Human actions make Environmental Impact Assessment – or EIA – the act of assessing the ecological consequences and the effects on the environment that occur directly or indirectly as the result of a project, policy, plan, or development. Essentially, EIA is a handy tool. Expect and apply the layout and grasp the impacts of a scheme outside. The primary purpose is to make the higher-ups and deciding parties fully consider the implications and understand their actions before executing them. It can also serve as a way to hold them accountable since they were made fully aware of the impacts of their decisions in case things go far South.
Basic Concept of EIA
Create a basic concept, back in the ’60s when a growing population started noticing that humanity’s lack of forethought was causing severely damaging impacts on the environment and natural life around them. It was thought upon by evaluation scientists who found a worrying trend of rising environmental impacts over unimportant and unawareness. It gained official formal status in 1969 and was the primary reason for creating the “National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
You may also Read: Environmentalism – History of the Environmental Movements in India
Since then, EIAs is an internationally and exceedingly common tool utilized today, which might not lead decision-makers to change their habits directly. But EIA has highlighted many harmful practices and actions that public lobbying and boycotting have addressed solved. In India, the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has been trying very hard to get legislation passed. The MoEFCC has also been actively bringing attention and providing EIA services. Also, specifically in India, the government has made specific actions that contrast strongly with the steps they should have taken.
Of course, there are limitations to the kind of EIA that most businesses and decision-makers utilize. Chief among them is the short period and small sample sizes. Specifically, in India, a huge limitation is that the information needed is never timely. The employees and people tasked with the collection and testing have a high chance of being unreliable. However, the groups that try to go against these restrictions and this analysis specifically highlight these problems exaggerate them and force their arguments starting from the conclusion.
Diversifying environmental data collection for efficiency and efficacy is another considerable problem specific to India in implementing EIA. Many different companies and agencies are involved in this particular study. Despite this, there isn’t a central organization whose purpose is to track all this data, consolidate it and provide a reference point. Follow all this data through an inefficient and sometimes impossible process to conduct an EIA. Applying this inconsistency and inefficiency to all facets of the operation, we can begin to see the pain of resolving any complicated process that doesn’t have enough attention focused on it.
However, to end on a positive note, there is enormous progress concerning Environmental Impact Assessment, and there is some exciting legislation on the horizon. In addition, we’re seeing a lot more awareness about the topic in recent times, which will only lead to the betterment of the field. All I can hope is that it comes in time.