1. Introduction

Conducting Environmental Impact Assessment in Developing Countries (United Nations University, 1999, 375 p.)

1. Introduction

		1.1 The environmental movement
		1.2 Tracing the history of environmental impact assessment
		1.3 Changes in the perception of EIA
		FURTHER READING

1.1 The environmental movement

Perhaps one of the first and most influential warnings about the degradation of the environment was Silent Spring, a book about the use of pesticides, written by Rachel Carson and published in 1962. In the early 1960s, however, public opinion had shown no great awareness of environmental problems. By the mid-1960s, some scientists in the USA were sounding warnings about the possibility of climate change due to increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere resulting from the burning of fossil fuels.

By the end of the 1960s, warnings, conferences, legislative initiatives, and media attention had created a dramatic change. The phenomenon was paralleled in other western countries, setting the stage for legislation, environmental institution building, and the rise of proactive citizen groups - the non-governmental organizations.

In the United States, this climate of thought and innovative legislators produced a law that represented a landmark in environmental management - the National Environment Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. NEPA is considered a watershed in environmental legislation because of the manner in which it dealt with cross-sectoral issues, and because NEPA launched environmental impact assessment and environmental impact statements into worldwide use.

NEPA directs all federal agencies to use a systematic, interdisciplinary approach that will ensure the integrated use of the natural and social sciences and environmental design in planning and in decision making. Another salient feature of NEPA was its emphasis on providing the public with an opportunity to influence the implementation of a development project. The act also specified that the project's proponents must provide information on any adverse environmental effects of the proposed action, alternatives to the proposed action, and information on any irreversible effects. NEPA was enacted with the intention of producing changes in the diverse internal planning and decision-making processes of the federal agencies. NEPA is therefore frequently known as the Magna Carta of environmental law, not only in the USA but also worldwide.

If the latter half of the 1960s can be called the period of environmental awakening, then the 1970s was an era of response and action. Prior to 1970, many countries had enacted legislation to control specific problems such as air or water pollution or soil erosion. A feature of the 1970s and 1980s was the introduction of broad spectrum environmental legislation, an indicator of widening concern and of the need for action at the national and international level. The most influential responses were the United Nations Conferences on the Environment (1972), Population (1974), and Human Settlements (1976).

Appropriately, the United Nations Conference on the Environment, held in Stockholm in June 1972, dates back into the "environmental awakening'' period. The objective of this conference was to provide a framework for the comprehensive consideration of the problems of the human environment. This framework was required to focus the attention of governments and public opinion on the importance and urgency of this question. The agreed agenda was to cover:

• planning and management of human settlements for environmental quality;
• environmental aspects of natural resources management;
• identification and control of pollutants and nuisances of broad international significance;
• educational, informational, social, and cultural aspects of environmental issues;
• development and environment;
• international organizational implications of action proposals.

As a result of the 1972 conference, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was set up, together with a fund to finance major projects. A 26-point declaration of environmental principles was adopted, calling for commitments by countries to deal with environmental problems of international significance.

1.2 Tracing the history of environmental impact assessment

In parallel with, and following, the Stockholm Conference, there was a surge of policy making and institution building in the developed world. In the 1970s, many governments introduced environmental legislation, established agencies with environmental responsibilities, or grafted these into existing departments. Others moved more cautiously, with "pilot'' policies that could be elaborated after experience had been gained. In such a scenario, the environmental impact assessment (EIA), the discipline that could steer decision-making towards allowance for environmental factors, was introduced in some countries.

EIA was conceived as a policy and management tool for both planning and decision-making. It was expected to assist the identification, prediction, and evaluation of the foreseeable environmental consequences of proposed development projects, plans, and policies. Often regarded with suspicion as an unnecessary impediment to legitimate developmental objectives and progress, EIA took a decade to be acknowledged as a tool that could actually produce projects superior both in quality and value.

Two significant pieces of environmental legislation, one at the beginning of the period (1969) and one at the end (1990), both of a trail blazing character, are illustrated here. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of the United States was the first piece of legislation that dealt with cross-sectoral issues and it launched EIA into worldwide use. The second, the Resource Management Act of New Zealand, enacted in 1990, was the first legislative statement of the principle of sustainability.

Between these two pieces of legislation, several countries have either developed specific amendments to legislation on EIA or modified existing legislation by the introduction of rules and guidelines. Some of these are chronologically outlined in Table 1.1.

