Environmental Impact Assessment Training

Projects in many sectors, e.g oil and gas, cannot be executed without first assessing the implications of the developments on the ecosystem, where the projects will be sited, and submitting an EIA report to regulatory bodies.

EIA aims to identify, predict, evaluate and mitigate the biophysical, social and other relevant effects of project proposals before making major project decisions or commitments. Hence EIA is a planning tool used to aid decision making before certain projects, programmes or policy decisions are made.

EIAs are usuallly compulsory for projects that are expected to have significant environmental impacts: e.g oil and gas projects; projects that will affect landscape/land use patterns and cause an increase in population; those involving the production and handling of harzardous substances; those that will be located at eccologically sensitive areas, residential areas; and any project that will have a significant negative impacton the ecosystem.

Therefore, EIA is not only about obtaining a permit but also to ensure sustainable development whereby the proposed project becomes beneficial to all stakeholders and the natural environment.

At the end of the training participants would:

• Appreciate the purpose and role of EIA in the decision-making process;
• understand the strengths of EIA in regard to environmental management;
• understand the technical and social/political limitations of EIA;
• know the administration and procedures that apply in the student’s jurisdiction
• understand the scoping process and how it is applied;
• Understand the purpose of developing follow-up procedures, and the options for designing these procedures.
• appreciate the factors that assist, and detract, from the usefulness of the EIA Report;
• know the format of an EIA Report (Environmental Impact Statement, or Environmental Statement);
• know the options for estimating environmental and social impacts;

• Purpose and aims of EIA;
• EIA administration and practice;
• concept of associated assessment processes;
• key elements of the EIA process;
• Undertaking an EIA;
• Role of public participation;
• Stages that follow EIA;
• The costs and benefits of undertaking EIA; and
• Understanding of the strengths and limitations of