Environment Impact Assessment or EIA is a process of evaluating the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, taking into account inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human health impacts, both beneficial and adverse. It is statutorily backed by the Environment Protection Act, 1986 which contains various provisions on EIA methodology and process.

Objectives of EIA

• To formulate a transparent, decentralized and efficient regulatory mechanism to integrate environmental concerns into the developmental process with a view to facilitating sustainable development.
• To identify and describe elements of community and environment likely to be affected by the proposed projects.
• To ensure incorporation of necessary environmental safeguards at the planning stage in the project cycle, so as to ensure minimal impact on different components of the environment.
• To ensure involvement of stakeholders in the public consultation process through public hearing and to ascertain the views of the public on the proposed project or activity.

Different stages involved in the EIA process

• Project Proposal: Any proponent embarking on any major development project shall notify IAA (Impact Assessment Agency) in writing by the submission of a project proposal.
• Screening: To determine which projects or developments require a full or partial impact assessment study. Preliminary Assessment: If screening does not clear a project, the developer may be required to undertake a preliminary assessment. This involves sufficient research, review of available data and expert advice in order to identify the key impacts of the project on the local environment, predict the extent of the impacts and briefly evaluate their importance to decision makers.
• Scoping: Quantifiable impacts are to be assessed on the basis of magnitude, prevalence, frequency and duration and non-quantifiable impacts are commonly determined through the socioeconomic criteria.
• Impact Prediction and Assessment of Alternatives: Impact prediction is a way of mapping the environmental consequences of the significant aspects of the project and its alternatives. EIA Report: It should provide clear information to the decision-maker on the different environmental scenarios without the project, with the project and with project alternatives.
• Public Hearing: After the completion of EIA report the law requires that the public must be informed and consulted on a proposed development.
• Decision-Making: It involves consultation between the project proponent (assisted by a consultant) and the impact assessment authority (assisted by an expert group if necessary). The decision on environmental clearance has arrived.
• Monitoring the Clearance Conditions: Monitoring has to be done during both construction and operation phases of a project. It is done not just to ensure that the commitments made are complied with but also to observe whether the predictions made in the EIA reports are correct or not.

In this manner, EIA seeks to balance the environmental concerns in the developmental process in order to achieve long term sustainable development.