1. 4. fundamental concepts of environmental impact assessment
Location  Month Year

2. fundamental concepts of environmental impact assessment
Learning Outcomes
Define the three fundamental concepts of environmental impact assessment
Understand how the fundamental concepts apply to the Regulation 216 process
Image credit: Cris Guterres, USAID. Celestina Pinto, left, and Filomena Mendonca de Araujo stand in a field of purple sweet potatoes on the Avansa Agrikultura project demonstration plot.
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Fundamental Concepts of Environmental Impact Assessment

3. Key Concepts for Environmental Impact Assessment
USAID IS NOT ALONE …
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT IS DONE BY EVERYONE
Most countries & almost all donors (including USAID) have impact assessment requirements (like NEPA)
In many developing countries, environmental and social impact assessment is the core of national environmental regulation
The beginnings of Environmental Impact Assessment are rooted in the environmental crisis that affected all industrialized economies in the 1950s/60s/70s. For example:
1952 “Killer fog” kills 4,000 in London
1963 Silent Spring documents the effects of DDT
1966 Cuyahoga River burns for the 3rd time in Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Looking back from today, the causes were obvious:
Population Growth
Natural Resource Pressures
Urbanization
Industrialization
All of these factors combined to create unprecedented environmental damage with consequent effects on human health and welfare.
Environmental Impact Assessment was one response. The first national Environmental Impact Assessment requirements were outlined in the 1970 US National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), requiring Environmental Impact Assessment for USG projects. Other responses included regulation of industry and environmental treaties.
Environmental Impact Assessment has an even more central environmental protection role in many developing countries than it does in the US and other wealthy economies.
In the US and many wealthy economies, environmental management requirements for industry and infrastructure in operation are established by operating permits under media-specific pollution laws.
Whereas, in many developing countries, operating requirements are established almost solely under the Environmental Impact Assessment process.
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Key Concepts for Environmental Impact Assessment

4. KEY ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT CONCEPTS
Defining “impact”
Characterizing the baseline situation
Defining “activity”
Time
Water table
Image credit: Drip irrigation of new strawberry plants in Egypt. — usaid.gov
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Key Concepts for Environmental Impact Assessment

5. Key Concepts for Environmental Impact Assessment
WHAT ARE IMPACTS?
The impact of an activity is the change from the baseline situation caused by the activity.
The baseline situation is the existing environmental situation or condition in the absence of the activity.
The baseline situation is a key concept in environmental impact assessment. !
To measure an impact, you must know what the baseline situation is.
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Key Concepts for Environmental Impact Assessment

6. Key Concepts for Environmental Impact Assessment
BASELINE SITUATION
Time
Water table
The baseline situation is not just a snapshot in time.
This chart of groundwater levels shows both variability and a trend over time.
BOTH are part of the groundwater baseline situation.
This shallow well features a raised enclosure and a cover, both of which help to reduce the possibility of contamination. Shallow wells provide an easy way to monitor groundwater levels.
Describing the baseline situation requires describing both the normal variability in environmental components and current trends in these components.
Baseline characterization is a description of environmental conditions in the absence of the proposed activities. The baseline characterization cannot be exhaustive. The environmental components most important when determining the baseline characterization are those components most likely to be affected by your activity and upon which your activity depends on for its success.
Provide an overview of topics for examining the environmental baseline, such as:
Water: Quantity, quality, reliability, accessibility
Soils: Erosion, crop productivity, fallow periods, salinity, nutrient concentrations
Climate Change: unpredictable weather patterns, agriculture, and food production
Fauna: Populations, habitat
Environmental Health: Disease vectors, pathogens
Public Health: Conflict over resources, vulnerable populations, access to resources
Flora: Composition and density of natural vegetation, productivity, key species
Key species, ecosystems
Determine the baseline situation by obtaining information from 3 sources:
Your organization: Talk to staff who know the project, and know the sites. Obtain project documents and information
Direct observation: Go to the site(s). Look up publicly available satellite imagery before you go.
Utilize other local talent and knowledge: communities, government, counterparts, literature
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Key Concepts for Environmental Impact Assessment

