Follow-up of environmental impacts is an integral part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, closely related to the effectiveness of the instrument. EIA follow-up has been receiving a lot of interest f...Follow-up of environmental impacts is an integral part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, closely related to the effectiveness of the instrument. EIA follow-up has been receiving a lot of interest from scientists and practitioners, though it is recognized as one of the weakest points of EIA systems globally. Also, EIA follow-up is influenced by the context, mainly in terms of the types of projects or activities and their related impacts on the environment. Therefore, the present paper is focused on the investigation of the follow-up stage applied to the activity of seismic survey coupled with offshore oil & gas exploitation in Brazil. Research was based on a qualitative approach that included document analysis and semi-structured interviews with analysts involved in EIA processes, and sought to generate evidence of effectiveness of the EIA follow-up as conducted by the Federal Environment Agency (Ibama) in order to situate the practice of follow-up in the broader context of international best practice principles. Based on the findings, it was concluded that, due to the peculiarities of offshore seismic survey, it is necessary to promote adaptations in the procedures for monitoring impacts in order to ensure proper alignment with the principles and conceptual foundations that guide EIA practice. Specifically, the timing of the execution of the activity imposes challenges for its integration into the “conventional” cycle that has guided the monitoring of the impacts in the EIA of projects.展开更多
A good quality Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is key for the effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes and consequently to the acceptability of projects subject to EIA. The international l...A good quality Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is key for the effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes and consequently to the acceptability of projects subject to EIA. The international literature has contributed to the understanding of the essential aspects to be verified regarding the quality of EIS, offering a wide spectrum of good practice examples related to the content of the studies. Even so, there is a need for empirical studies that allow the identification of specific aspects related to the context of application of the EIS, which could lead to the identification of opportunities to improve both the quality of the reports and also the effectiveness of EIA. Therefore, the present paper is focused on the quality review of a number of EIS submitted to the Brazilian Federal Environmental Agency (Ibama) to instruct the assessment of electric power transmission systems. Based on the application of the EIS quality review package as proposed by Lee and Colley (1992), the outcomes reveal opportunities for improving the scope of EIA, analysis of alternatives, prediction of magnitude and the assessment of impact significance. Finally, the development and/or adaptation of a similar tool for the systematic review of the quality of EIA reports is recommended.展开更多
The paper discusses the importance of public engagement in environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and the benefits of stakeholder involvement in project design, environmental soundness, and social acceptability. It h...The paper discusses the importance of public engagement in environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and the benefits of stakeholder involvement in project design, environmental soundness, and social acceptability. It highlights the negative repercussions of mining activities in Ghana, including health consequences such as skin conditions, fever, coughs, diarrhea, malaria, and catarrh, as well as HIV/AIDS infection among those engaged in or connected to prostitution in mining towns. The environmental effects of mining in Ghana include noise pollution from heavy trucks, contamination of water bodies with chemicals from mineral refining, pollution of agricultural soils leading to reduced food productivity, and wildlife depletion from deforestation. The activities of small-scale miners, particularly those engaged in illicit mining, have a negative impact on water quality and increase the cost of water treatment for public consumption. Mining operations have detrimental effects on the social, cultural, and natural ecosystems in Ghana, affecting the quality of life of local communities. The study takes into consideration the impact of mining activities on the environment and natural resources in Ghana, as these are vital to the livelihoods of Ghanaian communities. Stakeholders in Tarkwa claim that mining operations have distorted the natural path of the river, leading to excessive pollution and making the water unfit for consumption. Ghana’s economy depends heavily on mining, which also contributes significantly to GDP and generates jobs for a large number of people. But mining also has a lot of negative repercussions, the effects of mining extend beyond the mineralized zone initially explored, highlighting the need to consider the environmental impact at every phase of the mining process.展开更多
At present,the plan environmental impact assessment of power transmission and transformation grid is relatively mature. How to further improve the quality of plan environmental impact assessment of power grid during t...At present,the plan environmental impact assessment of power transmission and transformation grid is relatively mature. How to further improve the quality of plan environmental impact assessment of power grid during the "14^(th) Five-Year Plan" period is very important. In this paper,the plan environmental impact assessment of power grid in the Development Plan for Power Grid in Nanjing during the "13^(th) Five-Year Plan" Period is studied to further discuss the ideas,evaluation system and content framework of plan environmental impact assessment of power grid.展开更多
