Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a tool that seeks to ensure sustainable development through the evaluation of those impacts arising from a major activity (policy, plan, program, or project) that are likely to have significant environmental effects. It is anticipatory, participatory, and systematic in nature and relies on multi-disciplinary input (Glasson et al, 1994).
An environmental impact assessment (EIA) is an assessment of the possible impact- positive or negative-that a proposed project may have on the natural environment. The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that decision-makers consider environmental impacts used to decide whether to proceed with the project.
The International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) defines an environmental impact assessment as “the process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social, and other relevant effects of development proposals prior to major decisions being taken and commitments made.
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Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies need a significant amount of primary and secondary environmental data. The primary data are those which need to be collected in the field to define the status of environment (like air quality data, water quality data etc.). The secondary data are those data which have been collected over the years and can be used to understand the existing environmental scenario of the study area.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) experience in India indicates that the lack of timely availability of reliable and authentic environmental data has been a major bottle neck in achieving the full benefits of EIA.
The phrase Environmental Impact Assessment comes from Sec. 102 (2) of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 1969, USA. Some rudiments of EIA are implicit even in early examples of environmental legislation. Now the EIA has become a requirement in more than 100 countries (Canter 1996).
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In many European countries, it came into vogue with the introduction of the concept of sustainable development after the World Commission of Environment in 1987. In India, though EIA came into existence around 1978-79, it was made mandatory only in 1994.