7. Key Concepts for Environmental Impact Assessment
ACTIVITY
The impact assessment process examines the impacts of activities.
Under Regulation 216 an activity is:
A project or program usually consists of many activities.
Accomplishing an activity requires a set of sub-activities or tasks.
A desired accomplishment or output. For example, a road, seedling production, or river diversion to irrigate land.
ACTIVITY: Market access road rehabilitation
SUB-ACTIVITIES OR TASKS:
Survey, grading, culvert construction, compaction, etc..
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Key Concepts for Environmental Impact Assessment

8. An Activity about Activities and sub-activities
Project or Program
Market access road rehabilitation
Surveying
Grading
Culvert construction
Compaction
River diversion to irrigate land ?
Seedling production
Agricultural Enhancement Program
Activities
Sub-Activities or Tasks
Group activity – fill in the question marks on irrigation and seedling production. Emphasize that it is okay if they don’t know much about the topics; just do your best.
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Fundamental Concepts of Environmental Impact Assessment

9. Environmental assessment
Screen the activity
Exempt
Low Impact/
Categorically Excluded
Moderate or Unknown Impact
High Impact:
Exemption Memo
Request for Categorical Exclusion
Initial Environmental Examination (IEE)
Negative Determination
Negative Determination with Conditions
Positive Determination
This slide does duplicate an earlier one. But it is important to recap the process and the 22 CFR 216 terminology.
As stated before, all Environmental Impact Assessment processes begin with screening --- sorting proposed activities into risk categories by applying a set of simple criteria established by the specific law, regulation or policy. (We’ll review the screening process under Regulation 216 a little later.) Screening does NOT require detailed analysis or extensive baseline data. It DOES require a basic understanding of what the proposed activity is, and where it will be undertaken.
Depending on the risk category (low, medium or high), the process may end (RCE), proceed to a preliminary assessment (IEE), or to a full study (Environmental Assessment, Programmatic Environmental Assessment), respectively. (USAIDs terms in parentheses.)
The preliminary assessment (IEE) is the most common pathway in the process. The purpose of a preliminary assessment/IEE is to allow the proponent to present analysis as to whether significant adverse impacts are reasonably foreseeable (or not) --- and to allow the reviewer to agree or disagree with those findings.
If the preliminary assessment (IEE) DOES find that significant adverse impacts of the activity are reasonably foreseeable, the process proceeds to a full study. Otherwise, the preliminary assessment (IEE) is the last stage in the pre-implementation process, and any environmental mitigation and monitoring conditions defined by the preliminary assessment become required elements of activity implementation.
(Note that in some cases there is a subsidiary review process following the preliminary assessment or full study for individual activities within a larger overall project. This process is universally used in Bureau for Latin American and Caribbean (LAC). It is used sparingly in Bureau for Africa (AFR).
Environmental Assessment (EA)
USAID
Submit for Approval
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Fundamental Concepts of Environmental Impact Assessment

10. Key Concepts for Environmental Impact Assessment
Screening
ALWAYS the first step in the process
Sorting proposed activities into risk categories
Does NOT require detailed analysis or extensive baseline data.
DOES require a basic understanding of what the proposed activity is, and where it will be undertaken.
The risk category determines the next step in the process.
All processes begin with screening --- sorting proposed activities into risk categories by applying a set of simple criteria established by the specific law, regulation or policy. (We’ll review the screening process under Regulation. 216 a little later.) Screening does NOT require detailed analysis or extensive baseline data. It DOES require a basic understanding of what the proposed activity is, and where it will be undertaken.
Depending on the risk category (low, medium or high), the process may end (RCE), proceed to a preliminary assessment (IEE), or to a full study (Environmental Assessment, Programmatic Environmental Assessment), respectively. (USAIDs terms in parentheses.)
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Key Concepts for Environmental Impact Assessment