Strategic Environmental Assessment is a frontier subject in the field of Environmental Impact Assessment. In the past two decades, especially in recent years, much more importance has been attached to Strategic Enviro...Strategic Environmental Assessment is a frontier subject in the field of Environmental Impact Assessment. In the past two decades, especially in recent years, much more importance has been attached to Strategic Environmental Assessment. The Environmental Impact Assessment Law of the P.R. China which was promulgated provides a great opportunity for the development of Planning Environmental Impact Assessment and brings great challenges for the development of traditional Project Environmental Impact Assessment and Planning Environmental Impact Assessment at the same time. In order to promote the implementation of "The EIA Law", the inherent limitations of Project Environmental Impact Assessment must be identified sufficiently and the theory research and practice of Planning Environmental Impact Assessment should be strengthened as well. Measures should be taken currently to enforce the operation system. The authors wish to offer a few references to the progress and implementation of Planning Environmental Impact Assessment in China.展开更多
Since 2015, a “reform storm” of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) opened up in China. This study tries to answer the question of whether these reforms improve the effectiveness of EIA. First, we elaborate on the...Since 2015, a “reform storm” of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) opened up in China. This study tries to answer the question of whether these reforms improve the effectiveness of EIA. First, we elaborate on the reforms along with three well-acknowledged components, including EIA legislation, administration, and process. Then, evaluate the reformed EIA system against revised Ahmad and Wood’s criteria. The results demonstrate that the revised laws and regulations are more stringent than the old versions. The EIA process is simplified, and its coordination with the pollutant discharge permit system is promoted. The interim and post-event supervision is currently more robust and the penalties are more severe than before. However, the hierarchical position of the Environmental Protection Law is not high enough and the coordination of different government departments is still challenging. In summary, despite the problems occurring at the initial phase of reforms, the effectiveness of the EIA system has largely been improved.展开更多
Baseline Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of mining projects in Sierra Leone creates a challenging environment for data collection and impact prediction. Application of geographic information systems provides sui...Baseline Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of mining projects in Sierra Leone creates a challenging environment for data collection and impact prediction. Application of geographic information systems provides suitable spatial analysis data collection methods to reduce the challenges created by mining environments. This research develops a baseline spatial geodatabase template for evaluating potential and predicted environmental impacts assessment of mining projects in Sierra Leone. It is observed that spatial analysis of impacts of mining projects on the environmental attributes, especially air, noise, water, land, and socio-economy in mining areas is largely unexplored in Sierra Leone. The literature review revealed that no complete GIS spatial data geodatabase collection template appears to have been developed to date to provide an integrated sustainable spatial analysis and modelling tool for EIA and environmental management of mining in Sierra Leone. Therefore developing a Geographic Information Systems baseline geodatabase template for the evaluation of potential and predicted environmental impact for sustainable environmental impact assessment of mining in Sierra Leone will: 1) provide support to the data acquisition process of environmental impact assessment, 2) offer a concept for developing analysis methods for environmental management of mining, 3) minimize the undesired environmental impacts of mining, and 4) give an optimal proposal for data collection and analysis of mining industry in attaining sustainable development in Sierra Leone. Due to the limited available data, a conceptual GIS database template has been developed rather than a database case study of a mining site. No site investigation and data collection were undertaken. The geospatial database template was designed using ArcCatalog, ArcGIS 10.7.1. software, through the following steps: exploration of the general data requirement of environmental impact assessment studies of mining, the definition of the general baseline datasets requirement of environmental impact assessment in mining, structuring of the environmental impact assessment baseline spatial geodatabase, creating the geographic geodatabase dictionary, selecting, matching geographic data with geodatabase structure, designing the feature class and attributes, creating the baseline GIS geodatabase template. The GIS spatial geodatabase template has several advantages for environmental impact assessment of mining including avoiding data redundancy, integrating data into a single database, creating uniformity in data collection, easy to find and track data, integrated spatial and non-spatial data, and reducing the volume of data.展开更多
Wetland plays an extremely important role in economy and ecological environment,and the construction of constructed wetland also has a certain impact on the environment.Via the evaluation on environmental status of co...Wetland plays an extremely important role in economy and ecological environment,and the construction of constructed wetland also has a certain impact on the environment.Via the evaluation on environmental status of constructed wetland,the main environmental problems are found out,and the impact of construction of constructed wetland project on local water environment and ecological environment is analyzed,and evaluation conclusion is obtained.展开更多
