Environment Impact Assessment - Reading Material

This is the reading material on Environment Impact Assessment (EIA).

EIAs began to be used in the 1960s as part of a rational decision making process. It involved a technical evaluation that would lead to objective decision making. In 1969, EIA was made legislation in the United States (US) in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). It has since evolved as it has been used increasingly in many countries around the world. EIA is one of the successful policy innovations of the 20th Century for environmental conservation. Thirty-seven years ago, there was no EIA but today, it is a formal process in many countries and is currently practiced in more than 100 countries. EIA, as a mandatory regulatory procedure, originated in the early 1970s, with the implementation of NEPA 1969 in the US. Much of the initial development was in a small number of high-income countries, like Canada, Australia and New Zealand (1973-74). However, there were some developing countries as well, which introduced EIA relatively early - Columbia (1974) and Philippines (1978). The EIA process really took off after the mid-1980s. In 1989, the World Bank adopted EIA for major development project, in which borrower country had to undertake the EIA under the Bank's supervision.