Lesson 9 – The EIA Report

Welcome to the e-learning course on the Environmental Impact Assessment report (EIA report). This course will guide you through the most important document in the EIA process that enables competent authorities to make informed decisions about proposed projects.

During the third stage of the EIA process, the preparation of the EIA report takes place, which gathers information about a project’s significant effects on the environment. It is a crucial document that the developer must prepare and submit to the competent authority.

The EIA report serves as a tool to communicate the results of the assessment of significant impacts or effects of a proposed project on the environment and enable the competent authority to reach a reasoned conclusion regarding the impacts of the proposed project on the environment. The report must be of sufficient quality to allow for this judgment, matching the scope and level of detail requested by the competent authority in the scoping opinion.

The EIA report covers several essential items, including the project’s description, baseline scenario, and environmental factors affected by the project.

The project description introduces the project and its location, physical characteristics, and operational phases, including energy demand, natural resources, and waste produced during the construction and operation phases.

The baseline scenario describes the current state of the environment and the area in which the project will be located, without the implementation of the project. It provides a basis to measure changes once the project has been initiated.

Carrying out the baseline assessment involves determining what is relevant and finding the necessary data and information to set the framework against which to assess impacts on the environment. The data used include physical, biological, socio-economic, and cultural data.

The EIA report also covers the environmental factors affected by the project, including population, human health, biodiversity, land, soil, water, air, climate, material assets, cultural heritage, and risk assessment of major accidents and disasters.