Environmental Impact Assessment Studies (EIA) for four developmental projects were chosen for this study viz-a-viz., oil and gas, river diversion, hydropower and gold mining. The EIA studies for these activities have ...Environmental Impact Assessment Studies (EIA) for four developmental projects were chosen for this study viz-a-viz., oil and gas, river diversion, hydropower and gold mining. The EIA studies for these activities have been conducted in three different ecological regions: the flood region in the former southern Sudan, low rainfall Savannah and desert region. Trees, shrubs and herbaceous species were identified and recorded in each region. Species encountered for the first time, endangered, invasive and increasers were also reported. The EIA studies have produced lists of natural flora in areas which were difficult to access without the EIA missions. During the EIA study for Jonglei Canal project the new mono specific genus Suddia sagitifolia was discovered in the flood region as the only endemic aquatic plant in Sudan. Within the same region, the smallest floating plant in Sudan (Wollfia hyaline) was reported. The critically endangered “Argon Palm” (Medemia argun) was encountered in the Nubian Desert of the Red Sea State during a gold mining EIA study. The Seha (Belpharis persica), not reported to exist in desert conditions, has been found in the Great Desert west of the Nile during an EIA study for Kajbar Hydropower project. The paper calls for the publication of the above findings and highlights the need for further detailed studies in order to enhance knowledge of the Sudanese biodiversity status.展开更多
Designers of infrastructure are aware that the government, owners and users become more and more concerned about negative environmental impacts of tunnels, so environmental assessment of tunnels are becoming an issue ...Designers of infrastructure are aware that the government, owners and users become more and more concerned about negative environmental impacts of tunnels, so environmental assessment of tunnels are becoming an issue in the process of tunnel design. In this study, to assess tunnels in construction and operation phases, the matrix method, through which the “Impacting Factors” and “Environmental Components” are determined, is also outlined. The affected environment was divided into thirteen components, such as Ecology, Surface water, Air quality, etc. In this paper, matrix method was applied to evaluate the impact of tunneling in three typical tunnels and compare them with standard diagrams of Environmental Components that were derived and introduced. These tunnels were: Urban Utility tunnel in Tehran, Eurasia tunnel in Istanbul and Tsuen Wan drainage tunnel in Hong Kong. Based on the acquired results, the present paper finally concluded that among three cases, Tsuen Wan drainage tunnel affects the environment in construction phase more than others, while Eurasia tunnel effects on air quality are more significant in operation phase.展开更多
Land reclamation is a complex marine environmental engineering and has a huge impact on social, economic, and physical environment. Reclamation environmental impact assessment (REIA) is also a complicated project, inc...Land reclamation is a complex marine environmental engineering and has a huge impact on social, economic, and physical environment. Reclamation environmental impact assessment (REIA) is also a complicated project, including the assessment of social economic background, ocean engineering, coastal geomorphology, sediment transportation, marine hydrodynamics and marine ecosystem and so on. Nowadays, a large number of land reclaimed projects have been carried out or in the process of construction along the coastal zone, thus, it is necessary to build up a framework on REIA to evaluate and quantify the environmental changes, to contribute to reclamation program, to reduce marine environmental disasters, and to sustain development of coastal zone. This article focuses on the research of REIA framework theory and puts forward a REIA model on land reclaimed evaluation, at the same time, applies this assessment system in Shenzhen City, which is a highly developed coastal city with an expectation of land reclamation. By use of the Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques, along with the topographic map and in situ survey in reclamation area, it concludes that the area of 2680 hectares in total has been reclaimed in Shenzhen city by the end of the year 2000. Thus, reclamation is usually applied to meet the needs for infrastructure, such as harbors, industries and highways in Shenzhen City. However, some serious negative impacts have been created to the coastal environment shown clearly in the following aspects. Firstly, it caused the dramatic changes of tidal flat and channels along the western coast, made this area more unstable, which is threatening the function of the harbor in this area. Secondly, Tidal prism has decreased rapidly. During the 20 years of reclamation, the tidal prism has been reduced by 20%～30% along the western coast in the Lingdingyang Estuary, and 15.6% in the Shenzhen Bay. As a result, the velocity of the tidal current has also declined, and the direction of the tidal current has changed, which is harmful to the dilution and diffusion process of the contaminants. Thirdly, it has threatened the eco-environment finally. More than 147 hectares of mangrove area along the coast of Shenzhen Bay, accounting for 48.8% of the total mangrove reserve area in this region, has been reclaimed only during the short period from 1988 to 2000. Thus, the biodiversity is decreasing, and more and more plants and animals are disappearing. Based on the above analyses of the environmental impacts, strategies and suggestions for the future reclamation in this area have been put forward in order to support the sustainable development of the coastal zone.展开更多