11. Initial Environmental Examination (IEE)
A rapid analysis using simple tools that:
Allows the preparer to determine whether or not significant adverse impacts are likely
Allows the reviewer to agree or disagree these determinations
Sets out mitigation and monitoring for adverse impacts
Typical outline
Background/project description/purpose and need
Baseline characterization
Evaluation of potential impacts
Mitigation and monitoring
Recommended findings*
*Significant Adverse Impacts: (1) very unlikely, (2) very unlikely with specified mitigation; (3) possible (even with mitigation)
The purpose of a preliminary assessment is to provide documentation and analysis that allows the preparer to determine whether or not significant adverse impacts are likely; allows the reviewer to agree or disagree with these determinations, and sets out mitigation and monitoring for adverse impacts.
A typical Preliminary Assessment follows the outline on the slide – all 4 elements are mandatory.
For each activity, it covers, a preliminary assessment has three possible findings: very unlikely to have significant adverse impacts; unlikely to have significant adverse impacts with specified mitigation and monitoring, and significant adverse impacts possible. With the last determination, you must proceed directly to a full Environmental Assessment study or re-design the subject activity(ies).
Guide the participants through a brief exercise, with the following 3 examples:
If you receive a proposal is to develop a curriculum for 6th graders to improve their English language skills, what level of environmental analysis would be required? (Very probably, low, regardless of the specific Environmental Impact Assessment system and thus the specific screening criteria being used.) Following the flow chart (2 slides previous) , what would you do in that case? (Document the decision and begin implementing the project.)
If you receive a proposal to build a road through a national forest where there had never been a road before, what level of environmental review would you indicate? (Very probably high, regardless of the specific Environmental Impact Assessment system and thus the specific screening criteria being used.) What would you do in that case? (Begin a full Environmental Assessment study.)
If the proposal is to build latrines at a school, what level of environmental review would be necessary? (Most likely this would be a “medium risk” activity, regardless of the specific Environmental Impact Assessment system and thus the specific screening criteria being used.) Thus it would proceed to a preliminary assessment. This will help you determine if the situation deserves more attention or not.) What would you assess? Remind the participants of the baseline characterization discussion. Make the point that one does not need to be an expert to do this level of screening. Common sense and basic knowledge will help you decide.
Note that the preliminary assessment must not simply describe the proposed project, but its Purpose and Need. We will address this in more detail later.
Mitigation is the implementation of measures designed to eliminate, reduce, or offset the undesirable effects of a proposed action on the environment. We will address mitigation in more detail shortly.
Image credit: Training workers to properly install solar panels at health clinics in Rwanda provides clean energy and creates green jobs.
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Key Concepts for Environmental Impact Assessment

12. Types of USAID Environmental Assessments
Used to assess the environmental effects of a specific project or action
Programmatic Environmental Assessment
Used to assess the environmental effects of a class of similar actions
Rapid Environmental Assessment
Used to assess, define and prioritize the potential environmental impacts in disaster situations
Example
An EA to evaluate a single irrigation or health clinic project
Example
A PEA to evaluate construction of multiple schools or sustainable forest management plans
Example
Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, landslides
The Agency’s environmental assessment process can result in several forms of documentation. These are briefly described here with short examples.
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Fundamental Concepts of Environmental Impact Assessment

13. FULL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT STUDY (IF REQUIRED)
Used for highest-risk activities and/or projects
Very similar in outline to a preliminary assessment, but has important differences:
Reiterate that most projects do not move to a full study.
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Key Concepts for Environmental Impact Assessment

14. Key Concepts for Environmental Impact Assessment
HOW IS A FULL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT DIFFERENT FROM an Initial environmental examination (IEE)? !
A formal scoping process IDs issues to be addressed
Analysis of environmental impacts is much more detailed
Alternatives* must be formally defined. The impacts of each alternative must be identified & evaluated, and the results compared.
Public consultation is required
A professional team is usually required. ! !
The purpose of the Environmental Assessment is informed decision-making----not to prevent projects with significant adverse impacts from going forward altogether.
Image credit: M Stoughton; palm oil processing, Ghana. Small-scale agro-processing can have significant potential impacts that may require an Environmental Assessment. ! !
*includes the project as proposed, the no action alternative at least one other real alternative
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Key Concepts for Environmental Impact Assessment

15. Activity: Review an IEE (handout)
What is the recommended threshold determination?
What potentially significant environmental impacts does the IEE identify?
What conditions are identified in the IEE?
How might the conditions identified be translated into mitigation and monitoring measures?
Do you think these conditions are robust enough to keep adverse impacts below a significant level?
What other information does the IEE contain that may be useful in the development of an EMMP?
Does this IEE identify activities that are categorically excluded? If so, how does it justify the categorical exclusions?
Does the IEE incorporate climate risk screening? How so?
Refer to the binder for exercise instructions and materials.
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Why Environmental Compliance Matters