environmental impact assessment (msm3208) lecture notes 4-why assess environmental impacts

8/9/2019 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (MSM3208) LECTURE NOTES 4-Why Assess Environmental Impacts

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WHY ASSESS

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS?


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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

ASSESSMENT

A formal process for identifying the

likely effects of particular activities orprojects on the environment, and on

human health and welfare.


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WHY DID EIA START?

By the early 1960s in the US and

other industrial countries, it was clearthat SOMETHING WAS WRONG.


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30 Years of Environmental Progress, USEPA, 2000.


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Cuyahoga River burns in 1966 (3rd time). Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.30 Years of Environmental Progress, USEPA, 2000.


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ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS IN

THE WEALTHY INDUSTRIAL

ECONOMIES

1952 killer fog kills 4,000 in London1963 Rachel Carsons Silent Spring

documents the negative effects of DDT

1966 Cayahoga River in Ohio catches

fireagain!


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WHAT WAS HAPPENING?

Looking back from today, the causes were obvious:

y Population Growth

y Natural Resource Pressures

y Urbanization

y Industrialization

These forces combined to create unprecedented

environmental damage with consequent effects onhuman health and welfare.


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EIA WAS ONE POLICY RESPONSE

IN INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES

In 1970, the US legislature passed the

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

y NEPA required EIA for US Governmentprojects. Mandated public input.

y Now over 200 similar requirements world-

wide

Other responses included regulation of

industrial activity, international treaties


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WHY SHOULD DEVELOPING

COUNTRIES CARE ABOUT EIA?

Easy answer: Donor requirements.

y In the early 1970s, several Pakistani workers died as a result

of negligent pesticide management procedures on a USAIDproject.

y USAID was sued by a US environmental NGO, and adopted

environmental review procedures to comply with NEPA (Reg.

216)

Almost all donor agencies now have similar procedures


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WHY SHOULD DEVELOPING

COUNTRIES CARE ABOUT EIA?

The difficult answer: A real environmental crisis

y The environmental crisis faced by most

developing countries is at least as serious asthat of the industrialized countries in the 1960s

and 70s.

Lower levels of industrialization, BUT. . .

High population growth and urbanizationUse of hazardous substances

Environmental degradation due to poverty


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Land degradation and desertification:

satellite photo shows topsoil blowing

off SW African coast, from Angola toS. Africa.

NASA


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Chemical pollution: obsolete pesticides in Mozambique.U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization


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Deforestation: trees cleared for planting in Guinea.U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization


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ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS IN THE

DEVELOPING WORLD

1984 Methyl isocyanate cloud from Union Carbide

plant accident in Bhopal, India kills 2,000+ Cities with worst air quality: Developing country

megacities

Millions of deaths/year from environmental

conditionsparticularly poor sanitation


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EIA SUPPORTS SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT

Like medicine, the first principle of development

should be to first, do no harm.

y In its history, the development profession has

often failed this basic mandate

y The environment is complicatedwithout EIA, it

is difficult to know when harm will come.


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EIA SUPPORTS SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT

EIA should also be proactive

y

More than just helping to avoid harm, EIA shouldhelp to assure that development benefits are

maximized.


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THE ROLE OF EIA IN CONSERVATION-

ORIENTED PROJECTS

EIA is was developed to assure that the

environmental consequences of economic/social

development projects were adequately considered.

So. . .Is EIA necessary if the goal of the project is

environmental in nature?


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ORIENTED PROJECTS

YES!


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ORIENTED PROJECTS

Because EIA is:

y

a tool for considering secondary effects environmental, social and economic

y essential to gathering baseline information for the project

y . . .and to assessing results

The result: The separation between EIA and project

development becomes indistinct.


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THE FINAL MESSAGE

EIA is critical to ensure that the environment will

support vital ecosystem services upon which allhuman subsistence and economic activity depends.

y In traditional development activities

y In conservation-oriented activities

y EIA is a framework or structure to achieve

Environmentally Sound Design

environmental impact assessment (msm3208) lecture notes 4-why assess environmental impacts

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