In this paper, a life-cycle, ssessment methodology is used to evaluate the environmental effects of cement-concrete system. The production factors nottably affecting environment are obtained and the way improving envi...In this paper, a life-cycle, ssessment methodology is used to evaluate the environmental effects of cement-concrete system. The production factors nottably affecting environment are obtained and the way improving environmental effects is indicated.展开更多
China is the third country to develop and utilize shale gas after the United States and Canada. However,shale gas development has significant environmental problems,such as huge consumption of both land and water reso...China is the third country to develop and utilize shale gas after the United States and Canada. However,shale gas development has significant environmental problems,such as huge consumption of both land and water resources,water pollution risk of hydraulic fracturing,leakage risk of shale gas and so on. At present,environmental impact assessment of shale gas development in China has been conducted based on the Technical Guideline for Environmental Impact Assessment——Constructional Project of Petroleum and Natural Gas Development on Land which lacks clear guidance on selection and quantitative analysis of pollution factors. In this paper,based on the experience of shale gas development in America,special environmental problems that need to be noticed for shale gas development were summarized,and the supplement to the technical guideline for environmental impact assessment of shale gas development was discussed to improve the environmental impact assessment system.展开更多
The planning environmental impact assessment( EIA) of transmission and transformation power grid at levels of 500 and 220 kV had been finished completely in the 13 municipalities of Jiangsu Province by the end of 2012...The planning environmental impact assessment( EIA) of transmission and transformation power grid at levels of 500 and 220 kV had been finished completely in the 13 municipalities of Jiangsu Province by the end of 2012,which played important roles in guiding and planning the following transmission and transformation projects in environmental protection.In this paper,through the detail analysis on the objective and significance of the planning EIA of transmission and transformation power grid,legal basis and planning EIA practices,some suggestions and thinking about the planning EIA of transmission and transformation power grid were put forward.展开更多
Biochar-based bioenergy production and subsequent land application of biochar can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by fixing atmospheric carbon into the soil for a long period of time. A thorough life cycle assessment ...Biochar-based bioenergy production and subsequent land application of biochar can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by fixing atmospheric carbon into the soil for a long period of time. A thorough life cycle assessment of biochar-based bioenergy production and biochar land application in Northwestern Ontario is conducted using Sima Pro Ver. 8.1. The results of energy consumption and potential environmental impact of biochar-based bioenergy production system are compared with those of conventional coal-based system. Results show that biochar land application consumes 4847.61 MJ per tonne dry feedstock more energy than conventional system, but reduces the GHG emissions by 68.19 kg CO2e per tonne of dry feedstock in its life cycle. Biochar land application improves ecosystem quality by 18 %, reduces climate change by15 %, and resource use by 13 % but may adversely impact on human health by increasing disability adjusted life years by 1.7 % if biomass availability is low to medium.Replacing fossil fuel with woody biomass has a positive impact on the environment, as one tonne of dry biomass feedstock when converted to biochar reduces up to 38 kg CO2e with biochar land application despite using more energy. These results will help understand a comprehensive picture of the new interventions in forestry businesses,which are promoting biochar-based bioenergy production.展开更多
In this paper,the theory and approach of environmental impact assessment in general land use planning are studied from different aspects.First,starting from the content and concept of general land use planning,the nec...In this paper,the theory and approach of environmental impact assessment in general land use planning are studied from different aspects.First,starting from the content and concept of general land use planning,the necessity of environmental impact assessment in general land use planning is illustrated.On the basis of its evaluation theories and methodologies,it attempts to establish index system of environmental impact assessment in general land use planning,and point outs that current general land use planning requires public participation.展开更多
