Eia Note Impact1

EIA IMPACT ANALYSIS
To provide an overview of the tools and methods used to identify, predict and
evaluate different types of impacts. To understand how these methods can be used
in EIA practice, and their relative strengths and weaknesses.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF EIA IMPACT ANALYSIS
The aims and objectives of EIA can be divided into two categories.
The immediate aim of EIA is to inform the process of decision-making by identifying
the potentially significant environmental effects and risks of development proposals.
The ultimate (long term) aim of EIA is to promote sustainable development by
ensuring that development proposals do not undermine critical resource and
ecological functions or the well-being, lifestyle and livelihood of the communities
and peoples who depend on them.
Immediate objectives of EIA IMPACT ANALYSIS are:
 Improve the environmental design of the proposal

 Ensure that resources are used appropriately and efficiently
 Identify appropriate measures for mitigating the potential impacts of the
proposal
 Facilitate informed decision making, including setting the environmental
terms and conditions for implementing the proposal
Long term objectives of EIA IMPACT ANALYSIS are
 Protect human health and safety

 Avoid irreversible changes and serious damage to the environment
 Safeguard valued resources, natural areas and ecosystem components
 Enhance the social aspects of the proposal
Methods used in EIA
A successful process of EIA requires the officials to employ various mathematical

and digital methods to monitor and assess all areas of concern involved in the
project in hand. The most common methods used during EIA can be remembered
as ACMNO:
 Ad-hoc method
 Checklist method
 Matrix method
 Network method
 Overlay method
There is some specific characteristic which an EIA methodology should depict.
 It should be appropriate to the necessary task of EIA process such as impact

identification/comparison of alternatives.
 It should be significantly free from assessors bias
 It should be economical in terms of costs, and its requirement of data,
investigating time,
personnel, equipment, and facilities.
The ultimate objective of a method should be to carry out
 IMPACT IDENTIFICATION
 IMPACT PREDICTION
 IMPACT EVALUATION
Checklist method in EIA
There are many methods by which we can assess the impact of a developmental
project on our site and its various components. The simplest of these methods are
checklists. Checklists were too primitive to be used for large-scale projects. A step
higher from the checklists is the matrices form of impact assessment in EIA.
It is a listing of potential Environmental Impacts. This method is done to assess the
nature of the impacts i.e. its type such as adverse /beneficial, short term or long term,
no effect or significant impact, reversible or irreversible, etc.
Types of Checklist methods
 Simple Lists
 Descriptive Checklists
 Scaling Checklists
 Questionnaire Checklists
ADVANTAGES
 Simple to understand and use

 Good for site selection and priority setting
DISADVANTAGES
 Do not distinguish between direct and

indirect impacts
 Do not link action and impact
 Sometimes it is a cumbersome task
Matrix method in EIA
A matrix is considered to be a more systematic approach to assessing and

monitoring all the aspects of the project in hand as compared to the checklist
method. In a matrix, 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.
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, which means that:
 The activities linked to the project that is 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 Leopold matrix is a very effective tool for monitoring the “Direct” impacts of
various aspects or risk elements of the project on the Environment. However, it fails
to analyze indirect aspects that are considered significant for a complete assessment
of the project.
Interaction matrix
The inability to detect indirect impacts systematically and understand them easily
was a big drawback of the Leopold matrix. To overcome this, Environment Canada
proposed a different form of a matrix in 1974. This was called the component
interaction matrix.
Here, instead of taking activities on the horizontal axis and environmental
components on the vertical axis, both axes listed environmental components. So, if
two components were seen to be linked by secondary or tertiary interactions, they
would be marked by 1, 2, etc. And if they are not impacted by multiple levels of
interactions, they would be marked zero.
Why the matrix method is better than the checklist method?
There are a set of valuable reasons as to why the matrix method is considered to be
better
 Checklists tend to be long and also requires a lot of work in describing an

impact or writing it out in words. In matrices, this ambiguity and extra work
are removed by introducing a quantitative aspect in the assessment of an
impact.
 Checklist tends to get confusing when you assess multiple levels of impacts
descriptively. This is resolved in matrices, to an extent, with the help of
customized matrices.
 Matrices are also versatile, as they can be used for small and large-scale
projects alike.
 Matrices can be applied in medium to large scale projects where the number
of developmental activities is many (up to 100). This will obviously result in
effects on many environmental aspects. All of these cannot be covered easily
in checklists.
 Matrices are flexible, which is why they have been accepted and used the
world over. It is perfectly acceptable to customize the matrix according to the
project at hand.
ADVANTAGES
 Link action to impact

 A good method for displaying EIA results
DISADVANTAGES
 Difficult to distinguish direct and indirect impacts

 Significant potential for double-counting of impacts
 Qualitative
Network method
It uses the matrix approach by extending it take into account primary as well the
secondary impacts. Data is shown in the form of a tree called Relevance/Impact
tree/Sequence diagram. Helps in the identification of direct, indirect /short and long
term environmental impact is a crucial and intact basic step of making Impact tree.
The method is widely used to identify cause-effect linkages.
ADVANTAGES
 Links action to impact

 Useful in simplified form in checking for second-order impacts
 Handles direct and indirect impacts
DISADVANTAGES
 Can become overly complex if used beyond simplified version

 Qualitative
Overlay method
Rely on a set of maps of a project area’s environmental characteristics covering

physical, social, ecological, aesthetic aspects. Separate mapping of critical
environmental features
at the same scale as the project’s site plan.
 Older Technique: environmental features are mapped on transparent plastic

in different colors.
 Newer Technique: Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
ADVANTAGES
 Easy to understand and use

 Good display method
 Good for site selection setting
DISADVANTAGE
 Address only direct impacts

 Do not address impact duration or probability
Ad-hoc method
 A simple method based on a subjective environment

impacts on broad aspects.
 Ad hoc method is useful when time constraints and lack of information
requires that the EIA must rely exclusively on expert opinion.
 It provides minimal guidance for total impact assessment while suggesting
the broad areas of
possible impacts and the general nature of these possible impacts.
 When more scientific methods are available, it is not recommended.
Types of Ad-hoc methods
 Opinion polls
 Experts opinion
 Delphi methods
ADVANTAGES
Specialists in a particular area will provide guidance.
DISADVANTAGES
 It requires an expert
 Short/long term impact is merely examined on guess basis.
 Identification, prediction, and interpretation of impacts are quite poor

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EIA IMPACT ANALYSIS

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF EIA IMPACT ANALYSIS

Immediate objectives of EIA IMPACT ANALYSIS are:

 Improve the environmental design of the proposal

Long term objectives of EIA IMPACT ANALYSIS are

 Protect human health and safety

A successful process of EIA requires the officials to employ various mathematical

There is some specific characteristic which an EIA methodology should depict.

 It should be appropriate to the necessary task of EIA process such as impact

The ultimate objective of a method should be to carry out

Checklist method in EIA

 Simple to understand and use

 Do not distinguish between direct and

Matrix method in EIA

A matrix is considered to be a more systematic approach to assessing and

 Checklists tend to be long and also requires a lot of work in describing an

 Link action to impact

 Difficult to distinguish direct and indirect impacts

 Links action to impact

 Can become overly complex if used beyond simplified version

Rely on a set of maps of a project area’s environmental characteristics covering

 Older Technique: environmental features are mapped on transparent plastic

 Easy to understand and use

 Address only direct impacts

 A simple method based on a subjective environment

Specialists in a particular area will provide guidance.

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