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United Nations Environment Programme

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a process that evaluates potential environmental impacts of proposed projects or developments. The United Nations Environment Programme defines EIA as a tool used to identify environmental, social, and economic impacts prior to decision-making. EIAs aim to predict impacts early, find ways to reduce adverse impacts, and present options to decision-makers. Key stages of an EIA include screening projects, scoping impacts, assessing and reporting impacts, reviewing assessments, decision-making, and monitoring impacts. EIAs consider direct, indirect, cumulative, and induced impacts of projects on the environment.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
58 views7 pages

United Nations Environment Programme

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a process that evaluates potential environmental impacts of proposed projects or developments. The United Nations Environment Programme defines EIA as a tool used to identify environmental, social, and economic impacts prior to decision-making. EIAs aim to predict impacts early, find ways to reduce adverse impacts, and present options to decision-makers. Key stages of an EIA include screening projects, scoping impacts, assessing and reporting impacts, reviewing assessments, decision-making, and monitoring impacts. EIAs consider direct, indirect, cumulative, and induced impacts of projects on the environment.

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Hari Vamshi
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Environmental Impact Assessment

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.
(United Nations Environment Programme )UNEP defines Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) as a tool used to identify the environmental, social and economic impacts
of a project prior to decision-making. It aims to predict environmental impacts at an early
stage in project planning and design, find ways and means to reduce adverse impacts, shape
projects to suit the local environment and present the predictions and options to decision-
makers. By using EIA both environmental and economic benefits can be achieved, such as
reduced cost and time of project implementation and design, avoided treatment/clean-up costs
and impacts of laws and regulations.
Although legislation and practice vary around the world, the fundamental components of an

EIA would necessarily involve the following stages:

a. Screening to determine which projects or developments require a full or partial


impact assessment study;
b. Scoping to identify which potential impacts are relevant to assess (based on
legislative requirements, international conventions, expert knowledge and public
involvement), to identify alternative solutions that avoid, mitigate or compensate
adverse impacts on biodiversity (including the option of not proceeding with the
development, finding alternative designs or sites which avoid the impacts,
incorporating safeguards in the design of the project, or providing compensation
for adverse impacts), and finally to derive terms of reference for the impact
assessment;
c. Assessment and evaluation of impacts and development of alternatives, to
predict and identify the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or
development, including the detailed elaboration of alternatives;
d. Reporting the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or EIA report,
including an environmental management plan (EMP), and a non-technical
summary for the general audience.
e. Review of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), based on the terms of
reference (scoping) and public (including authority) participation.
f. Decision-making on whether to approve the project or not, and under what
conditions; and
g. Monitoring, compliance, enforcement and environmental auditing. Monitor
whether the predicted impacts and proposed mitigation measures occur as
defined in the EMP. Verify the compliance of proponent with the EMP, to ensure
that unpredicted impacts or failed mitigation measures are identified and
addressed in a timely fashion.
Types of Environmental Impacts: Direct , Indirect , Cumulative and Induced
Impact:

Direct Impacts:
Direct impacts occur through direct interaction of an activity with an environmental, social,

or economic component.

For example, a discharge of any industry or an effluent from the Effluent Treatment Plant
(ETP) from the industrial estates into a river may lead to a decline in water quality in terms of
high biological oxygen demand (BOD) or dissolved oxygen (DO) or rise of water toxins

Indirect Impacts:
Indirect impacts on the environment are these which are not a direct result of the project,

often produced away from or as a result of a complex impact pathway. The indirect impacts

are also known as secondary or even third level impacts.

For example, ambient air SO2 (SULPHUR DI OXIDE) rise due to stack emissions may deposit on

land as SO4 and cause acidic soils.

Another example of indirect impact is the decline in water quality due to rise in

temperature of water bodies receiving cooling water discharge from the nearby industry.

This may, in turn, lead to a secondary indirect impact on aquatic flora in that water body and

may further cause reduction in fish population. Reduction in fishing harvests, affecting the

income of fishermen is a third level impact. Such impacts are characterized as socioeconomic

(third level) impacts.