The environmental impacts are commonly quantified in the EIA studies by rating, ranking and scaling. The National EIA Guidelines, 1993, Nepal provides a guideline to score the impacts in terms of magnitude, extent, an...The environmental impacts are commonly quantified in the EIA studies by rating, ranking and scaling. The National EIA Guidelines, 1993, Nepal provides a guideline to score the impacts in terms of magnitude, extent, and duration. This step is commonly known as impact prediction in the EIA process. The predicted scores are multiplied by the weightage value of the resource;likely to be affected. The application of the weightage transforms the predicted values of the impacts into their “significance”—a concept used in the environmental decision making. In other words the significance value entails assignment of relative judgment values to the impacts. The impacts, thus, can ranked based on their significance. The impact ranking is more useful in evaluating the socio-economic impacts. Unlike air, water and noise quality, which can be assessed against established standards;the socio-economic impacts do not have standard scale and are difficult to rank. Importance weighting of socio-economic impacts are commonly determined by the consensus obtained from the interaction with the local people, agencies, NGOs and experts. The impact ranking in the EIA process is unavoidable, firstly to prioritize the urgent environmental issues and design mitigation measures accordingly and also provide coherent linkages among the issues, and plan monitoring and auditing linkage with the proposed mitigation measures. Furthermore, it also provide strong basis of decision making, and thus facilitate the decision makers. The process of impact prediction, determination of significance and ranking were applied in the EIA of Indrwati-3 Hydroelectric Project, which is one of the successful cases of EIA in Nepal. The authors believe that the impacts predicted and quantified through this method are being focussed to more on the local concerns, since it seeks an active involvement of the local people who are likely to be affected.展开更多
文摘Follow-up of environmental impacts is an integral part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, closely related to the effectiveness of the instrument. EIA follow-up has been receiving a lot of interest from scientists and practitioners, though it is recognized as one of the weakest points of EIA systems globally. Also, EIA follow-up is influenced by the context, mainly in terms of the types of projects or activities and their related impacts on the environment. Therefore, the present paper is focused on the investigation of the follow-up stage applied to the activity of seismic survey coupled with offshore oil & gas exploitation in Brazil. Research was based on a qualitative approach that included document analysis and semi-structured interviews with analysts involved in EIA processes, and sought to generate evidence of effectiveness of the EIA follow-up as conducted by the Federal Environment Agency (Ibama) in order to situate the practice of follow-up in the broader context of international best practice principles. Based on the findings, it was concluded that, due to the peculiarities of offshore seismic survey, it is necessary to promote adaptations in the procedures for monitoring impacts in order to ensure proper alignment with the principles and conceptual foundations that guide EIA practice. Specifically, the timing of the execution of the activity imposes challenges for its integration into the “conventional” cycle that has guided the monitoring of the impacts in the EIA of projects.
文摘A good quality Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is key for the effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes and consequently to the acceptability of projects subject to EIA. The international literature has contributed to the understanding of the essential aspects to be verified regarding the quality of EIS, offering a wide spectrum of good practice examples related to the content of the studies. Even so, there is a need for empirical studies that allow the identification of specific aspects related to the context of application of the EIS, which could lead to the identification of opportunities to improve both the quality of the reports and also the effectiveness of EIA. Therefore, the present paper is focused on the quality review of a number of EIS submitted to the Brazilian Federal Environmental Agency (Ibama) to instruct the assessment of electric power transmission systems. Based on the application of the EIS quality review package as proposed by Lee and Colley (1992), the outcomes reveal opportunities for improving the scope of EIA, analysis of alternatives, prediction of magnitude and the assessment of impact significance. Finally, the development and/or adaptation of a similar tool for the systematic review of the quality of EIA reports is recommended.
文摘The paper discusses the importance of public engagement in environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and the benefits of stakeholder involvement in project design, environmental soundness, and social acceptability. It highlights the negative repercussions of mining activities in Ghana, including health consequences such as skin conditions, fever, coughs, diarrhea, malaria, and catarrh, as well as HIV/AIDS infection among those engaged in or connected to prostitution in mining towns. The environmental effects of mining in Ghana include noise pollution from heavy trucks, contamination of water bodies with chemicals from mineral refining, pollution of agricultural soils leading to reduced food productivity, and wildlife depletion from deforestation. The activities of small-scale miners, particularly those engaged in illicit mining, have a negative impact on water quality and increase the cost of water treatment for public consumption. Mining operations have detrimental effects on the social, cultural, and natural ecosystems in Ghana, affecting the quality of life of local communities. The study takes into consideration the impact of mining activities on the environment and natural resources in Ghana, as these are vital to the livelihoods of Ghanaian communities. Stakeholders in Tarkwa claim that mining operations have distorted the natural path of the river, leading to excessive pollution and making the water unfit for consumption. Ghana’s economy depends heavily on mining, which also contributes significantly to GDP and generates jobs for a large number of people. But mining also has a lot of negative repercussions, the effects of mining extend beyond the mineralized zone initially explored, highlighting the need to consider the environmental impact at every phase of the mining process.
