Environmental Impact Assessment: A Guide to Key Factors and Actions

Environmental Impact Assessment

Description of Actions and Their Impacts

The description of actions and their potential environmental impacts will include:

1. Location: Clearly define the geographical location of the proposed action.
2. Environmental Viewpoint: Describe the action from an environmental perspective, considering its potential interactions with the surrounding environment.
3. Relationship of Actions: Outline the relationship between all actions involved, specifically those capable of producing an environmental impact.
4. Materials and Resources: Describe the materials used, earthworks to be undertaken, land occupation, and any other natural resources whose removal is deemed necessary for project execution.
5. Waste and Emissions: Describe the type, quantity, and composition of waste, dumping, emissions, or any other byproducts resulting from the action.

Environmental Inventory

An environmental inventory involves studying the site's conditions and its environmental characteristics before the activity commences. This includes existing land use types, natural resource utilization, and any pre-existing activities in the area.

Types of Environmental Factors

Type A: Factors whose modification directly affects the environment. These are typically listed in environmental legislation.

Type B: Factors whose environmental impact is produced indirectly by disrupting a Type A factor.

Identification and Assessment of Impacts

1. Identification of Significant Effects: Identify and assess the foreseeable significant effects of the proposed actions on environmental issues for each alternative considered.
2. Impact Identification through Interaction Study: Identify environmental impacts resulting from the study of interactions between actions and the specific characteristics of the environmental aspects involved in each case.
3. Impact Characterization: Determine the positive and negative effects, including temporary, permanent, simple, cumulative, and synergistic effects. Consider direct and indirect, reversible and irreversible, recoverable and irrecoverable, regular and irregular, continuous and discontinuous impacts.
4. Impact Severity: Indicate the expected severity of environmental impacts as a result of project execution, classifying them as consistent, moderate, severe, or critical.
5. Impact Estimation: Use quantitative or qualitative indicators, parameters, or generally accepted technical studies to estimate the magnitude of these effects. Establish limits or guidance values based on the different types of impact.
6. Mitigation Measures: When the environmental impact exceeds the allowable limit, implement protective or remedial measures to reduce the impact below the threshold.