• Sustainability Results in environmental safeguards.
• Integrity Conforms to agreed standards. • Utility Provide balanced, credible information for decision making EIA regulations
• It defines two schedules of developments
• For Schedule 1 projects • An EIA must always be carried out. • For Schedule 2 projects • An EIA must be carried out if the development is likely to have a significant impact on the environment by virtue of its nature, size or location. Schedule 1 development
• An Environment Statement is required in every case.
• Example : • Crude oil refineries • Aerodromes with a runway length of 2,100 meters or more • Waste disposal installations for the incineration • Chemical treatment, or landfill of hazardous waste • Gas pipelines of more than 800mm in diameter and 40 kilometers in length • Intensive livestock installations with places for 900 sows, 3,000 pigs, 85,000 broilers or 60,000 hens Schedule 2 development
• EIA is required only if the project is likely to give rise to significant
environmental effects. • Examples : • Developments which include intensive fish farms • Large pig and poultry units (unless in Schedule 1) • Mineral extraction, metal processing • Energy producing installations such as wind farms and hydroelectric installations • Chemical, food, textile, rubber and paper industries • Infrastructure projects, tourist development and waste disposal. Schedule 2 development
• Threshold of Schedule 2 Projects :
• Projects of a type listed in Schedule 2 which are not in a sensitive area and are below the threshold of Schedule 2 do not require EIA. • All Schedule developments are based on thresholds. A proposed development only becomes a Schedule 1 development where it exceeds the threshold. • For example a ‘shipyard’ development only falls within Schedule 2 where ‘the area of new floor space does not exceeds 1,000 square meters’. Three stages of EIA
1. Is the proposed development within a category set out in Schedule 2?
2. If so, either: • Does it exceed the threshold set out for that category in Schedule 2? Or • Is it in a ‘sensitive area’ such as a national park. 3. If so, it is likely to have a significant effect on the environment by virtue of its nature, size or location? • If the answer to all of the three questions is ‘yes’ then an EIA is required. • If the answer to any of those questions is ‘no’ then an EIA is not required.