Glossary terms Flashcards
(41 cards)
What are the 6 criterion for genuine EIA according to Westerlund?
According to the NEPA-UNEP-Esbo-Rio development:
- The Decision Criterion.
- The Result Criterion.
- The Alternative Criterion.
- The Environmental Impact Criterion.
- The Balancing or Compatibility Criterion.
- The Checking or Review Criterion.
What are Gibson 8 core principles of sustainability-focused assessment?
- -Socio-ecological system integrity-
Build human-ecological relations to establish and maintain the long-term integrity of
socio-biophysical systems and protect the irreplaceable life support functions upon which
human as well as ecological well-being depends. - -Livelihood sufficiency and opportunity-
Ensure that everyone and every community has enough for a decent life and that everyone
has opportunities to seek improvements in ways that do not compromise future
generations’ possibilities for sufficiency and opportunity. - -Intragenerational equity-
Ensure that sufficiency and effective choices for all are pursued in ways that reduce
dangerous gaps in sufficiency and opportunity (and health, security, social recognition,
political influence, etc.) between the rich and the poor. - -Intergenerational equity-
Favour present options and actions that are most likely to preserve or enhance the opportunities
and capabilities of future generations to live sustainably - -Resource maintenance and efficiency-
Provide a larger base for ensuring sustainable livelihoods for all while reducing threats
to the long-term integrity of socio-ecological systems by reducing extractive damage,
avoiding waste and cutting overall material and energy use per unit of benefit. - -Socio-ecological civility and democratic governance-
Build the capacity, motivation and habitual inclination of individuals, communities and
other collective decision-making bodies to apply sustainability requirements through
more open and better informed deliberations, greater attention to fostering reciprocal
awareness and collective responsibility, and more integrated use of administrative, market,
customary and personal decision-making practices. - Precaution and adaptation -
Respect uncertainty,avoid even poorly understood risks of serious or irreversible damage
to the foundations for sustainability, plan to learn, design for surprise, and manage for
adaptation
- Precaution and adaptation -
- Immediate and long-term integration -
Apply all principles of sustainability at once, seeking mutually supportive benefits and
multiple gains.
- Immediate and long-term integration -
What are the main EIA steps?
1) Screening: Authorities must determine whether a proposal should be subject to EIA and, if so, to
what level of scrutiny. This may be specified in law, or left to the discretion of the Environmental Unit.
2) Scoping: Issues and impacts likely to be important should be identifies (via checklist of
environmental concerns), alternatives evaluated, and terms of reference for the EIA established.
3) Impact analysis and mitigation: The assessment team designs and performs the appropriate study,
including prediction, assessment and mitigation of impacts (via an environmental management plan).
4) Public Consultation and Participation: Public consultation can occur in the scoping, impact analysis
and mitigation, and/or preparation and review of EIS stages (i.e. steps 2, 3, 5 and 6 here).
5) Preparation of environmental impact statement (EIS): The report describes likely impacts,
proposed mitigation measures, significance of effects, and concerns of the interested public.
6) Review of the EIS: The Environmental Unit or an independent group determines whether the
report meets its terms of reference, provides a satisfactory assessment of the proposal and whether
the information submitted is adequate to inform the decision.
7) Decision making: Reviewers decide whether to allow the project to proceed and establish the
terms and conditions for its implementation.
8) Follow up and monitoring: Authorities ensure approval terms and conditions are met; monitors
impacts of implementation to avoid changes not predicted by the EIA; ensures effectiveness of
mitigation measures required; and, if required, performs environmental audit and process evaluation.
What are EIA operating principles?
EIA should be applied:
- ASAP in the in planning and DM process
- To all proposals that may generate significant adverse effects or about which there’s significant public concern
- To all biophysical and human factors potentially affected by development incl. health, gender, culture and cumulative effects
- Consistently within the policies, plans, programmes, principles of SD
- In a manner that allows involvement of affected and interested parties in the DM process
- In accordance with local, regional and international standards and regulatory requirements
What is the basic EIA process according to Noble? How many of them, describe each shortly.