The indirect impacts may also include growth- inducing impacts and other effects related to
induced changes to the pattern of land use or additional road network, population density or
growth rate (e.g. around a power project). In the process, air, water and other natural systems
including the ecosystem may also be affected.
Cumulative Impacts:
Cumulative impact consists of an impact that is created as a result of the combination

of the project evaluated in the EIA together with other projects causing related impacts.

These impacts occur when the incremental impact of the project is combined with the

cumulative effects of other past, present and reasonably foreseeable future projects.

Induced Impacts:
The cumulative impacts can be, due to induced actions of projects and activities that may

occur if the action under assessment is implemented such as growth inducing impacts and

other effects related to induced changes to the pattern of future land use or additional road

network, population density or growth rate. Induced actions may not be officially announced
or be part of any official plan. Increase in workforce and nearby communities contributes to

this effect.

They usually have no direct relationship with the action under assessment and

represent the growth- inducing potential of an action. New roads leading from those

constructed for a project, increased recreational activities, and construction of new service

facilities are examples of induce actions.

However, the cumulative impacts due to induced development or third level or even
secondary indirect impacts are difficult to be quantified. Because of higher levels’ of
uncertainties, these’ impacts cannot be normally assessed over a long time horizon.

An EIA practitioner usually can only guess as to what such induced impacts may be
and the possible extent of their implications on the environmental factors

Deforestation: is the permanent removal of trees to make room for something


besides forest. This can include clearing the land for agriculture or grazing, or using the
timber for fuel, construction or manufacturing.

Forests cover more than 30% of the Earth's land surface, according to the World Wildlife
Fund. These forested areas can provide food, medicine and fuel for more than a billion
people. Worldwide, forests provide 13.4 million people with jobs in the forest sector, and
another 41 million people have jobs related to forests.
Forests are a resource, but they are also large, undeveloped swaths of land that can be
converted for purposes such as agriculture and grazing. In North America, about half the
forests in the eastern part of the continent were cut down for timber and farming between the
1600s and late 1800s, according to National Geographic.

Today, most deforestation is happening in the tropics. Areas that were inaccessible in
the past are now within reach as new roads are constructed through the dense forests

Reasons forests are destroyed:


The World Bank estimates that about 3.9 million square miles (10 million square km)
of forest have been lost since the beginning of the 20th century. In the past 25 years, forests
shrank by 502,000 square miles (1.3 million square km) — an area bigger than the size of
South Africa. In 2018, The Guardian reported that every second, a chunk of forest equivalent
to the size of a soccer field is lost.

Often, deforestation occurs when forested area is cut and cleared to make way for
agriculture or grazing. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) reports that just four
commodities are responsible for tropical deforestation: beef, soy, palm oil and wood
products. UCS estimates that an area the size of Switzerland (14,800 square miles, or 38,300
square km) is lost to deforestation every year.

Natural fires in tropical forests tend to be rare but intense. Human-lit fires are
commonly used to clear land for agricultural use. First, valuable timber is harvested, then the
remaining vegetation is burned to make way for crops like soy or cattle grazing. In 2019, the
number of human-lit fires in Brazil skyrocketed. As of August 2019, more than 80,000 fires
burned in the Amazon, an increase of almost 80% from 2018, National Geographic reported.

Many forests are cleared to make way for palm oil plantations. Palm oil is the most
commonly produced vegetable oil and is found in half of all supermarket products. It's cheap,
versatile and can be added to both food and personal products like lipsticks and shampoo. Its
popularity has spurred people to clear tropical forests to grow more palm trees. Growing the
trees that produce the oil requires the leveling of native forest and the destruction of local
peatlands — which doubles the harmful effect on the ecosystem. According to a report
published by Zion Market Research, the global palm oil market was valued at $65.73 billion
in 2015 and is expected to reach $92.84 billion in 2021.
.

What Does Deforestation Mean?