Two major observations may be made from Table 1.1. Firstly, more countries introduced EIA in the 1980s and 1990s than in the 1970s and 1980s. This indicates a widespread acceptance of EIA. Secondly, EIA has been introduced fairly early in some of the developing countries, such as Malaysia and the Philippines. A trend of moving EIA from project level to plans and policies may also be observed. These trends are discussed in more detail in Section 1.3 (below).

Governments were not the only institutions to take action. In 1971, the World Bank established an environmental section to analyse environmental reconnaissance of hydro projects because of the importance of environmental management. It was recognized that the environmental context of development proposals should be a base within which planning could proceed with proper reference to potential impacts.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) set up an environmental unit in 1987, which in 1990 became the Office of Environment (OENV). This office was set up to provide a focus within the Bank for the review of the environmental aspects of projects and for the promotion of awareness and institution building in regard to environmental issues. This office is involved in the project cycle at the important stages of project preparation, appraisal, approval, implementation, and post-evaluation.

Table 1.1 EIA legislation in various countries worldwide

Country	Year of introduction of EIA	Comments
Sweden	1969	EPA 1969: 387 (with later amendments) describes general EIA requirements
USA	1970	National Environmental Policy Act
Canada	1973	Environmental Assessments Review Process (EARP)
Australia	1974	Environmental Protection (Impact of Proposals) Act, 1974
Malaysia	1974	EIA required under Section 34 A, Environmental Quality Act, 1974
France	1976	National Environmental Assessment Legislation
Philippines	1978	As per Presidential Decree No. 1586
Japan	1984	Environmental Assessment implemented vide a cabinet resolution
UK	1985	Town and Country Planning (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1988 (SI. No. 1199)
Indonesia	1986	AMDAL (EIA) process established by law through Government Regulation No. 29 of 1986
Netherlands	1986	Environmental Protection (General Provisions) Act transformed into Environmental Management Act of 1993
New Zealand	1986	Environmental Act of 1986 and Resource Management Act of 1991
Sri Lanka	1988	National Environmental Act No. 47 of 1980 was amended to include inter alia provision to include EIA
CEC	1988	EU Directive on Environmental Assessment for 12 Member States
Norway	1989	Under the Planning Act of 1989
Germany	1990	National Environmental Assessment Legislation
Thailand	1992	Sections 46 & 47 under National Environmental Quality Act 1992
Nepal	1993	In the form of National EIA Guidelines issued by National Planning Commission Secretariat
India	1994	Before January 1994, obtaining Environmental Clearance from Central Ministry was only an administrative requirement intended for mega projects but from 1994 the EIA notification was issued

Note: In all the countries indicated in bold letters a law or notification has been specifically enacted for EIA whereas in the other countries only guidelines have been provided with no regulation specifically enacted for EIA.

Sources:

1. Towards Coherence in Environmental Assessment results of the Project on Coherence of Environmental Assessment for International Bilateral Aid Vol. III. Summary of Country Policies and Procedures submitted by Canada to the OECD/DAC working party on Development Assistance and Environment, 1994.
2. The Canadian Guide to Environmental Assessment by W. J. Couch, Federal Environmental Assessment Review Office, 1993.

Table 1.2 EIA guidelines in bilateral agencies

Agency	Year	Comments
USAID	1975	USAID asked to implement the intent of NEPA for assessing development aid projects. More general guidelines by Executive Order 12114 specifying EIA for specific projects
CIDA	1986	Document "Policy to Practice" produced, providing guidance on operationalizing EARP Guidelines Order of 1984 for EIA; Adoption of "Policy for Environmental Sustainability" in 1992 for integration of environmental considerations into CIDA's decision-making activities
NORAD	1988	Adopted a system for EA of development aid projects. No specific legislation
FINNIDA	1989	Document on "Guidelines for EIA in development assistance"
JICA	1993	The Basic Environmental Law recognizing "environmental considerations" (synonymous with EA) in areas of international cooperation. JICA and OECF guidelines used for EA of projects

The ADB recognizes need for EIA or IEE (initial environmental examination), depending upon the type of project. Development projects have been categorized into three categories:

category A - projects with significant environmental impacts;
category B - those with adverse environmental impacts but of lesser degree and/or significance than A;
category C - projects unlikely to have any adverse environmental impact.

This categorization of projects is used as a basis to determine the type of assessment, IEE or EIA, that is required for a project.

A number of bilateral agencies also have prescribed guidelines for environmental assessments of projects for which they provide financial assistance. Table 1.2 lists the guidelines adopted by some of these agencies.

(introduction...)

