ABSTRACT
Administrative procedures for environmental impact assessment vary from country to country. There is no single procedure which is common to all countries. Despite this, however, it is possible to identify specific characteristics and aspects of the EIA process. Before considering the process, it is useful to list the main objectives of EIA. They are:
• To identify beneficial and adverse environmental impacts. • To suggest mitigation actions which might reduce or prevent adverse
impacts. • To identify and describe the residual adverse impacts which cannot be
mitigated. • To identify appropriate monitoring strategies to 'track' impacts and
provide an 'early warning' system • To incorporate environmental information into the decision-making
process relating to development projects. • To aid selection of the 'optimum' alternative, here alternative sites or
project designs are being investigated in an EIA study. Over the years, considerable attention has focused on the variety of
institutional procedures which exist for the organisation of national EIA systems. These procedures are generally administrative in nature and provide for the production of environmental impact statements (EISs) to a uniform standard in accordance with established rules. However, procedures by themselves cannot ensure that EISs will contain structured information, produced in a 'scientific' manner in the best interests of the decision-making process. For this reason, methods and techniques are
required to aid identification and the assessment of impacts, and to ensure that the best possible information is made available to decision-makers and the public. As all methods involve impacts, there is a need to consider the nature of impacts as they are the central concern of EIA methods and techniques.
