Environmental Impact Assessments and Mitigation

Musaida Mercy Manyuchi, Charles Mbohwa, Edison Muzenda, Nita Sukdeo

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781000195040
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Environmental Science
• Index: Biological Sciences

Environmental Impact Assessments and Mitigation examines various assessments for developmental projects in the housing, mining, energy, and waste management areas. As the world continues to shift toward concerns over climate change and environmental protection issues, developmental projects must have environmental impact assessments (EIA) conducted as well as environmental management plans (EMP). This book describes how all phases of a project, from planning, to operation, to post operation, must consider potential environmental impacts and their mitigation.

Features:

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• Presents numerous sustainable development considerations for key industries

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• Discusses how environmental impact assessments are prepared for each stage of a project

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• Describes different environmental management plans for established projects

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• Offers mitigation plans for various potential environmental impacts

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• Includes practical examples from the construction, manufacturing, transport, and mining industries

Useful for practicing professional engineers as well as upper-level students, this book covers all aspects of environmental impact assessments from start to finish.

1 Background of Environmental Impact Assessment and Management

1.1 Introduction

The whole world is focused on sustainability, and in Africa, a developing continent, there is much development taking place in terms of infrastructure, mining, manufacturing, and agriculture. These developments, if not carefully managed, could have a negative impact on the environment (World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2005). Implementation of environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and environmental management plans (EMPs) then becomes critical.

1.2 The Environmental Impact Assessment Process

The major steps in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process are:

1. i. Screening
2. ii. Prospecting
3. iii. Scoping
4. iv. Full-scale EIA development, review and monitoring

1.2.1 Screening

Screening is the process used to determine whether a proposed project requires an EIA and, if so, what level of environmental review is necessary. It also identifies those projects or activities that may cause potential significant impacts (Modak and Biswas, 1999). In addition, it identifies special conditions/analyses that may be required by international funding bodies before conducting the full EIA. The screening process further categorizes the projects to indicate where:

1. i. A full-scale EIA is required
2. ii. Some further environmental analysis is required
3. iii. No further environmental analysis is required

Examples of projects that need full EIAs include but are not limited to:

1. i. Infrastructure projects
2. ii. Large-scale industrial activities
3. iii. Resource extractive industries and activities
4. iv. Waste management and disposal
5. v. Substantial changes in farming or fishing practices

The initial screening criteria typically consider:

1. i. Project type, location, size (e.g. capital investment, number of people affected, project capacity, areal extent)
2. ii. Receiving environment characteristics
3. iii. Strength of community opinion
4. iv. Confidence in prediction of impacts

The project screening checklist should include a section regarding site location, characteristics, including, at a minimum, the four categories of environmentally critical areas also classified as highly sensitive areas:

1. i. National parks
2. ii. Indigenous people’s areas
3. iii. Tourist areas
4. iv. Ecologically sensitive areas

Site selection defines the location of the study area and the specific environmental resource base to be examined. The most important factor is to look at all components contributing to a project’s potential negative impacts (Ahmad and Sammy, 1987). Existing regional development plans should be used as guides to select project locations where environmental conditions will be minimally impacted.

1.2.2 Prospectus Generation and Impact Identification

Initial prospectus document generation is intended as a low-cost environmental evaluation that makes use of information already available. The prospectus describes the proposed project or activity, examines alternatives, identifies and addresses community concerns to the fullest possible extent, identifies and assesses potential environmental effects, thereby directing future actions of the proposed project (Lee, 1995); and identifies all potential environmental concerns relating to a proposed project or activity, thereby establishing a focus for follow-up studies for the comprehensive EIA. The initiation of the prospectus document results in the following project classifications:

1. i. No requirement for further environmental study; proposal not anticipated to have significant impact
2. ii. Limited environmental study needed; environmental impacts are known and can be easily mitigated
3. iii. Full-scale EIA required; impacts unknown or likely to be significant

In order to establish the potential significant issues for any project in question, it is important to first identify valued environmental/ecosystem components. This can be done through hiring professional consultants, reviewing past experience and legislative requirements, assessing stakeholder and community values, as well as practical identification of the potential impacts of the project. The prospecting stage also identifies the potential for cumulative impacts (i.e. to the site as a whole and to the region). The commonly considered valued environmental ecosystems are:

1. i. Natural physical resources (e.g. surface and groundwater, air, climate, and soil)
2. ii. Natural biological resources (e.g. forests, wetlands, river, and lake ecology)
3. iii. Economic development resources (e.g. agriculture, industry, infrastructure, and tourism)
4. iv. Quality of life (e.g. public health, socioeconomic, cultural, and aesthetics)
5. v....

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• About the Authors
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1 Background of Environmental Impact Assessment and Management
• Chapter 2 Environmental Impact Assessments and New Residential Infrastructure
• Chapter 3 Environmental Impact Assessment for Coal Bed Methane Drilling
• Chapter 4 Environmental Impact Assessment for a Solid Waste Disposal Landfill
• Chapter 5 Environmental Impact Assessment for Gold Panning
• Chapter 6 Environmental Impact Assessment of a Scrap Metal Smelting Plant
• Index