Evaluation of the Environmental impact of Development Projects
As far as one is aware, this is a long overdue topic that has sadly been neglected with disastrous consequences. Two of the best known examples of this are:
• Under the Soviet regime, damming Amu-Darya river to procure water for the cultivation of cotton and cereals led to the Aral Sea disaster that resulted in a dramatic reduction of that body of water and the salination and dessertification of a vast area which previously supported a large pastoral community for centuries.
• Directed by democracies of a sort, ‘Green Revolution’ implemented in Mexico and Pakistan among others, resulted in salination of semi-arid but previously arable areas; this was owing to the introduction of chemical-intensive cultivation of wheat as practiced in the USA where the climatic conditions were not comparable. Ironically enough, the innovator of the procedure, ‘Father of the Green Revolution’ received Nobel prize!
It would be irresponsible to overlook the resistance the commercial interests involved in projects did and shall continue to exert against the incorporation of environmental impact in the evaluation of every action connected with development. The outcry against the Maipo Valley development project in Chile should be a salutary example here.
After this somewhat gloomy preamble, it is necessary to unify two aspects of environmental impact that are unjustifiably taken separately, viz., environmental impact and climate change. Climate change has two origins; first, periodic changes in the configuration of the solar system relative to earth and variations in solar activity which are beyond human intervention. Secondly, impact of human activities on the environment which have an adverse effect on the availability of ecosystem services.
These ecosystem services are:
• A salubrious climate; whether the climate of an area is salubrious or not is determined by those who are indegenous to the locale. Having said that, it is indisputable that the world’s glaciers have been retracting for more than 70 years and average local temperatures have risen.
• Soil fertility; requires the equilibrium between the use and the return of soil nutrients.
• Availability of potable water; depends on the facility with which water cycle takes place.
• An adequate presence of pollinators and other beneficial animals.
• An adequate presence of indigenous flora and fauna which prevents the predominance of undesirable local or foreign plant and animal species. Failure here entails an increase in weeds and the increased use of biocides whose consequences are highly undesirable.
This list is not claimed to be exhaustive, and its purpose is to identify some of the reasons for including the evaluation of environmental impact of every development project. Here, one runs into two difficulties:
• What constitutes measurable indicators of environmental impact?
• Does what constitutes measurable indicators of environmental impact is the same for every project?
Obviously, measuring the reductions in local ecosystem services such as temperature, rainfall, or the degree of soil salination etc., after the completion of a project would be only of academic interest to the local inhabitants. Therefore, an evaluation of the environmental impact of a project should be always undertaken before its implementation. Having thus established the reason for pre-project evaluation of environmental impact, it is necessary to identify the potential indicators of negative environmental impact.
These fall into the following distinct but logically linked categories:
• Equilibrium between the use and return of ecosystem services provided by a given physical environment.
• This equilibrium depends on two logically inseperable factors:
• Stability of the physical features of an area; these include its geography, geology, atmosphere, water ways, lakes, hills mountains, roads, buildings etc.
• Equilibrium between its flora and fauna; this has two dimensions viz., its biodiversity and the optimal population of each of the species in the area. No species is exempt from this requirement.
Other things being equal, the stability of the physical features of an area depends on the equilibrium between the flora and fauna of that area. For instance, the consequences of denudation of hill sides by human agency results in silting up of rivers and floods. Moreover, the resultant loss of green cover brings about a drastic change in the mechanism of heat exchange between the ground and space. Deprived of its green cover, ground absorbs more heat from the sun which is released back slowly, thereby increasing the local temperature. Further, loss of water from the heated ground interferes with the local water cycle, not to mention the generation of dust rendering the area susceptible to wind erosion.
In this instance, fauna i.e., man displays no equilibrium between himself and the flora, for his action is not sustainable. A sustainable action uses an ecosystem service, here it is timber, which is not returned through selected harvesting and replanting. It would be tedious to list many more of such greed/ignorance driven actions, but the reader may easily identify a vast number of them. For the present purpose, it would be sufficient to identify some of the critical indicators of adverse environmental impact.
In order to pre-empt certain trivial objections, it is necessary to point out that natural disasters like volcanic erruptions, earthquakes, storms and tidal waves do cause serious environmental damage, but earth’s resilience enables it to recover from them; unfortunately, this resilience is much undermined by thoughtless human activities and excessive population.
Another challenge is to establish justifiable base-lines for a set of suitable indicators. This is because some important basic knowledge is simply not available, and the competence required to generate them on an ad hoc basis is lacking in every country irrespective of its standard of education or wealth. This will become clear as one proceeds.