There are 9 of them acc. to Noble. Public Participation should be in place throughout entire process.
- Project description
Description of the proposed action, incl. its alternatives and details sufficient for assessment - Screening
Determination whether action is subject to EIA under regulations and guidance present, and if so who is responsible and what type or level is required - Scoping and Baseline assessment
Identification of key issues and the spatial and temporal boundaries to be considered in asse-t, incl. analysis of baseline conditions and trends - Impact assessment
Prediction and evaluation of the potential env. effects of the project, incl. cumulative effects - Impact management
Iden-n of impact m-t, mitigation and enhancement strategies and development of env. management or protecton plans - Significance determination
Determination of the sign-e of potential adverse env. impacts , taking into consideration the effectiveness of proposed impact management actions - Submission and review of EIS
Preparation a. submission of EIS and related tech, docs and reports for technical and public review - Recommendations and Decision
Recommendations and decision of whether the proposed action should proceed and if so, under what conditions or be rejected - Implementation and follow-up
Impl-n of project, man-t measures and recommendations (if any): continuous data collection to monitor compliance with conditions and regulations; monitoring the effectiveness of impact man-t measures and accuracy of the impact predictions
What are the direct benefit of EIA? What is the critisism and challenges for EIA?
- Improvement to project planning and design
- Cost savings for proponents through early iden-n of potentially unforeseen impacts
- Reduction in the role of legal system by ensuring early compliance with env. standards
- Increase in public acceptance thru participation and demonstrated env-l and socio-economic responsibility
Criticism (Fuggle): “Not a magic bullet”, simple reactive measure or a full-scale, long-term sustainability tool? Evolution of process is still under way.
What are the key characteristics of effective EIA acc. to Noble?
- Ensures stakeholder confidence in the process and decisions taken
- Is integrative and linked to DM
- Promotes betterment and longer term and substantive gains in env. quality
- Is comprehensive of physical and human environments and the range of actions, processes, and alternatives that affect env. quality
- is evidence based
- Ensures accountability thru independent review, clearly defined roles, and open and accessible info
- Is participatory and supportive of participatory processes
- Has a legal basis to ensure compliance and enforce action
- Is sufficiently resourced and embraces innovation and creativity in approaches to assessment and evaluation
What are 4 key areas that need to be addressed to ensure effective EIA governance accord. to Meuleman?
- Destruction of trust
Short consulations deadlines, discrediting evidence from stakeholders, and other hierarchical biases can cause DMakers to act in ways that -ly affect trust of stake-rs and public in EIA process - Disregarding complexity
Preference for clear rules and problme def-n and acting based on ‘stndard for practice’ can result in fragmentation of projects to avoid addressing complex, cumulative effects problems or in attempts to avoid the problem by invoking urgency in the decision process - A bias for economic efficiency
During periods of econ. downturn, ass-nt a. DM processes tend to lead to overestimating the value of efficiency in the EIA process - Never-ending talks
The quest for consensus-building and inclusivity may result in EIA becoming an interminable exercise, sometimes even losing sight of its objective to ensure informed DM
What are aims and objectives of EIA? (slides)
EIA can:
• modify and improve design of projects
• ensure efficient resource use
• enhance social and ecological aspects
• identify key impacts and measures for mitigating them
• inform decision-making and condition-setting
• avoid serious and irreversible damage to the
environment
• protect human health and safety
what NEPA called for?
NEPA called for:
• consideration of environmental values in decision making
• use of a systematic, interdisciplinary approach
• a detailed statement on:
- the environmental impact of proposals
- any adverse effects which cannot be avoided
- alternatives to the proposed action
• making the statement available to the public
what features EIA integrates and adresses?
EIA process addresses the following: • environmental effects: • biophysical and resource use • social and cultural • health and safety • economic and fiscal • landscape and visual • indigenous peoples rights and traditional areas
what are chains of changes in EIA
PRESSURES
EFFECTS
IMPACTS
what are basic conditions supporting an EIA system?