文摘At present,the plan environmental impact assessment of power transmission and transformation grid is relatively mature. How to further improve the quality of plan environmental impact assessment of power grid during the "14^(th) Five-Year Plan" period is very important. In this paper,the plan environmental impact assessment of power grid in the Development Plan for Power Grid in Nanjing during the "13^(th) Five-Year Plan" Period is studied to further discuss the ideas,evaluation system and content framework of plan environmental impact assessment of power grid.
文摘Strategic Environmental Assessment is a frontier subject in the field of Environmental Impact Assessment. In the past two decades, especially in recent years, much more importance has been attached to Strategic Environmental Assessment. The Environmental Impact Assessment Law of the P.R. China which was promulgated provides a great opportunity for the development of Planning Environmental Impact Assessment and brings great challenges for the development of traditional Project Environmental Impact Assessment and Planning Environmental Impact Assessment at the same time. In order to promote the implementation of "The EIA Law", the inherent limitations of Project Environmental Impact Assessment must be identified sufficiently and the theory research and practice of Planning Environmental Impact Assessment should be strengthened as well. Measures should be taken currently to enforce the operation system. The authors wish to offer a few references to the progress and implementation of Planning Environmental Impact Assessment in China.
文摘Since 2015, a “reform storm” of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) opened up in China. This study tries to answer the question of whether these reforms improve the effectiveness of EIA. First, we elaborate on the reforms along with three well-acknowledged components, including EIA legislation, administration, and process. Then, evaluate the reformed EIA system against revised Ahmad and Wood’s criteria. The results demonstrate that the revised laws and regulations are more stringent than the old versions. The EIA process is simplified, and its coordination with the pollutant discharge permit system is promoted. The interim and post-event supervision is currently more robust and the penalties are more severe than before. However, the hierarchical position of the Environmental Protection Law is not high enough and the coordination of different government departments is still challenging. In summary, despite the problems occurring at the initial phase of reforms, the effectiveness of the EIA system has largely been improved.
文摘Baseline Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of mining projects in Sierra Leone creates a challenging environment for data collection and impact prediction. Application of geographic information systems provides suitable spatial analysis data collection methods to reduce the challenges created by mining environments. This research develops a baseline spatial geodatabase template for evaluating potential and predicted environmental impacts assessment of mining projects in Sierra Leone. It is observed that spatial analysis of impacts of mining projects on the environmental attributes, especially air, noise, water, land, and socio-economy in mining areas is largely unexplored in Sierra Leone. The literature review revealed that no complete GIS spatial data geodatabase collection template appears to have been developed to date to provide an integrated sustainable spatial analysis and modelling tool for EIA and environmental management of mining in Sierra Leone. Therefore developing a Geographic Information Systems baseline geodatabase template for the evaluation of potential and predicted environmental impact for sustainable environmental impact assessment of mining in Sierra Leone will: 1) provide support to the data acquisition process of environmental impact assessment, 2) offer a concept for developing analysis methods for environmental management of mining, 3) minimize the undesired environmental impacts of mining, and 4) give an optimal proposal for data collection and analysis of mining industry in attaining sustainable development in Sierra Leone. Due to the limited available data, a conceptual GIS database template has been developed rather than a database case study of a mining site. No site investigation and data collection were undertaken. The geospatial database template was designed using ArcCatalog, ArcGIS 10.7.1. software, through the following steps: exploration of the general data requirement of environmental impact assessment studies of mining, the definition of the general baseline datasets requirement of environmental impact assessment in mining, structuring of the environmental impact assessment baseline spatial geodatabase, creating the geographic geodatabase dictionary, selecting, matching geographic data with geodatabase structure, designing the feature class and attributes, creating the baseline GIS geodatabase template. The GIS spatial geodatabase template has several advantages for environmental impact assessment of mining including avoiding data redundancy, integrating data into a single database, creating uniformity in data collection, easy to find and track data, integrated spatial and non-spatial data, and reducing the volume of data.
文摘Wetland plays an extremely important role in economy and ecological environment,and the construction of constructed wetland also has a certain impact on the environment.Via the evaluation on environmental status of constructed wetland,the main environmental problems are found out,and the impact of construction of constructed wetland project on local water environment and ecological environment is analyzed,and evaluation conclusion is obtained.
