Human activity has deep consequences for ecosystems, in most negative cases. Knowing the possible impacts before executing a project can greatly help both to mitigate the negatives and to encourage the positive ones, if any. With this objective, environmental impact studies are compiled and written.
If you want to know more about what an impact on the environment is, What is an environmental impact study And how to do one, keep reading this ecology article.
What are environmental impacts
Environmental impacts are defined as the effects or consequences that can generate anthropic activity in ecosystems in particular and in the environment in general. Virtually any activity has some kind of effect, from the large mining or agricultural companies that modify vast surfaces of territory to hikers who walk quietly along a path.
Now, not all environmental impacts are the same, as we will see next.
Types of environmental impacts
On the one hand, the impacts on the environment vary in intensity: depending on the degree of activity, their nature or how they are organized they can generate a greater or lesser impact. It is not the same to compact the ground with your footsteps than to compact the ground to build a football stadium.
On the other hand, we cannot ensure that the impacts are negative in all cases. Thus, we distinguish two Types of environmental impacts:
- Negative environmental impacts: They are considered to have a pernicious effect on the environment. They are the vast majority.
- Positive environmental impacts: They have a beneficial effect on the environment. For example, some companies committed to the environment are beginning to protect forests as a measure of compensation for CO2 generation, which has added value.
This distinction is not always so clear. A paradigmatic example would be the artificial lagoons in the southeast zone of Madrid (Spain). The extraction of aggregates in this area was very intense during the second half of the last century, so much that the waterproof level was exceeded, so some of the rafts that left were flooded. Now areas of high ecological value are considered, since they house a wide variety of flora and fauna and have become rest areas of migratory birds. What in principle was a clear example of overexploitation, over time it has become a high value place.
On the contrary, forest repopulations in areas such as Galicia, which were made with very rapid growth (eucalyptus) but not native, have led to a loss of ecological value in the area.
They are distinguished more classifications of environmental impacts:
- Temporal and permanent.
- Simple, cumulative or synergistic.
- Recoverable or unrecoverable.
- Reversible or irreversible
- Newspapers or irregular.
- Continuous or discontinuous.
Thus, we have environmental impacts, but in some cases evaluating them correctly requires a very large effort. To organize this task, we have studies and environmental impact statements.
In this other ecology article, we talk more about what is negative and positive environmental impact with examples.
What is an environmental impact study
An environmental impact study (in Spain is known as EIA, or “Environmental Impact Assessment“) It consists of the evaluation of a project to determine its possible environmental impacts in its environment. It is in itself a technical, objective and multidisciplinary study. In many cases this study prior to the project is a legal requirement to be able to carry it out, and it will be the public administration who from it, among other requirements, accept it, reject it or decide to modify it.
These are the parts of an environmental impact study that we can generally find, although there may be any less or include others, without prejudice to adding others that are considered necessary:
- General description of the project: its location, its objectives, a detailed study of the activities, consumption of materials, occupied soil, etc. is included.
- Exhibition of alternatives: It is required to study several alternatives in terms of materials, processes, etc. It is also obliged to consider not carrying out the project.
- Environmental inventory: natural spaces, human health, biodiversity, geodiversity, soil and subsoil, air, water, climatic factors, etc.
- Possible effects and assessment of the impacts: evaluation, assessment and quantification of the direct or indirect effects of foreseeable activities.
- Preventive and Corrective Measures.
- Surveillance and Environmental Monitoring Program.
- Summary of the study and conclusions.
How to make an environmental impact study – Simple example
At the time of do an environmental impact study Great complications usually arise, especially when projects that usually require these studies include great works. However, we are going to explain a simple example to finish understanding: a bar near a natural place.
- General description of the project: Establishment of provision and drinking and food service.
- Exhibition of alternatives: the project is justified to publicize the protected area. Alternatives such as the construction of solar panels and the use of compostable containers have been studied.
- Environmental inventory: nearby natural space, water and electricity consumption, generation of non -hazardous waste, noise emission, land use.
- Possible effects and assessment of impacts: Once the impacts have been mitigated, the most pernicious effects would probably be water and water consumption.
- Preventive and corrective measures: closely related to alternatives. For example, to prevent compostable waste from reaching the natural place, bins can be installed near the enclosure.
- Surveillance and environmental monitoring program: The emptying and maintenance of bins and control of noise and water expenditure will be included.
- Summary of the study and conclusions.
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