ENVS304

IMPACT IDENTIFICATION and ASSESSMENT

TOOLS
Impact Identification
• A logical and systematic approach needs to be taken
for impact identification.

• The aim is to:

• take account of all of the important environmental impacts
and interactions,
• making sure that indirect and cumulative effects, which may
be potentially significant, are not overlooked.

• Process begins during screening and continues

through scoping

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Impact Identification
The most common formal methods used for impact
identification are:
• checklists;
• matrices;
• networks;
• overlays and geographic information systems (GIS);
• expert systems; and
• professional judgement

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EIA Impact Identification Methods

Screening and Preliminary Assessments

• Risk Assessment
• Expert Systems
• Overlays/GIS
• Checklists

• Networks
• Matrices

Qualitative Quantitative
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1. Checklists
Checklists are simply lists of questions focused on “warning signs” of potential impacts & risks.
no direct cause–effect links need to be established

Questions may concern. . . Proposed Activities

Nature of Clearing? ✓
proposed Cut/fill? --
Dredging? ✓
activities
Blasting? --
Checklist questions are:
• Usually easily answered Topography& Ecosystem functions
from field inspection & ecosystems present
basic information about Spawning habitat? ✓
the activity. Rearing habitat? --

• Answered with yes/no

(or simple quantitative) Existing economic uses
responses Existing of water resource
uses Drinking? --
• Many sector-specific Irrigation? --
checklists exist etc Fishing? ✓

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ENCAP EA-ESD
Simple checklist
Proposed Activities
clearing X
cut/fill X
dredging X
blasting -
Environmental components:
Physical
air quality X
water quality X
water flow X
Biological
spawning habitat X
rearing habitat X
Socio-economic
fishing X

7 Sadar, 1994
Project checklist a guide
Actions Affecting Potential Damages:
Resources and Values:
1. Disruption of Hydrology 1. Impairment of Other Beneficial
Water Uses
2. Resettlement 2. Social Inequities

3. Encroachment on Precious 3. Loss of these Values

Ecology
4. Encroachment on Historic/ 4. Loss of these Values
Cultural Values
5. Waste Emissions Related to 5. Intensification of Problems of
Siting Pollution Control

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Questionnaire Checklist example
based on rural and urban water supply and sanitation projects
Aspects of EIA Checklist questions Yes No
1. Require the acquisition or conversion of significant areas of land for reservoir/treatment works etc. (e.g. > 50 ha rural, > 5
ha urban)?

2. Result in significant quantities of eroded material, effluent or solid wastes?

3. Require significant accommodation or service amenities to support the workforce during construction (eg > 100 manual
workers)?

Receiving environment 4. Flood or otherwise affect areas which support conservation worthy terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems, flora or fauna (eg
protected areas, wilderness areas, forest reserves, critical habitats, endangered species); or that contain sites of historical or
cultural importance?

5. Flood or otherwise affect areas which will affect the livelihoods of local people (eg require population resettlement; affect
local industry, agriculture, livestock or fish stocks; reduce the availability of natural resource goods and services)?

6. Involve siting sanitation treatment facilities close to human settlements (particularly where locations are susceptible to
flooding)?

7. Affect sources of water extraction?

Environmental impacts
8. Cause a noticeable permanent or seasonal reduction in the volume of ground or surface water supply?

9. Present a significant pollution risk through liquid or solid wastes to humans, sources of water extraction, conservation
worthy aquatic ecosystems and species, or commercial fish stocks?

10. Change the local hydrology of surface water-bodies (eg. streams, rivers, lakes) such that conservation-worthy or
commercially significant fish stocks are affected?
11. Increase the risk of diseases in areas of high population density (eg. onchocerciasis, filariasis, malaria, hepatitis,
gastrointestinal diseases)?

12. Induce secondary development, eg along access roads, or in the form of entrepreneurial services for construction and
operational activities?