To sum up the critical points that have emerged, the stability of the purely physical environment of a given area depends to a large measure, on the equilibrium between the flora and fauna endemic to it. Of course, the latter often may undermine it to a certain degree, for example, tree roots loosening hillsides and animal burrows collapsing riverbanks. But, the resilience of the whole is often sufficient to mitigate the ill effects of such events.
Meanwhile, human interventions often bring about destabilisation of the physical environment of such magnitude, it becomes impossible to mitigate its adverse effects on the environment and making good the resultant loss of ecosystem services of an area. Consider the effects connected with the Aral Sea disaster. Thus, indicators of adverse environmental consequences may be placed in two categories:
• Human interventions that directly impact only on the stability of the purely physical environment. It ought to be noted however, that they may affect the areas biosphere as well in an indirect way. This separation is made simply for the sake of clarity. Eg. Emission of green-house gases by factories, vehicles etc.
• Actions which destabilise the physical environment and the equilibrium between it and its flora and fauna. Eg. Deforestation of hillsides and erection of buildings that adversely interferes with the heat exchange between the ground and space.
• Undertakings that disturbs the equilibrium between the flora and fauna of an area. Eg. Use of biocides and the introduction of foreign species.
Before one can get to specific indicators, it is essential to acquire certain basic information on the existing physical environment and its biosphere. Unfortunately, neither of these are easy to come by in spite of the much vaunted capacity of miraculous latest technology with a dash of AI stirred into it. Indeed, the current physical geography and geology may be ascertained by such means, but the difficulty is that their current status is often too degraded by previous activities hence its use as a base-line may be misleading. Data on previous average rainfall, temperature and atmospheric constituents is not always available. Thus, one is compelled to resort to an ad hoc standard here.
As for reliable surveys of previous flora and fauna of an area, matter is even more problematic. Such information is often patchy or non-existent. Even making a survey of present fauna and flora of an area seems to be extremely difficult. One has consulted many graduates of biology in affluent and less affluent countries only to find that while they knew much about plant and animal genetics and molecular biology, they failed to identify even the commonest species extent in their own area.
Therefore, one is left with only one alternative to overcome these challenges. It involves using what is known to bring about the above three types of change as the indicators of actions that entail adverse environmental impact. This proposal may not be the best, but, under the circumstances, it may go some way to avert another Aral Sea disaster or the aftermath of another green revolution that is certain to turn mud brown.
As noted previously, what is indicated is a stringent pre-project evaluation before it is too late. It would consist of the following steps, expanded or skipped over with reference to their relevance to a given development project:
• Determine which of the three above categories of adverse environmental change the proposed project is likely to entail. For example, a factory or a power plant on a barren ground would imply an increased emission of green-house gases. Here, the evaluator may request the project planners to consider a more benign alternative.
• Infra-structural improvements inevitably involve destabilisation of the physical environment and loss of flora and fauna. Mitigation of this would require two-fold strategy; first, seek the least harmful alternative, for instance, in transport, give priority to water, rail and road transport. Secondly, planting indigenous trees/shrubs/bushes by the banksrailways and roads, and their nurturing and follow-up would somewhat mitigate the negative impact on the environment. Depending on the terrain, it may repay to dig trenches parallel to its contour lines to counteract the resultant loss of water retention in the area.
• Agriculture and attempts at environmental regeneration do frequently disturb the equilibrium between the local flora and fauna. In agriculture, this is unavoidable, but recommendation of agro-ecological methods and multi-culture go some way to lessen the negative consequences of present traditional mode of food production. In regenerating degraded environment, reject the introduction of foreign species which has already done more harm than good. Rapid growth is not a viable way of environmental regeneration. It is vital that the new plantations are nurtured for at least 5 years and then followed up for another 5 years.
It may be objected that no specific set of indicators has been proposed here. This is quite true, but the fact remains that it is impossible to set forth a universally applicable set of relevant indicators. Here, the evaluator has been offered a few guidelines; ascertain which category of adverse effects on environment a project may bring about. To do this effectively, the evaluator must study both the project proposal and the area where it is to be implemented. On considering the target area, the evaluator may need the support of local expertise, which may frequently be anecdotal. Beware of highly qualified expert opinion from sources that have never been to the target area.
After this, the evaluator would be able to identify what adverse effects the proposed project could have on the environment and propose some adequate means of their mitigation. He would have no choice in the matter, for in addition to the three types of adverse change, variations in the physical environment of target areas is legion. One’s success here solely depends on one’s analytical ability honed by experience.
RE: How are development projects affecting the environment and how do we evaluate this impact?