文摘Environmental Impact Assessment Studies (EIA) for four developmental projects were chosen for this study viz-a-viz., oil and gas, river diversion, hydropower and gold mining. The EIA studies for these activities have been conducted in three different ecological regions: the flood region in the former southern Sudan, low rainfall Savannah and desert region. Trees, shrubs and herbaceous species were identified and recorded in each region. Species encountered for the first time, endangered, invasive and increasers were also reported. The EIA studies have produced lists of natural flora in areas which were difficult to access without the EIA missions. During the EIA study for Jonglei Canal project the new mono specific genus Suddia sagitifolia was discovered in the flood region as the only endemic aquatic plant in Sudan. Within the same region, the smallest floating plant in Sudan (Wollfia hyaline) was reported. The critically endangered “Argon Palm” (Medemia argun) was encountered in the Nubian Desert of the Red Sea State during a gold mining EIA study. The Seha (Belpharis persica), not reported to exist in desert conditions, has been found in the Great Desert west of the Nile during an EIA study for Kajbar Hydropower project. The paper calls for the publication of the above findings and highlights the need for further detailed studies in order to enhance knowledge of the Sudanese biodiversity status.
文摘Designers of infrastructure are aware that the government, owners and users become more and more concerned about negative environmental impacts of tunnels, so environmental assessment of tunnels are becoming an issue in the process of tunnel design. In this study, to assess tunnels in construction and operation phases, the matrix method, through which the “Impacting Factors” and “Environmental Components” are determined, is also outlined. The affected environment was divided into thirteen components, such as Ecology, Surface water, Air quality, etc. In this paper, matrix method was applied to evaluate the impact of tunneling in three typical tunnels and compare them with standard diagrams of Environmental Components that were derived and introduced. These tunnels were: Urban Utility tunnel in Tehran, Eurasia tunnel in Istanbul and Tsuen Wan drainage tunnel in Hong Kong. Based on the acquired results, the present paper finally concluded that among three cases, Tsuen Wan drainage tunnel affects the environment in construction phase more than others, while Eurasia tunnel effects on air quality are more significant in operation phase.
基金This work was financially supported bythe National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No40271004)
文摘Land reclamation is a complex marine environmental engineering and has a huge impact on social, economic, and physical environment. Reclamation environmental impact assessment (REIA) is also a complicated project, including the assessment of social economic background, ocean engineering, coastal geomorphology, sediment transportation, marine hydrodynamics and marine ecosystem and so on. Nowadays, a large number of land reclaimed projects have been carried out or in the process of construction along the coastal zone, thus, it is necessary to build up a framework on REIA to evaluate and quantify the environmental changes, to contribute to reclamation program, to reduce marine environmental disasters, and to sustain development of coastal zone. This article focuses on the research of REIA framework theory and puts forward a REIA model on land reclaimed evaluation, at the same time, applies this assessment system in Shenzhen City, which is a highly developed coastal city with an expectation of land reclamation. By use of the Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques, along with the topographic map and in situ survey in reclamation area, it concludes that the area of 2680 hectares in total has been reclaimed in Shenzhen city by the end of the year 2000. Thus, reclamation is usually applied to meet the needs for infrastructure, such as harbors, industries and highways in Shenzhen City. However, some serious negative impacts have been created to the coastal environment shown clearly in the following aspects. Firstly, it caused the dramatic changes of tidal flat and channels along the western coast, made this area more unstable, which is threatening the function of the harbor in this area. Secondly, Tidal prism has decreased rapidly. During the 20 years of reclamation, the tidal prism has been reduced by 20%～30% along the western coast in the Lingdingyang Estuary, and 15.6% in the Shenzhen Bay. As a result, the velocity of the tidal current has also declined, and the direction of the tidal current has changed, which is harmful to the dilution and diffusion process of the contaminants. Thirdly, it has threatened the eco-environment finally. More than 147 hectares of mangrove area along the coast of Shenzhen Bay, accounting for 48.8% of the total mangrove reserve area in this region, has been reclaimed only during the short period from 1988 to 2000. Thus, the biodiversity is decreasing, and more and more plants and animals are disappearing. Based on the above analyses of the environmental impacts, strategies and suggestions for the future reclamation in this area have been put forward in order to support the sustainable development of the coastal zone.
基金Funded by the Committee of Natural Science Fund of Hubei Province
文摘In this paper, a life-cycle, ssessment methodology is used to evaluate the environmental effects of cement-concrete system. The production factors nottably affecting environment are obtained and the way improving environmental effects is indicated.