Tracing the environmental movement from its origin in the 1960s to the present day appears to be a fitting backdrop on which to weave the evolution of the process of EIA. In essence, it appears that as the understanding of the environment and its multidimensional interdependent nature matured, so did the size and scope of environmental legislation. The philosophical birth of the environmental movement in the 1960s has grown into the concrete laws and regulations of the 1990s, which today has encompassed both the developed and developing world. The meaning of the "commons'' and Our Common Future (see below, Section 1.3.3) is becoming clearer, as is the understanding that the assessment of effects of development activities needs to be conducted from the policy level down to the project level. The effect of development on social issues as well as on human health is being considered as a crucial area of study and public participation, strongly emerging as a crucial force in influencing decision-making. In this section, an attempt is made to highlight such a gradual process of evolution in EIA.

1.3.1 EIA at the project level

In many countries in the world where EIA is in place, developmental projects such as construction of highways and expressways, ports and harbours, hydropower projects, manufacturing industries, mining projects, etc., undergo an environmental examination prior to being given clearance to establish and operate. The EIA study then recommends appropriate mitigation measures or monitoring and management plans in the project itself. Examples of such modifications include:

• change in the alignment of a highway;
• establishment of oil spill emergency operations for a port;
• reducing the height of a dam;
• providing for resettlement of affected people;
• recommendation for change in the fuel for a power-generating project;
• suggestion to use a cleaner manufacturing technology which over a long run can accrue more profits or returns;
• reduction in the chemical storage of a petrochemical plant on the reasons of safety;
• developing soil conservation and a compensatory green belt of specified width and height around a mining activity.

At the project level, based on some of these recommendations, the project developers make further modifications in the project size, design, technology, and operation if this is found to be necessary.

1.3.2 From project level to regional EIA

Another significant turn of events during the late 1970s was the emergence of a multidimensional character in project level EIA by the inclusion of social dimensions to the process. Social impact analysis and risk analysis were incorporated into the process of EIA. This was presumably an outcome of the increased recognition and understanding of the interdependence of the various components of the environment.

It was also realized at this point that the effects of environmental contamination did not respect country boundaries anymore. Air pollution was affecting the forests and lakes of Europe and North America. The major cause of this was the burning of fossil fuels. In the twentieth century, global emissions of sulphur dioxide grew by an estimated 470 percent and emissions of carbon dioxide grew tenfold. Emissions of nitrogen oxides in the USA have increased nine times over the same period. Given suitable atmospheric conditions, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can be transported long distances and transformed into acids. Acid rain affects not only lakes and streams but also crops and vegetation.

It was then realized that the scope and level of EIA need to be expanded further when regional plans and developments are to be considered. An EIA can thus be performed at various levels depending on the scale of a development activity. In a large industrial estate, for example, while the individual industrial emissions may be within tolerance limits, the cumulative effects of the emissions can lead to a serious deterioration of the regional air quality. Similarly, the chemical storage placed in the vicinity, although physically in different industrial units, can raise the overall risk potential due to the possible "domino'' effect.

Planning agencies developing satellite urban conurbations need to address environmental impacts on a regional or cumulative basis and must not be limited to individual projects. Here, the cumulative impacts of changes in land use due to activities such as housing, transportation, water supply, and waste disposal can lead to a significant regional impact and need to be managed by speculating the impacts on a region-wide scale.

Cumulative effects assessment (CEA) is a fairly recent extension of impact assessment which investigates the combined effects of multiple activities rather than the effects of specific developmental projects. Examples of development plans meriting such a cumulative or regional level EIA are:

• development of long coastal areas for exploiting aquaculture;
• development of a water resources basin;
• development of a regional transportation network;
• development of regional level hazardous waste management facilities, etc.;
• development of urban area improvement projects such as the Metropolitan Environment Improvement Project (MEIP), supported by the World Bank, or the Mega Cities project of the ADB.

An outcome of the understanding of the concept of regional impacts was the recognition and emergence of environmental health impact assessment (EHIA) as a necessary part of a study. This aspect was always considered in environmental assessment (EA) but its significance was usually diluted as it was mentioned in passing as part of the text of the EIA report.

1.3.3 Policy level strategic EIA

In 1987 the World Commission on Environment and Development published Our Common Future, the outcome of over three years of travel, hearings, and study. From an urgent call by the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Commission was set up in 1983 to find effective strategies, define long-term issues, propose new forms of international cooperation, and raise levels of understanding and commitment. Among the various problems discussed in the report was a problem long clear to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature - loss of species and threats to ecosystems which had become a major economic and environmental hazard. Our Common Future then discussed management of the "commons'' (the ecosystems used by all people) - oceans, the atmosphere, outer space, and Antarctica.