Dear members!
Evaluation of the Environmental impact of Development Projects
As far as one is aware, this is a long overdue topic that has sadly been neglected with disastrous consequences. Two of the best known examples of this are:
• Under the Soviet regime, damming Amu-Darya river to procure water for the cultivation of cotton and cereals led to the Aral Sea disaster that resulted in a dramatic reduction of that body of water and the salination and dessertification of a vast area which previously supported a large pastoral community for centuries.
• Directed by democracies of a sort, ‘Green Revolution’ implemented in Mexico and Pakistan among others, resulted in salination of semi-arid but previously arable areas; this was owing to the introduction of chemical-intensive cultivation of wheat as practiced in the USA where the climatic conditions were not comparable. Ironically enough, the innovator of the procedure, ‘Father of the Green Revolution’ received Nobel prize!
It would be irresponsible to overlook the resistance the commercial interests involved in projects did and shall continue to exert against the incorporation of environmental impact in the evaluation of every action connected with development. The outcry against the Maipo Valley development project in Chile should be a salutary example here.
After this somewhat gloomy preamble, it is necessary to unify two aspects of environmental impact that are unjustifiably taken separately, viz., environmental impact and climate change. Climate change has two origins; first, periodic changes in the configuration of the solar system relative to earth and variations in solar activity which are beyond human intervention. Secondly, impact of human activities on the environment which have an adverse effect on the availability of ecosystem services.
These ecosystem services are:
• A salubrious climate; whether the climate of an area is salubrious or not is determined by those who are indegenous to the locale. Having said that, it is indisputable that the world’s glaciers have been retracting for more than 70 years and average local temperatures have risen.
• Soil fertility; requires the equilibrium between the use and the return of soil nutrients.
• Availability of potable water; depends on the facility with which water cycle takes place.
• An adequate presence of pollinators and other beneficial animals.
• An adequate presence of indigenous flora and fauna which prevents the predominance of undesirable local or foreign plant and animal species. Failure here entails an increase in weeds and the increased use of biocides whose consequences are highly undesirable.
This list is not claimed to be exhaustive, and its purpose is to identify some of the reasons for including the evaluation of environmental impact of every development project. Here, one runs into two difficulties:
• What constitutes measurable indicators of environmental impact?
• Does what constitutes measurable indicators of environmental impact is the same for every project?
Obviously, measuring the reductions in local ecosystem services such as temperature, rainfall, or the degree of soil salination etc., after the completion of a project would be only of academic interest to the local inhabitants. Therefore, an evaluation of the environmental impact of a project should be always undertaken before its implementation. Having thus established the reason for pre-project evaluation of environmental impact, it is necessary to identify the potential indicators of negative environmental impact.
These fall into the following distinct but logically linked categories:
• Equilibrium between the use and return of ecosystem services provided by a given physical environment.
• This equilibrium depends on two logically inseperable factors:
• Stability of the physical features of an area; these include its geography, geology, atmosphere, water ways, lakes, hills mountains, roads, buildings etc.
• Equilibrium between its flora and fauna; this has two dimensions viz., its biodiversity and the optimal population of each of the species in the area. No species is exempt from this requirement.
Other things being equal, the stability of the physical features of an area depends on the equilibrium between the flora and fauna of that area. For instance, the consequences of denudation of hill sides by human agency results in silting up of rivers and floods. Moreover, the resultant loss of green cover brings about a drastic change in the mechanism of heat exchange between the ground and space. Deprived of its green cover, ground absorbs more heat from the sun which is released back slowly, thereby increasing the local temperature. Further, loss of water from the heated ground interferes with the local water cycle, not to mention the generation of dust rendering the area susceptible to wind erosion.
In this instance, fauna i.e., man displays no equilibrium between himself and the flora, for his action is not sustainable. A sustainable action uses an ecosystem service, here it is timber, which is not returned through selected harvesting and replanting. It would be tedious to list many more of such greed/ignorance driven actions, but the reader may easily identify a vast number of them. For the present purpose, it would be sufficient to identify some of the critical indicators of adverse environmental impact.
In order to pre-empt certain trivial objections, it is necessary to point out that natural disasters like volcanic erruptions, earthquakes, storms and tidal waves do cause serious environmental damage, but earth’s resilience enables it to recover from them; unfortunately, this resilience is much undermined by thoughtless human activities and excessive population.
Another challenge is to establish justifiable base-lines for a set of suitable indicators. This is because some important basic knowledge is simply not available, and the competence required to generate them on an ad hoc basis is lacking in every country irrespective of its standard of education or wealth. This will become clear as one proceeds.
