EIA Decision Making & Post-Project Activities

Unit 3 Topic Overview

• Covers decision-making and post-project activities in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs).
• Includes mitigation measures, rehabilitation plans, environmental management plans, green belt development, policy guidelines, public hearings, documentation of EIA findings, report preparation, post-project audits, and ethical/quality aspects.

Steps in EIA Process

• Screening to determine if a project requires an EIA
• Scoping to identify key issues and impacts
• Establishing base line data to measure environmental impact
• Impact identification to determine all possible impacts
• Prediction to determine the scale of these impacts
• Evaluation to determine what the overall impact is
• Mitigation strategies in case of a negative impact
• Public consultation to get all views
• Formal EIA preparation with all facts and figures
• Appraisals of the formal EIA by professionals
• Independent Environmental audit

Mitigation

• Identifies measures to protect the environment and communities affected by a proposed project.
• It is a creative and practical phase of the EIA process
• Mitigation strategies involve avoiding, minimizing, and/or remedying impacts.
• Mitigation Element breakdown:
  • Avoidance: Using alternative sites or technologies to eliminate impacts
  • Minimization: Minimizing or eliminating impacts during design, construction, and operation phases
  • Compensation: Offsetting unavoidable impacts as a last resort

Principles of Mitigation

• Prioritize avoidance and preventive measures.
• Consider feasible alternatives to the project proposal for the best practical environmental option.
• Identify customized measures to minimize main predicted impacts.
• Ensure measures are appropriate, environmentally sound, and cost-effective.
• Consider compensation or remedial actions as a last resort.

Steps of Mitigation Implementation

• Impact avoidance by early stage planning to avoid sensitive areas
• Impact minimization by limiting duration and the magnitude
• Impact compensation by remediating and rehabilitation

Evaluation of Mitigation Strategy

• Considers the extent to which the strategy avoids or reduces significant effects.
• Takes into account sustainability, integration, feasibility, and compliance with regulations.
• Outlines environmental management principles for the development's planning, design, establishment, and operation.
• Specifies location, layout, design, and technological features, as well as ongoing management and monitoring plans.
• Mitigation costs are about 10% of the total project cost, depending on the project's nature, size, and location.

Impact Mitigation Priority

• Mitigation efforts should primarily target serious impacts first.
• Smaller impacts that are easily and cheaply mitigated come next

Typical Mitigation for Environmental Components: Water

• Use combined ground/surface water to reduce depletion of resources etc
• Employ Storm water drainage systems
• Minimize any flow variation
• Storing less oil in waste lagoons
• Proper treatment for all waste
• Controlling all surface water runoff
• Monitoring of any groundwaters affected
• Neutralize wastewaters
• Appropriate disposal of solids

Green Belts

• Greenbelts are often recommended EMP element.
• Greenbelts need a minimum of 30% of the total core area.
• Greenbelts need at least 10–15 m wide
• Greenbelts need 1500-2000 plants per hectare.
• The Central Pollution Control Board has Greenbelt guidelines

Main Objectives of Greenbelts

• Isolate industries, protecting areas from damage and pollution
• Promote regional ecological health overall
• Restrict area sprawl from encroachment
• Confine adverse impacts from unnatural events
• Be for carbon capture, and promoting oxygen
• Be a climate stabilizer

Green Belt Design Factors

• The key design factor is based on density per hectare of land
• Just planting some trees does not constitute a green belt
• Green belts need to be thick plantations
• Ideal range is 1500-2000 trees a hectare

Plant Selection for Greenbelts

• Plants should be native, tall and evergreen
• Trees need to be generally useful for non timber products
• Plants should be structurally similar to local trees
• Air pollution tolerance and canopy and leaf density is beneficial
• Resistance to harsh weather is also a plus
• Avoid single cultures, and use polyculture methods

Environmental Management Plan (EMP)

• It is legally necessary in an EIA report, and assists implementation.
• Achieve good environmental design by prevention with control measures.
• Take compensatory actions when necessary
• EMPs serve as a basis for consultation during the EIA.
• EMPs also summarize environmental impacts and provide mitigation steps

EMP Key actions

• Summarization of all environmental impacts from the EIA
• Mitigating risks, and describing all mitigation measures
• Creating reporting plans
• Cost estimation of all mitigation measures
• Verification to ensure all steps have been taken

Key Principles of EMP

• Efforts to integrate environmental plans are key
• Minimize problems early
• Maximize the the efficiency of programs
• Involve the local community

EMP Regulation requirements

• EMP implementation is integral to project execution
• EMP is an essential attribute of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
• The requirements for EMP are in the Financial Agreement
• EMP is key to any projects operations manual
• All loanees must periodically report compliance

Contents for EMP

• Necessary staff, equipment and resources
• Scheduling and stakeholder contact details
• Mitigation implementation strategy and plans
• Policy guidelines
• Using POSDCORB guidelines

EIA Report: Draft Contents

• Begin by outlining the project
• Describe the impacts
• Give possible action plans
• Assess the cost

Public Hearing

• The purpose is to bring stakeholders and proponents together to express opinions.
• The public can give suggestions in formal manner to influence any decision making

Public Involvement Objectives

• Utilizing local opinions
• Considering any alternative plans
• Preventing important overlooked impacts
• Resolving conflict early on
• Increase public trust in processes

Community key involvement

• It is the main factor for public participation
• Openness, truth, and transparency
• Focused and relevant discussion
• Impartial opinion, and responsive actions
• To build trust

Public Hearing: Key Participants

• EAC member representatives from Federal and State
• Local magistrates, and officials
• Public board officers
• All community members and vulnerable members

Public Hearing: Key documentation for consideration

• All summary reports
• EIA reviews
• Presented in local language

Public Hearing: How to hinder the process

• Poor understanding
• Lack of assistance
• Misleading information

Public Participation: Benefits of Participation

• Improved public understanding overall
• Mitigating alternative steps
• Forum and transparency

Public Consultation: How to prepare effectively

• Researching all possible outcomes, with plans
• Stating the environmental conditions clearly
• Using all related technology
• Issues, and their storage plans
• Express sensitivity with grievances
• Use previously validated studies
• Using clear communication to the community

Public Hearing: Key Preparation Steps

• Careful site date and letter selections
• Notices must be properly advertised in all newspapers
• Trip to the area the impact the influence and understanding

Public Hearing: Conduct in Action

• Proper introduction will lead to correct objectives
• Done in community language
• Questions need to be targeted
• Panel findings need relay to the authority
• Findings need to be displayed after the fact

What happens if the meeting is faulty?

• Report to the panel
• Done in 30 days of the impact
• Clearance can be challenged legally
• EC is needed when there is industrial and other large actions

Decision Making

• The aim is to chose alternatives and analyze costs effectively
• Comprised of negotiations and bargains
• Should be interim

Post Project Audits

• Ensure all approval terms have been met
• Assess measures are in place
• Ensure impacts are controlled effectively
• Improving EIA applications
• Enhancing the quality

Challenges in Audit

• Costs
• Available actions
• Abilities to enforce