In 1974, there was a prediction that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), used in refrigeration and as propellants for aerosols, could damage the stratospheric ozone layer. Eleven years later, in 1985, this was confirmed. The ozone shield over the Antarctic was thinning and a "hole'' had developed. Unprecedented international action led, by 1987, to a world action plan. The main components of this plan were global monitoring to estimate the impact of changes in the ozone layer on radiation, skin cancer, ecosystem and regional climate, and collecting data on production and emissions. While the world action plan was developing, an international convention was being hammered out. The Montreal Protocol, providing a framework for action by each country, was agreed in 1987. Officials from most of the CFC producing/using countries agreed to a 50 percent reduction by 1999. But new scientific evidence indicated that the situation was more serious than it had been thought. The Helsinki Declaration of 1989 stated the intention of 80 countries to phase out CFCs completely by the year 2000.

Another major global concern of the 1980s and 1990s was the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere and the potential for global warming. Data showed increasing concentrations, not only of CO₂ but also of nitrogen oxides (NO_x), methane (CH₄), and specific CFCs. Both global warming and ozone depletion could contribute to serious environmental degradations.

The global scale of the ozone and climate change problems was a confirmation that environmental deterioration was accelerating, in spite of the international initiatives set in motion, initially by the Stockholm conference of 1972, and then by subsequent international forums.

Clearly, the impetus to the generation of projects and large-scale development plans has always been the policies. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, experience of EIA over projects and regional plans led to the recognition that EIA of policies should be conducted on a strategic level.

A strategic environmental assessment (SEA) makes an inquiry into the likely environmental changes (both positive and negative) resulting from the development produced by existing, new, or revised developmental policies, plans, and programmes. SEA can be applied both at the level of broad policy initiatives, and to more concrete programmes and plans that have physical and spatial reference.

If the policies at a generic level are evolved on an environmentally sound basis, then the associated regional plans and projects are expected to cause least conflict between the regional and local environmental priorities and issues. Examples of SEA are:

• policy of industrializing coastal belts;
• policy of depending on hydropower rather than on thermal power on a national basis;
• policy of reducing the tax structure on the import of clean or environmentally friendly manufacturing technologies;
• policy of allowing the use and manufacture of only selected biodegradable fertilizers;
• phasing out of ozone depleting substances (ODS) from the aerosol industry.

These examples show that the issues discussed in a SEA embrace national as well as international boundaries and can yet, in some cases, overlap EIA of plans on a regional level. At a policy level, therefore, the EIA study can become quite complex, i.e., difficult in scope, and may need a consideration of the sociopolitical as well as macroeconomic factors. Whilst there is much current debate on the subject, there is limited practical experience, particularly at the policy level. Current SEA processes vary considerably. They may be formal or informal, comprehensive or more limited in scope, and closely linked with or unrelated to either policy or planning instruments.

The changing perception of EIA since the introduction of NEPA in the USA in 1969 thus moves from project level to strategic level with an expansion into areas such as the social impact assessment, environmental health assessment, risk assessments, etc. This process of evolution is summarized in Box 1.1.

Box 1.1 The evolution of environmental assessment

Date and phase	Trends and innovations
Prior to 1970, Pre EA	Project review based on engineering and economic study,e.g., cost-benefit analysis; limited consideration of environmental consequences
1970-1975 Methodological development	EA introduced in some developed countries; initially focused on identifying, predicting, and mitigating biophysical effects; opportunity for public involvement in major reviews
1975-1980 Social dimensions included	Multidimensional EA, incorporating SIA and risk analysis; public consultation as integral part of development planning and assessments; increased emphasis on issues of justification and alternatives in project review
1980-1985 Process and procedural redirection	Efforts to integrate project EA with policy planning and follow-up phases; research and development focusing on effects of monitoring, on EA audit and process evaluation, and on mediation and dispute resolution approaches; adoption of EA by international aid and lending agencies and by some developing countries
1985-1990 Sustainability paradigm	Scientific and institutional framework for EA begin to be rethought in response to sustainability ideas and imperatives; search begins for ways to address regional and global environmental changes and cumulative impacts; growing international cooperation on EA research and training
1990-present	Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of policies, programmes, and plans introduced in some developed countries; international convention on transboundary EA; UNCED places new demands on EA for expanded concepts, methods, and procedures to promote sustainability (e.g., through sustainable development strategies)