Page 164 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

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Sustainable Development and Environmental Reform
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– Direct and indirect effects, beneficial as well as adverse physical,
sociocultural, biological aspects must be assessed.
• Evaluation of impacts: Legislative standards should be identified and
followed to evaluate the impacts and their severity. Evaluation of the
impacts should take into consideration the magnitude, duration of the
impacts, and its indirect effects if any. Of course, all predictions and
evaluations of predictions have an element of uncertainty associated
with them. The consultant should try as best as he can to quantify the
level of his uncertainty.
• Mitigating measures: These are the most important steps in EIA to
mitigate the negative impacts. It is always recommended to use
cleaner production techniques as an alternative to pollution control.
Mitigation should always be incorporated in the early stages of the
project during the planning and design phases by communication
between the consultant and the developer. The mitigation strategy
should set the environmental management principles that should be
followed in the planning, design, construction, and operation phases
of the development.

EIA screening list approach
The EIA evaluation process according to the screening list approach is
shown in Figure 4.5. The Governmental Environmental Affairs Agency
(GEAA) might accept, reject, or request a scoped EIA if needed with proper
justifications. In the case of a scoped EIA, the developer is required to con-
duct a scoped EIA study for a certain impact or a process. Scoped EIA on a
certain process means that the developer gathers more information on that
process and explains it in greater depth so that the GEAA could see all its
aspects to make sure that it does not represent severe negative environmen-
tal impact. In the case of rejection, the decision taken by the authority
regarding the assessment or the measures to be implemented can be
appealed to the Permanent Appeals Committee by a developer after receiv-
ing such a decision. From the list approach explained above, it is noticeable
that it is a simple system to be used for the developing countries and organ-
izations working with developing countries for the following reasons:
• The EIA process in the developing countries is considered to be a new
concept. So most of the business leaders are not completely aware of
it. The screening system makes it easy for them to locate their proj-
ects whether in A, B, or C lists with the help of screening list that
covers approximately all the possible industries and activities and
classifies them into white, gray or black lists. Meanwhile, A and B
could have an EIA form as shown in Figure 4.5 covering the main
aspects of EIA discussed before such as: project description during
construction and operation, surrounding environment, impact analy-
sis, and mitigating measures.