Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
impacts, and unavoidable impacts. The probability of the impacts occurring and the sig-
nii cance of those impacts should also be outlined. Depending on study constraints, evalu-
ations of probability and signii cance of impact occurrence may be subjective or objective,
qualitative or quantitative, vague or precise.
The EIA would be incomplete without presenting environmental mitigation and moni-
toring measures, together with i nancial and human resource requirements.
While the format of documentation varies from country to country, the EIA documen-
tation commonly comprises the following documents:
●
The EIA would be incomplete
without presenting
environmental mitigation and
monitoring measures, together
with fi nancial and human
resource requirements.
Terms of Reference (TOR) or Scoping Evaluation for the environmental impact assess-
ment study
●
Environmental impact assessment report (referred to as Environmental Impact
●
Environmental management and monitoring plan, often termed Environmental
Action Plan (EAP)
●
Executive Summary in non-technical language
●
Appendices containing the data used in impact analysis
●
Supporting specialized studies (for an example list see
Figure 2.8
)
.
These are not always separate documents. For example, in many jurisdictions, the EIA
document also includes environmental management and monitoring plans.
The Language
Theoretically at least, writing an EIA report should be relatively straightforward. The for-
mat is likely to be prescribed by the host jurisdiction, and there are ample other EIAs that
can serve as a guidance. And, as far as possible, an EIA should be written in simple language
that can be understood by the general public. Real life however differs for many reasons.
The i rst is a general one. It cannot be assumed that all team members involved in the
EIA preparation are decent writers. The second reason springs directly from the direc-
tive to write in plain, simple language. Contrary to common belief, writing in simple lan-
guage is often more difi cult than writing in complex technical jargon. The third reason is
a result of teamwork. Each contributing team member has his or her own style and way of
writing. All points considered, the preparation of a consistent, well-written, readable EIA
report is a daunting task.
It is even more painful, however, to prepare an EIA in two languages, the language of
the host jurisdiction as well as in English for the international stakeholders such as non-
native mine executives, shareholders, or involved i nancial institutions. It is a mistake to
think that this is only a matter of translation.
Case 2.7
, which provides some sample trans-
lations of well-written Indonesian EIA paragraphs by an ofi cial translator into English,
speaks for itself.
Contrary to common belief,
writing in simple language is
often more diffi cult than writing
in complex technical jargon.
The Presentation
An environmental impact assessment for a major mine is a substantial effort, and docu-
mentation of the study can comprise several thousands of pages. This leads to the question:
'How to manage the scope and size of EIA documents?'
The EIA documentation is supposed to be 'brief but thorough'. It is not supposed to be
encyclopedic (though many are), nor is it supposed to be a 'mini-EIA'. As early as 1978, a
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