• functional legal regime
• sound administration and flexible policy-making
• common understanding of the aims and potential benefits
of the process
• political commitment
• institutional capacity
• adequate technical basis, data and information
• public involvement
• financial support
Describe Leopold Matrix?
The Leopold matrix is the best known matrix methodology available for predicting the impact of a project on the environment.
It is a two dimensional matrix cross-referencing:
the activities linked to the project that are supposed to have an impact on man and the environment.
the existing environmental and social conditions that could possibly be affected by the project.
The activities linked to the project are listed on one axis: raw material production, building construction, water supply, energy supply, raw material preparation, pulp and paper mills processing, gaseous emissions, liquid effluents, cooling water discharges, noise, solid wastes treatment and disposal, transportation.
The environmental and social conditions are listed on the other axis, and divided in three major groups:
physical conditions: soil, water, air…,
biological conditions: fauna, flora, ecosystems…,
social and cultural conditions: land use, historical and cultural issues, populations, economy…
The Leopold matrix proposes a three-step process to estimate the impact:
First step :
for all the interactions considered significant by the authors, the first step is to mark the corresponding boxes in the matrix with a diagonal line.
Second step :
once the boxes with supposed significant interactions are slashed, the author evaluates each box by applying a number from 1 to 10 (1 is the minimum and 10 the maximum) to register the magnitude of the interaction. This number is transferred to the upper left hand corner. It represents the scale of the action and its theoretical extent.
Third step :
the final step for this method is to mark (from 1 to 10), in the lower right hand corner, the real importance of the phenomenon for the given project. It then gives an evaluation of the extent of the environmental impact according to the assessor’s judgement.
Once the matrix is established the EIA gives a precise description of each important impact in the matrix (with the larger numerical values for magnitude and importance). The discussion must also address columns and rows with large numbers of interactions. They show activities, or elements, in connection with the environment which are particularly significant or sensitive.
The Leopold matrix proposes a framework for all developers but, on one hand, it is too detailed for pulp and paper projects, and on the other not precise enough for such projects. It is generally more efficient to accommodate it as needed and to develop a customized matrix for the project. An example of a possible matrix for the pulp and paper industry is given in figure 4.
What are the tools and methods to support conduction of EIA?
Analogue approaches – Simlar projects, case
reviews, synthesis of database
Spataical analysis – Overlay mapping,
Geographical information systems
Economic valuation – Cost-benefit analysis etc
Weightning and scoring – Multi criteria analysis
Risk evaluation – risk perception, quatitative risk
assessment, SWOT analysis
Judgment: Workshops, Delphi teqnique, causal
chain analysis, traditional knowledge Trends and associations – Network and system
diagram
Matrices – Leopold matrices, weighted matrices etc.
Scenarios – Scenario analysis, simulation modelling
System modelling – Mechanistic models, balance
models, optimality modelling
Checklists – questionnaires, descriptive cjklists etc
Participation – Public hearings, public surveys,
interviews
again, what are EIA methods?
Methods are concerned with characterization of impacts and organization , classification, and communication of info - they are not used to ‘predict’ impacts (compared to Techniques)
Checklists
Matrices
Networks
Overlays and geographical information systems (GIS)
Judgement
what is Network Diagram? Decribe.
A network diagram is a technique for illustrating how impacts are related and what the consequences of impacts are. For example, it may be possible to fairly accurately predict the impact of increased diversions or higher irrigation efficiencies on the low flow regime of a river. However, there may be many and far reaching secondary or tertiary consequences of a change in low flow. These consequences can be illustrated using network diagrams. For example, reduced low flows are likely to reduce the production of fish which may or may not be of importance depending on the value (either ecological or economic) of the fish. If fish are an important component of diet or income, the reduction may lead to a local reduction in the health status, impoverishment and possibly migration. Also, reduced low flow coupled with increased pollution, perhaps as a result of increased agricultural industry, may further damage the fish population as well as reduce access to safe water.
what is the difference b-n EIA methods and techniques?
Techn-s are often much more selective than methods and often discipline specific. Thus, tech-s are more specific and may not be suitable for broader programmes, plans compared to more general methods.