Deforestation means cutting down the trees to a large extent be it forests, any barren land
or trees we see on our way to school every day. Natural forests are being destructed to use the
land for cultivation, building houses, factories, logging, making space for cattle grazing,
extraction of oil, mining, construction of dams or to obtain wood for making furniture and using
it as fuel.
Forest wood has been an essential need for us since the time of civilization and still
continues to be the main source for many uses in our day to day life. Trees help to maintain the
water cycle and give shelter to the organisms. It takes place in an area that is densely populated
by trees and is mostly observed in a forest like the Amazon rainforest. Forests cover almost
30% of the earth’s land.

The extinction of the forest cover affects the biodiversity which in turn threaten peoples
lives. Shrinking of the forests cause wide-reaching problems like soil erosion, fewer crops,
flooding, water cycle disruption, greenhouse gas emissions, changes in the climatic
conditions, and loss of biodiversity

Causes of Deforestation

The causes of deforestation are:

Logging:
Illegal logging activities are very common that destroy the livelihoods of the people
depending on forests. Wood-based industries like paper, match-sticks, furniture need a
substantial amount of wood supply. Wood is used as fuel most commonly and so large amount
of trees are cut down for fuel supplies. Firewood and charcoal are used as fuel.

Agricultural Activities:
The conversion of forests into agricultural land is a big reason for deforestation. Due to
overgrowing demand for food products, many trees are chopped down for crops and for cattle
grazing. Over 40% of the forests are cleaned to obtain land and meet the needs of agriculture and
wood.

Mining:
Oil and mining of coal require a large amount of forest land. Construction of roads leads
to deforestation as they provide the way to remote land. The waste that comes out from mining
pollutes the environment and affects the nearby species.

Forest as Habitat

Urbanization:
As the population grows, the needs of people increases which further leads to
deforestation. Forests shrink to a great extent to meet the requirements like for construction
of roads, development of houses, mineral exploitation and expansion of industries. Increasing
population directly affects forest as with the expansion of cities there is a need for more land for
housing and settlements.
Timber Production
One of the primary cause of deforestation is the production of timber. There is a lot of demand
for timber and so deforestation increases. It a source of raw material which is used for the
production of paper and also for construction.

Forest Fires
We lose a large number of trees each year due to fires in the forest in various portions
worldwide. This happens due to extreme summers and winters. The fire caused, by man or
nature, results in huge loss of forest cover.

Effects of Deforestation

Some of the effects of deforestation are:

Greenhouse Gas Emissions:


Gases such as methane and carbon dioxide trap heat in Earth’s atmosphere, leading
change in climate. Trees absorb the carbon dioxide and release oxygen and water into the
atmosphere and this contributes to global warming. Cutting carbon dioxide adds to the
environment and then this lack of the tree creates an absorption deficit. Deforestation leads to
the emission of greenhouse gas.

Soil Erosion:
Cutting down on trees leads to clearance of forests and so soil erosion occurs. Exposure
of the soil to the sun’s heat dries up the moisture inside the soil. Nutrients evaporate and it
affects the bacteria that help to break down organic matter. Due to this, rain washes the soil
surfaces and erosion takes place. Large amounts of soil wash into local streams and rivers and
cause damage to hydroelectric structures and irrigation infrastructure.

Biodiversity Losses:
Deforestation alters land and so that many of the plants and animals do not survive.
With more deforestation, the entire species can extinct. This is the ‘biodiversity loss’. Many
wonderful species of plants and animals have been lost, and many others remain endangered. As
each species of an ecosystem rely upon other species, loss of one species can have far-reaching
consequences for other species. We lose about 50 to 100 species of animals each day due to the
destruction of their habitats. Millions of plants and animal species are on the verge of extinction
due to deforestation.

Floods
Deforestation leads to land erosion because the trees maintain the surface of
the mountains. The water level of the rivers increases suddenly, causing floods. When it rains,
trees absorb and store a large amount of water with the help of their roots. Chopping down of
trees disrupts the flow of water and leads to floods in some areas.
Solutions to Deforestation

Trees play a vital role in protecting our environment in several ways so we should protect the
forest:

 The best way to stop deforestation is replanting.

 Ban on cutting of trees and new trees and planting more.

 There should be an implementation of regulations of laws at organizational and


governmental levels due to the extent of deforestation.

 Spread the awareness about sensitization and organize educative campaigns about the
effects of deforestation.

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