Environmental Impact Assessment/EIA
Environmental Impact Assessment/EIA is common tool that helps decision makers to assess or to predict the possible environmental impacts of any proposed project, including both the possible negative and positive impacts. It has several objectives, such as (1) to help decide if the effects are acceptable or have to be changed with the proposed project, (2) to design/implement appropriate monitoring, mitigation, and management measures, (3) propose acceptable alternatives, and (4) to prepare an environmental impact report. Finally, EIA can be used to decide whether the decision makers could issue permit or reject the proposed project.
The output of this tool is a document which contains a report on: 1) the baseline of the environmental condition in the proposed project area; 2) descriptions of the proposed project; 3) results of environmental assessment of the proposed project; 4) a recommendation for environmental management plan/system of the proposed project.
It is usually a formal-legal tool of a given country in the form of a list of projects that should be supported by EIA. To manage this tool, a country forms an EIA commission that has task to manage the whole process of EIA, including ensuring the quality assurance of the document. Through this tool the decision makers could release permit for the proposed project, including a recommendation for the environmental management system of the project.
Depending on the scope and scale of the project, EIA could be prepared by a group of experts related to the strategic issues of the proposed project in terms of environment. In some countries, an EIA certificate is given to experts who are considered knowledgeable and have the ability to prepare it.
EIA could be implemented on the condition that the respective commission that regulates the requirements of EIA preparation and quality control is already established.
This tool can be used to assess that any proposed project would not create negative environmental impacts and to make sure that the proposed project meeting the sustainable development principles.
This tool could be used as a part of comprehensive steps to prepare plans, to monitor and evaluate urban development and management on specific issue or theme such as: sustainablke urban tourism, climate change, urban transition management, urban infrastructure development, urban water management, and sustainable urban transport.
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