What techniques in EIA are for?
Predicitve tools to provide data that are then collated, arranged, interpreted and presented acc. to organizational principles of the methods being used. For ex. Gaussian Dispersion Model
What are/ Explain classification of Matrices in EIA
Matrices are 2-dimensional checklists, project activities on horizontal side (top), potentially env. components on vertical side. Mostly used for impact identification and communicatiom
Matrices = magnitude matrices (MM) and interaction matrices (IM)
Magnitude M-s - summary of impacts accor. to magnitude, importance or timeframe
/ into Leopold matrix and weighted magnitude matrix (WWM)
WMM - give measure of importance to each env component (more sophisticated than Leopold in that sense). Importance measure is max. 1, so the more you give (0.8 e.g.) the more imp. than component, but when doing = trade-offs, decrease other components = so assess in balance and carefully
______
Interaction matrices - use multiplicative properties of simple matrices to make quantitative impact score of prop. project on interacting env. components.
So, minus of MM is = focus on direct, first-order component interactions a. impacts. IM tries to solve that.
/ into component interaction matrices (CIM) and weighted impact interaction matrices (WIIM)
CIM - identify 1st, 2nd, 3rd and higher order component interactions to better unders-d indirect effects of project. Can be hard (a lot of info) and ? if it’s nece-y to go beyond 2nd and 3rd.
WIIM - Peterson matrix (PM). Consists of 3 indiv-l matrices.
1. Matrix with impacts of project actions on env. components
2. Matrix with impact of the resultant env. change on human env-t
3. Vector of weights with or relative importance of those human components.
12=result; then result3=overall impact score.
+ PM is easy to manipulate and + multiplicative properties
- PM: mathematical inconsistency in real world. As 2 negatives generates + which may not be true in real world.
Toolbox. Why Trends and Associations are important for in EIA? Describe tools of that.
Needed for prediction and analysis of env. effects
= Network or System Diagrams. To identify links and interactions between individual components; so if one comp. is affected then effect on other components which interact with it (Ecology principle).
+ Very useful for Cause-Effect linkages
- Can be messy and complex and thus unuseful for reader
What is Spatial Analysis is for in EIA? What tools in this section?
- Used for topological, geometrical and geographic analysis of properties of a project components. So, spatial identi-n and representation of impacts.
- Primarily used for baseline assessment step of EIA but could be used in following steps as well to give spatio-visual picture of impacts to DMs.
- Use from simple mapping to complex geo-comp. modelling.
- Main tool is GIS
What are tools for Impact Prediction?
- Analogue approaches (Examining of similar projects)
- Judgement (Expert roundtables, intention surveys, Delphi technique)
- Systems modelling (Mechanistic, Deterministic and Stochastic Models; Balance models; Statistical models; Spatial models)
- Scenario Analysis (same and Multi-criteria analysis) + backcasting (as a complementary tool in case forecasting struggles).
what is Delphi tecnhique?
- Greek Deplhi Oracle - advice on future
- Questionnaires to experts (anonymous)
- Survey rounds (max. 3) until consensus is reached
DT - is a structured communication technique or method, originally developed as a systematic, interactive forecasting method which relies on a panel of experts.[1][2][3][4] The experts answer questionnaires in two or more rounds. After each round, a facilitator or change agent[5] provides an anonymous summary of the experts’ forecasts from the previous round as well as the reasons they provided for their judgments. Thus, experts are encouraged to revise their earlier answers in light of the replies of other members of their panel. It is believed that during this process the range of the answers will decrease and the group will converge towards the “correct” answer. Finally, the process is stopped after a predefined stop criterion (e.g. number of rounds, achievement of consensus, stability of results) and the mean or median scores of the final rounds determine the results.[6]
Delphi is based on the principle that forecasts (or decisions) from a structured group of individuals are more accurate than those from unstructured groups
Key features: Anonymity, Iteration (repeated), and Feedback = key to effective group DM
- DM is very good for consensus. But at the same time, shouldn’t be the aim as it could give an illusion of con-s or forced = main idea to generate good expert judgement.
