EIA is a potential tool to preserve natural resources in the industrialized and
urbanized world as it minimizes the adverse impact on ecology.

3. What are the various statutory procedures of conducting Environmental Impact

Assessments? How do these procedures ensure public participation in development
process?
Approach:
• Explain the term Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) briefly.
• Then mention the statutory procedures of conducting EIA.
• The answer below also uses a flow chat to bring about more clarity.
• Finally, mention how public participation becomes an imperative in the
development process.
Answer:
EIA is an a priori exercise of forecasting environmental impacts arising out of
developmental projects. EIA assists planners and the government in decision-making
process by identifying the key impacts and formulating mitigation measures. The results
of EIAs are presented in reports known as Environmental Impact Statements (EIS).
Statutory Procedures:
Firstly, Screening is done to see if a project requires EIA Clearance as per statutory
notifications. This is done on the basis of Scale of investment, Type of investment and
Location of investment. After this EIA starts with following steps:
1. Impact Identification or Scoping: It involves discussion between EIA experts,
agency involved in developmental project and experts of design, construction and
operation of project. A final Term of Reference is prepared comparing probable
impacts and the available baseline data. It brings out the impacts, which deserve
further study.
2. Impact Measurement: Impact of project and its alternatives are measured with
respect to air, noise, water and land quality, biological changes like deforestation,
habitat shrinking, impact on breeding and nesting grounds and socio economic
impacts like impact on demographic changes, impact on health, economic status
etc. using several mathematical models.

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 3. Impact Interpretation and Evaluation: Relative importance of all the impacts are Student Notes:
studied and compared to consider only those, which have large impact; thus
ensuring sound judgment by decision makers.
4. Identification of monitoring requirements and mitigation measures: Monitoring is
done to ensure that legal standards for pollutants are not exceeded. And also, since
monitoring provides early warning system of environmental damage so that
preventing action can be taken in time. When harmful impacts are identified, the
mechanisms to mitigate them are also investigated.
5. Communication of Impact information: All the interpreted data is presented in a
form that non-experts can understand and after discussion and approval of local
public, the developmental project gets MoEF nod.
PROCESS OF EIA:

Public Participation in Developmental Process:

The purpose of EIA is not be just to assess impacts and complete an environmental
impact statement (EIS). Rather it is to improve the quality of decisions.
• Through informing the public, the project proponent can make environmentally
sensitive decision by being aware of a project's potential adverse impacts on the
environment.
• Through their participation, the project proponent is able to take advantage of the
information that citizens contribute towards values, impacts, innovative solutions
and alternatives.
• Alienated citizens tend to delay the implementation of the project though time
consuming legal action if they feel that their rights are curbed through project
implementation. For example, Silent Valley, Tehri Dam, Dahanu.
• Therefore, the project proponent needs to consider not only the risks of including
versus avoiding citizen input, but also the potential benefits of establishing a long
term co-operative relationship with citizens.

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 But in India, the public is involved at the hearing stage. Here it is merely a formality as Student Notes:
by this time the project proponent has more or less decided to go ahead with the
project. The objective of public involvement at this stage may be just to defend a
decision that has already been made. So, more effective public participation is need of
the hour as currently, it is limited to the public hearing stage, legal action to halt the
project or to force the inclusion of mitigation measures.

4. Despite wide use and acceptance, Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) has certain
shortcomings as a tool for minimising environmental effects of development
proposals. Discuss. How is Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) an improvement
over EIA?
Approach:
• Briefly explain how EIA has wide use and acceptance to minimize environmental
damage, both before and after the execution of a project. There is no need to go
into the details of the steps involved in EIA.
• Then explain the shortcomings of EIA when it comes to reducing the actual
environmental impact of a project. You can give examples of projects that were in
consonance with EIA but ultimately failed to regulate the environmental damage.
• The second part of the question should compare SEA with EIA and conclude
suitably.
Answer:
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a process of evaluating the likely
environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, taking into account
inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human-health impacts, both beneficial and
adverse. It aims to predict environmental impacts at an early stage in project planning
and design, find ways and means to reduce adverse impacts, and shape projects to suit
the local environment.
However, EIA has often fallen short of meeting these aims.
• It takes place relatively late at the downstream end of the decision making process,
after major alternatives and directions have been chosen. Rarely have projects
been denied environmental clearance.
• NGOs and communities continue to struggle with fraudulent EIA reports. There is a
lack of experts with proper knowledge of EIA processes. Public participation is
missing entirely or it is done towards the end of the decision-making process.
Uttarakhand dams which were built after positive EIA reports are examples of projects
that have been questioned. Also, CAG reports have pointed at the blatant violation of
compulsory afforestation laws by industries that acquire forest land.
Some of these shortcomings can be easily overcome by shifting from EIA to Strategic
Environment Assessment (SEA).
Environment impact assessment Strategic environment assessment
• Takes place at end of decision- • Takes place at earlier stages of decision
making cycle making cycle
• Identifies specific impacts on the • Also identifies environmental implications,
environment issues of sustainable development
• Considers limited number of • Considers broad range of potential
feasible alternatives alternatives

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 • Limited review of cumulative • Early warning of cumulative effects Student Notes:
effects • Emphasis on meeting environmental
• Emphasis on mitigating and objectives, maintaining natural systems
minimizing impacts • Broad perspective, lower level of detail to
• Narrow perspective, high level of provide a vision and overall framework
detail • Multi-stage process, overlapping
• Well-defined process, clear components, policy level is continuing,
beginning and end iterative
• Focuses on standard agenda, • Focuses on sustainability agenda, gets at
treats symptoms of environmental sources of environmental deterioration
deterioration
Therefore SEA covers a wider range of activities or a wider area and often over a longer
time span than the environmental impact assessment of projects.
• SEA is being proactive and ‘sustainability driven’, whilst EIA is largely reactive.
• SEA might be applied to an entire sector (such as a national policy on energy for
example) or to a geographical area (for example, in the context of a regional
development scheme).
• SEA does not replace or reduce the need for project-level EIA, but it can help to
streamline and focus the incorporation of environmental concerns (including
biodiversity) into the decision-making process.

5. What is Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)? Draw a comparison between

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and SEA.
Approach:
• Explain what is Strategic Environmental Assessment.
• Bring out its comparison with Environmental Impact Assessment.
Answer:
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is the Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) of policies, plans and programmes, keeping in mind that the process of evaluating
environmental impacts at a strategic level, is not necessarily the same as that at a
project level.
SEAs can recommend changes within the proposed plans or programmes,
improvements in coordination between relevant agencies, new cross-sectoral
interventions and suggestions for EIAs of future projects and improve their quality
Comparison between EIA and SEA
EIA SEA
It is usually reactive to a development It is pro-active and informs development
proposal as it is applied at a relatively proposals..
later stage of decision making.
It assesses the effect of a proposed It assesses the effect of a policy, plan or
development on the environment. programme on the environment, or the
effect of the environment on development
needs and opportunities.
It addresses a specific project. It addresses areas, regions or sectors of
development.

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 It assesses direct impacts and benefits. It assesses cumulative impacts and identifies Student Notes:
implications and issues for sustainable
development.
It focuses on the mitigation of negative It focuses on maintaining a chosen level of
impacts and enhancement of positive environmental quality.
impacts.
It involves narrow perspective and a It involves wide perspective and a low level
high level of detail. of detail.
It focuses on project-specific impacts. It creates a framework against which
impacts and benefits can be measured.
These are both complementary to each other and work in tandem for environment
protection, biodiversity conservation and responsible development.

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