ABSTRACT
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a procedure for systematically assessing the effects of certain projects on the physical, biological, social, cultural and economic components of the environment. The EIA process has a role to play in achieving sustainable development through the prediction and mitigation of adverse environmental impacts. This chapter presents the results of the ESs reviewed and discusses the ecological and visual impact mitigation and monitoring in one of the case studies: a 9.5km bypass. Mitigation should firstly be aimed at avoiding adverse impacts through the consideration of alternative sites, designs and processes. Measures to avoid impacts, such as the development of alternative strategies, locations, site layouts and processes, have to be incorporated into the initial stages of development design. The monitoring of ecological and visual impact mitigation measures is essential to ensure that measures proposed are actually implemented in practice and to determine the effectiveness of the measures in mitigating the impact.
