Environmental Impact Assessment is a tool designed to identify and predict the impact of a project on the Biodiversity, Physical aspects, Aesthetics, Social aspects like human needs and its well-being; to interpret and communicate information about the impact, to analyze site and process alternatives and provide solutions to sift out, or abate/mitigate the negative consequences on man and the environment. The EIA is a means of avoiding environmental disturbances that are always much more expensive to correct after their occurrence than before. The EIA must provide the decision-makers and the population with all the necessary analytical data, for their information and awareness.
Most of the EIA methods focus on clearly identifying impact pathways. The process of EIA revolves around the identification of cause and effect, a cause being any action of the proposed project which has an effect on the environment.
The success of an Environmental Impact Assessment depends on the ability to perceive environmental changes and predict the future impacts that could be related to the proposed development. The soundness of the predictive ability is governed to a large extent by professional judgement, past experiences of related projects and some basic assumptions. The basis for impact identification is provided by the baseline information pertaining to the project environment that has been generated through selected attributes determined by the scope of the EIA study. Thus, information about predicted changes is needed for assigning impact significance, prescribing mitigation measures, and designing and developing environmental management plans and monitoring programs.
