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Environmental
Impact Assessment (EIA)
Reasons for Using EIA
| EIA has been developed as a result of the
failure of traditional project appraisal techniques to
account for environmental impacts. Many development projects
in the past were designed and constructed in isolation
from consideration of their impacts on the environment,
resulting in: |
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higher costs |
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failure of projects |
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significant environmental change, and |
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negative social effects |
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Aims of EIA application
| Despite
differences in individual EIA systems throughout the world, the
EIA process shares certain common aims: |
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to provide decision-makers with
analysis of the total environmental consequences,
so that decisions can be made based on complete
and balanced information |
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to assess and present intangible,
non-quantifiable effects that are not adequately
addressed by cost/benefit analysis and other technical
reports |
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to provide a source of information
on a proposal to the public |
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to formalize the consideration of alternatives
to a proposal being considered, in order that the
least environmentally harmful option
can be chosen, and |
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to improve the design of new developments and
safeguard the environment through application of
mitigation and avoidance measures |
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