
The main aim of environmental impact assessment is to effectively introduce the issues of environmental protection at the consecutive stages of a decision-making process concerning investment enterprises with significant impact on the environment, as well as the life and health of people. Such enterprises with potentially significant impact on the environment start with a concept study and through various location, technical and economical analyses go through the subsequent verification stages. A feasibility study is what often determines the final solutions preferred by the investor. After the investor chooses the final variant of the planned investment, they must seek multiple decisions and permits that are necessary for selecting the location, technology, approving the technical design and the investment execution conditions, including those related with using natural resources during construction and operation. Such permits, in accordance with the law of a given country, are granted by bodies and institutions at the national, regional or local level, relevant for making decisions on managing land, natural resources or spatial development planning, as well as on the location of investments of strategic importance.
The process of planning an enterprise, from the concept stage up to the final execution permit, comprises multiple stages at which different types of decisions are made that affect the future shape of the investment. Up to a point, the decision-making process used to account for mainly technical and economical, as well as political factors. From the Seventies, though, environmental factors and criteria have started to gain traction. One of the most effective preventive instruments of a sustainable development policy introduced in many countries was environmental impact assessment.
The utilisation of EIA methods and procedures makes it possible to identify and evaluate the impact an investment may have on the environment, and the changes introduced during its planning and designing may limit the negative impact or even completely prevent it, as well as increase benefits derived from the execution of the investment. As a result of an EIA process taking place in parallel with the investment planning processes, the alternative that is approved for execution is the one that interferes with the environment the least, as compared with the original variant.
Before a decision is made (a permit is granted) for an investment project that specifies the conditions of the environment exploitation at all stages of the investment “life cycle”, consultations are taking place with the participation of administrative authorities, local government bodies, local communities and individual citizens. The participants of an environmental impact assessment procedure, the investor, the EIA report authors, the representatives of public administration authorities and non-profit organisations must be able to exercise their rights and competences in order for a balanced administrative decision (a permit for an enterprise execution) to be made.
After a building permit is granted, an EIA report should be helpful for preparatory works, the enterprise execution (together with associated investments) and its future operation. Some measures mitigating or compensating for adverse impact should be implemented from the very beginning of an investment process. The report should also contain environmental monitoring requirements. That way, an EIA report will be used at future stages of the investment execution and operation, as well as its management, for a long time after a building permit is obtained. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a procedure affecting the decision-making process and the management of an investment at multiple stages. It is not focused on the result itself – obtaining a building permit. The effectiveness of an EIA procedure depends on the quality of the possible investment alternatives analyses that make it possible to choose the best alternative in terms of the environment. An EIA report is a means to an end, not an end in itself.
Below you can find the most common definitions used in environmental impact assessment. Some of those definitions arise from the law, while others have been determined based on practice.
Post-project analysis – a report comparing the actual impact of the project on the environment with what was stated in the environmental impact report and in the environmental consent.
Mitigation measures – a set of actions aimed at minimising the negative impact related with the implementation and operation phase of a planned project.
Preventive actions – a set of actions aimed at eliminating the negative impact on the environment related with the implementation and operation phase of a planned project.
Investor – a private individual or a legal entity initiating an investment.
Compensation – the obligation to repair the damage done to the environment, not necessarily by restoring it to its original condition.
Screening – action taken in order to determine whether it is necessary to carry out EIA for a given enterprise.
Impact monitoring – a set of measurements and analyses proposed for the construction or/end operation phase of the Project, specified in an environmental impact report and in a environmental consent.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) – the process of systematic, interdisciplinary identification and assessment of probable impact of a planned projct and its alternatives. The concept of EIA also includes documents like programmes, plans, strategies, etc. and refers to a legally defined EIA procedure.
Environmental impact – any change to the environment caused by a proposed activity.
Making public – making information available by posting it on a publicly available list or announcing it, publishing in the press, on a website or in another customary manner.
Proposed activity – a proposed new activity or expansion or modernisation of an existing investment.
Enterprise – any new activity and construction of a new investment or expansion or modernisation of an existing one.
Environmental Impact Assessment report / EIA report - documentation presenting the results of works on environmental impact assessment that forms the basis for an EIA procedure concluded with the issuing of an administrative decision.
Public participation in an environmental impact assessment procedure – possible participation of any interested members of the public in a decision-making process related with environmental protection in the form of submitting comments and applications in an EIA procedure.
Scoping – an administrative procedure specifying the level of detail of individual elements in an environmental impact report.
Alternatives – different methods of a proposed activity meeting its goals, including changes to the location, technical design, technology, schedule, operation conditions; a “zero option” is also taken into account that involves not starting the activity at all.
Scope of an environmental impact assessment report – is the level of detail of individual sections of an environmental impact report relevant to the nature of an enterprise, the data and information available and the type of administrative procedure.
Cumulative impacts – combined changes to the environment caused by the proposed activity and associated projects as well as the impact of existing and planned projects.
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