Mitigation measures
13. Be likely to require mitigation measures that may result in the project being financially or socially unacceptable?

http://eia.unu.edu/wiki/index.php/Sectoral_Checklist.html
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 Checklists: Pros & Cons

Advantages ! Flaws or
✓

Drawbacks
omissions in
• Easy to apply for non-experts
the checklist
• Bring structure and consistency
to: often become
➢ gathering and classifying flaws in your
information analysis.
Good ➢ characterizing the basic if an impact or
tools for
field
nature of a project issue is not on
➢ identifying potential the checklist, it
survey! environmental impacts
is usually
➢ designing mitigation
measures forgotten
• Help to assure that key impacts or
issues are not forgotten

ENCAP EA-ESD 10
Checklists
Advantages Disadvantages
• Simple to understand and • Do not distinguish between
use direct and indirect impacts
• Do not link action and impact
• Good for site selection and • unable to show
interdependencies,connectivities
priority setting or synergisms between
interacting environmental
components,

• Usually qualitative
• do not provide information on
specific data needs

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Checklists
• Checklists provide a systematized means of identifying
impacts

• They also have been developed for application to

particular types of projects and categories of impacts
(such as dams or road building).

• Sectoral checklists often are useful when proponents

specialise in one particular area of development.

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MATRICES
• A grid-like table that is used to identify the interaction
between project activities and environmental
components
• cross-references a list of actions with environmental impact
parameters.
• activities displayed along one axis, and environmental
characteristics, displayed along the other axis.
• Environment-activity interactions can be noted in the
appropriate cells or intersecting points in the grid.
• Entries are made in the cells to highlight impact severity or
other features related to the nature of the impact.
• Inputs can be qualitative or quantitative

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Simple Matrix

Glasson et al., 2005

The action likely to have an impact on an environmental component is

identified by placing a cross in the appropriate cell.
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Magnitude Matrix

Glasson et al., 2005

Magnitude matrices go beyond the mere identification of impacts by describing

them according to their magnitude, importance and/or time frame (e.g. short-,
medium- or long-term).
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 2. Interaction Matrices
What are they?
They are tables containing. . .
An interaction
Aspects of the environment matrix matches
each action to its
associated
Spawning impacts
Water Water
habitat Fishing
quality Flow
(substrate)
example: the effects of
Dredging     +50% “improvement” actions on a
Clearing   commercially important fish
population
Access 

Qualitative or quantitative
Proposed actions
estimates of how a particular action
affects a particular aspect of the environment
ENCAP EA-ESD Course: Information
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Requirements & Tools
Leopold Matrix
• Best known matrix method available for predicting
the impact of a project on the environment
• It is a two dimensional matrix cross-referencing:
1. the activities linked to the project that are
supposed to have an impact on man and the
environment.
2. the existing environmental and social conditions
that could possibly be affected by the project.

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Leopold Matrix
• The activities linked to the project are listed on one
axis:
• E.g. raw material production, building construction,
water supply, energy supply, raw material preparation,
pulp and paper mills processing, gaseous emissions,
cooling water discharges, solid wastes treatment and
disposal, transportation.
• The environmental and social conditions are listed
on the other axis, and divided in three major
groups:
• physical conditions: soil, water, air…,
• biological conditions: fauna, flora, ecosystems…,
• social and cultural conditions: land use, historical and
cultural issues, populations, economy
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Calculating Impact Significance

http://eia.unu.edu/

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Leopold Matrix: Process
1. For all the interactions considered significant mark the corresponding
boxes in the matrix with a diagonal line.

2. Evaluate each box by applying a number from 1 to 10 (1 is the

minimum and 10 the maximum) to show the magnitude of the
interaction.
1. This number is transferred to the upper left hand corner.

3. Mark (from 1 to 10), in the lower right hand corner, the real
importance of the phenomenon for the given project.
1. This gives an evaluation of the extent of the environmental impact

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Example of Leopold Matrix for the pulp and paper21
industry http://www.fao.org/docrep
Sectoral matrix example (for transport sector)

Valued Env.
Component
(VEC)

Development
Projects

Ports and Harbours

Airports

Rapid Transit

Highways

Oil/Gas Pipelines

Significant Impact Moderate - Significant Impact Insignificant Impact

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 Matrices pros & cons

Advantages
✓ ! Does not

Drawbacks
• Filling in the matrix requires
characterize the
systematic consideration of the
possible impacts of each action. baseline situation

• Because actions are matched to  Does not

impacts, facilitates the promote
identification of preventive consideration of
mitigation measures secondary
• Summarizes a lot of information impacts
compactly & indicates the most  Hard to show
significant impacts at a glance change over time
• Easily accommodates a mix of
qualitative & quantitative impact
estimates
ENCAP EA-ESD 23