To sum up the critical points that have emerged, the stability of the purely physical environment of a given area depends to a large measure, on the equilibrium between the flora and fauna endemic to it. Of course, the latter often may undermine it to a certain degree, for example, tree roots loosening hillsides and animal burrows collapsing riverbanks. But, the resilience of the whole is often sufficient to mitigate the ill effects of such events.
Meanwhile, human interventions often bring about destabilisation of the physical environment of such magnitude, it becomes impossible to mitigate its adverse effects on the environment and making good the resultant loss of ecosystem services of an area. Consider the effects connected with the Aral Sea disaster. Thus, indicators of adverse environmental consequences may be placed in two categories:
• Human interventions that directly impact only on the stability of the purely physical environment. It ought to be noted however, that they may affect the areas biosphere as well in an indirect way. This separation is made simply for the sake of clarity. Eg. Emission of green-house gases by factories, vehicles etc.
• Actions which destabilise the physical environment and the equilibrium between it and its flora and fauna. Eg. Deforestation of hillsides and erection of buildings that adversely interferes with the heat exchange between the ground and space.
• Undertakings that disturbs the equilibrium between the flora and fauna of an area. Eg. Use of biocides and the introduction of foreign species.
Before one can get to specific indicators, it is essential to acquire certain basic information on the existing physical environment and its biosphere. Unfortunately, neither of these are easy to come by in spite of the much vaunted capacity of miraculous latest technology with a dash of AI stirred into it. Indeed, the current physical geography and geology may be ascertained by such means, but the difficulty is that their current status is often too degraded by previous activities hence its use as a base-line may be misleading. Data on previous average rainfall, temperature and atmospheric constituents is not always available. Thus, one is compelled to resort to an ad hoc standard here.
As for reliable surveys of previous flora and fauna of an area, matter is even more problematic. Such information is often patchy or non-existent. Even making a survey of present fauna and flora of an area seems to be extremely difficult. One has consulted many graduates of biology in affluent and less affluent countries only to find that while they knew much about plant and animal genetics and molecular biology, they failed to identify even the commonest species extent in their own area.
Therefore, one is left with only one alternative to overcome these challenges. It involves using what is known to bring about the above three types of change as the indicators of actions that entail adverse environmental impact. This proposal may not be the best, but, under the circumstances, it may go some way to avert another Aral Sea disaster or the aftermath of another green revolution that is certain to turn mud brown.
As noted previously, what is indicated is a stringent pre-project evaluation before it is too late. It would consist of the following steps, expanded or skipped over with reference to their relevance to a given development project:
• Determine which of the three above categories of adverse environmental change the proposed project is likely to entail. For example, a factory or a power plant on a barren ground would imply an increased emission of green-house gases. Here, the evaluator may request the project planners to consider a more benign alternative.
• Infra-structural improvements inevitably involve destabilisation of the physical environment and loss of flora and fauna. Mitigation of this would require two-fold strategy; first, seek the least harmful alternative, for instance, in transport, give priority to water, rail and road transport. Secondly, planting indigenous trees/shrubs/bushes by the banksrailways and roads, and their nurturing and follow-up would somewhat mitigate the negative impact on the environment. Depending on the terrain, it may repay to dig trenches parallel to its contour lines to counteract the resultant loss of water retention in the area.
• Agriculture and attempts at environmental regeneration do frequently disturb the equilibrium between the local flora and fauna. In agriculture, this is unavoidable, but recommendation of agro-ecological methods and multi-culture go some way to lessen the negative consequences of present traditional mode of food production. In regenerating degraded environment, reject the introduction of foreign species which has already done more harm than good. Rapid growth is not a viable way of environmental regeneration. It is vital that the new plantations are nurtured for at least 5 years and then followed up for another 5 years.
It may be objected that no specific set of indicators has been proposed here. This is quite true, but the fact remains that it is impossible to set forth a universally applicable set of relevant indicators. Here, the evaluator has been offered a few guidelines; ascertain which category of adverse effects on environment a project may bring about. To do this effectively, the evaluator must study both the project proposal and the area where it is to be implemented. On considering the target area, the evaluator may need the support of local expertise, which may frequently be anecdotal. Beware of highly qualified expert opinion from sources that have never been to the target area.
After this, the evaluator would be able to identify what adverse effects the proposed project could have on the environment and propose some adequate means of their mitigation. He would have no choice in the matter, for in addition to the three types of adverse change, variations in the physical environment of target areas is legion. One’s success here solely depends on one’s analytical ability honed by experience.
Best wishes!
Lal Manavado.