En v i r o n m en ta l i m pac t a sse ssm en t s ( EIA s ) 559
Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs)
Because industry and development projects have caused so much
environmental destruction, many governments, industries, and development
agencies are now required by law to evaluate the effects of their projects before
starting them. One common decision-making and planning tool is called an
environmental impact assessment, or EIA.
An EIA describes how a project, such as building roads, mines, airports, or
other industrial development will affect the people, animals, land, water, and
air quality in an area. It may also look at social problems such as displacement
of people and loss of cultural resources, such as traditional livelihoods, places
of historic or spiritual importance, etc. An EIA must also suggest less harmful
ways for the work to be done if a project is to go ahead.
An EIA may be done by a corporation alone, or it may be done by a
corporation together with communities and government officials. (For stories
about how 2 communities used an EIA, see pages 466 and 561.) But it is the
responsibility of the government to decide if a project can begin.
How EIAs work
EIAs should involve 2 basic activities:
1. A study of the project’s impacts and a written report describing these
impacts. This is usually the responsibility of the company managing the
project and may or may not involve community participation.
2. Public meetings to allow affected communities to evaluate the project
before it begins.
An EIA works best when it is guided by the precautionary principle (see page
32). If an EIA shows harm may result from a project, the plan should be
stopped or changed. But often EIAs are used to make a project appear harmless
even though it will cause serious harm to people and the environment, now or
in the future. It can sometimes help community members to ask a university or
organization to explain the EIA and the impacts it describes.
Many companies write the EIA report before inviting community
participation, rather than writing it with community participation. Sometimes
companies do not publicize meetings about the EIA or they make the meetings
difficult for people to attend. When an unfair
EIA process is rushed through by a
company or government agency, it
often leads to a situation where the
project begins while the community
campaigns to stop it. Nevertheless,
EIAs can be an important tool for
communities and governments to
evaluate and improve proposed
development projects.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012