Environmental impact assessment (EIA) refers to the process of evaluating the potential environmental impacts of a project undertaken prior to the granting of approval and implementation of that project.
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is recognized worldwide as a formal ex ante process with specific procedural stages that incorporates consideration of the environment into the design and development of projects. Most countries now have some form of legislation or guidance to set their framework for implementing EIA, with the process also adopted by a range of institutions (Hanna 2005; Lee and George 2000; Shrivastava 2003; Thomas and Elliott 2005), for example, the World Bank. The US National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (CEQ 2011) is generally regarded as the first legislation to codify formal procedures for EIA, and this proved to be the basis and.
