Environmental Impact Assessment commenced in the 1960s, as part of increasing environmental awareness.
(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.
UNEP defines Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as a tool used to identify the environmental, social and economic impacts of a project prior to decision-making.
It aims to predict environmental impacts at an early stage in project planning and design, find ways and means to reduce adverse impacts, shape projects to suit the local environment and present the predictions and options to decision-makers.
EIA is basically a preventive process. It seeks to minimize adverse impacts on the environment and reduces risks.
If a proper EIA is carried out, then the safety of the environment can be properly managed at all stages of a
project- planning, design, construction, operation, monitoring and evaluation as well as decommissioning
EIA is a social process and, as such, there are a variety of perspectives on EIA.
Process results should deliver relevant information for decision making regarding the significant environmental consequences of projects.
From a legal perspective, EIA is a regulated process with specific implementation rules that may differ from country to country.
These rules support stakeholders in their decision making and set the legal context for the approval of a project. Planners might see EIA as an opportunity to identify costly and undesirable effects at an early stage of project planning, allowing easy modification, or they might view EIA as a further administrative requirement, increasing costs and lengthening the project process. For reformist environmentalists, EIA might be an instrument to temper economic development.
For preservationists, the language of mitigating impacts, which is at the heart of EIA, will be ambiguous. Does mitigation practically allow the possibility of no development?