Introduction and principles - Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment - page 21

Figure 1.7 The nature of an
environmental impact.
Table 1.4 Types of impact
• Physical and socio-economic
• Direct and indirect
• Short-run and long-run
• Local and strategic (including regional, national and beyond)
• Adverse and beneficial
• Reversible and irreversible
• Quantitative and qualitative
• Distribution by group and/or area
• Actual and perceived
• Relative to other developments
Table 1.4 provides a summary of some of the types of impact that may be encountered in
EIA. The biophysical and socio-economic impacts have already been noted. These are
often seen as synonymous with adverse and beneficial. Thus, new developments may
produce harmful wastes but also produce much needed jobs in areas of high
unemployment. However, the correlation does not always apply. A project may bring
physical benefits when, for example, previously polluted and derelict land is brought
back into productive use; similarly the socio-economic impacts of a major project on a
community could include pressure on local health services and on the local housing
market, and increases in community conflict and crime. Projects may also have
immediate and direct impacts that give rise to secondary and indirect impacts later. A