文摘China is the third country to develop and utilize shale gas after the United States and Canada. However,shale gas development has significant environmental problems,such as huge consumption of both land and water resources,water pollution risk of hydraulic fracturing,leakage risk of shale gas and so on. At present,environmental impact assessment of shale gas development in China has been conducted based on the Technical Guideline for Environmental Impact Assessment——Constructional Project of Petroleum and Natural Gas Development on Land which lacks clear guidance on selection and quantitative analysis of pollution factors. In this paper,based on the experience of shale gas development in America,special environmental problems that need to be noticed for shale gas development were summarized,and the supplement to the technical guideline for environmental impact assessment of shale gas development was discussed to improve the environmental impact assessment system.
基金Supported by the National Key Technology R&D Program(2012BAC20B1003)the Key National Social Science Fund Project(12&ZD214)the Special Fund Project for the Scientific Research of the Environmental Protection Welfare Industry(201209001)
文摘The planning environmental impact assessment( EIA) of transmission and transformation power grid at levels of 500 and 220 kV had been finished completely in the 13 municipalities of Jiangsu Province by the end of 2012,which played important roles in guiding and planning the following transmission and transformation projects in environmental protection.In this paper,through the detail analysis on the objective and significance of the planning EIA of transmission and transformation power grid,legal basis and planning EIA practices,some suggestions and thinking about the planning EIA of transmission and transformation power grid were put forward.
基金supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada through Industrial Postgraduate Scholarships(NSERC-IPS)Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS)Ontario Power Generation(OPG)
文摘Biochar-based bioenergy production and subsequent land application of biochar can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by fixing atmospheric carbon into the soil for a long period of time. A thorough life cycle assessment of biochar-based bioenergy production and biochar land application in Northwestern Ontario is conducted using Sima Pro Ver. 8.1. The results of energy consumption and potential environmental impact of biochar-based bioenergy production system are compared with those of conventional coal-based system. Results show that biochar land application consumes 4847.61 MJ per tonne dry feedstock more energy than conventional system, but reduces the GHG emissions by 68.19 kg CO2e per tonne of dry feedstock in its life cycle. Biochar land application improves ecosystem quality by 18 %, reduces climate change by15 %, and resource use by 13 % but may adversely impact on human health by increasing disability adjusted life years by 1.7 % if biomass availability is low to medium.Replacing fossil fuel with woody biomass has a positive impact on the environment, as one tonne of dry biomass feedstock when converted to biochar reduces up to 38 kg CO2e with biochar land application despite using more energy. These results will help understand a comprehensive picture of the new interventions in forestry businesses,which are promoting biochar-based bioenergy production.
基金Supported by Zhaoqing Science and Technology Plan Project(2018N001)Special Innovative Project of Guangdong Education Department(Natural Science)(2018KTSCX251)
文摘In this paper,the theory and approach of environmental impact assessment in general land use planning are studied from different aspects.First,starting from the content and concept of general land use planning,the necessity of environmental impact assessment in general land use planning is illustrated.On the basis of its evaluation theories and methodologies,it attempts to establish index system of environmental impact assessment in general land use planning,and point outs that current general land use planning requires public participation.
文摘The environmental impacts are commonly quantified in the EIA studies by rating, ranking and scaling. The National EIA Guidelines, 1993, Nepal provides a guideline to score the impacts in terms of magnitude, extent, and duration. This step is commonly known as impact prediction in the EIA process. The predicted scores are multiplied by the weightage value of the resource;likely to be affected. The application of the weightage transforms the predicted values of the impacts into their “significance”—a concept used in the environmental decision making. In other words the significance value entails assignment of relative judgment values to the impacts. The impacts, thus, can ranked based on their significance. The impact ranking is more useful in evaluating the socio-economic impacts. Unlike air, water and noise quality, which can be assessed against established standards;the socio-economic impacts do not have standard scale and are difficult to rank. Importance weighting of socio-economic impacts are commonly determined by the consensus obtained from the interaction with the local people, agencies, NGOs and experts. The impact ranking in the EIA process is unavoidable, firstly to prioritize the urgent environmental issues and design mitigation measures accordingly and also provide coherent linkages among the issues, and plan monitoring and auditing linkage with the proposed mitigation measures. Furthermore, it also provide strong basis of decision making, and thus facilitate the decision makers. The process of impact prediction, determination of significance and ranking were applied in the EIA of Indrwati-3 Hydroelectric Project, which is one of the successful cases of EIA in Nepal. The authors believe that the impacts predicted and quantified through this method are being focussed to more on the local concerns, since it seeks an active involvement of the local people who are likely to be affected.
