Module Code and Title: ENM306 Environmental
Impact Assessment
Programme(s): BSc Environmental
Management
Credit Value: 12
Module
Tutor(s): Jesse
Montes (Coordinator)
GP Sharma
Deki Phuntsho Yonten
Tshering Dolkar
General objective(s) of the module:
This module will provide an introduction to environmental
planning and environmental impact assessment (EIA). Major module components
include goals and approaches to environmental planning, dealing with key environmental
and social issues as well as natural hazards, history and practice of EIA,
tools and methodologies, and case studies. The module strongly emphasizes
physical and social science aspects due to the interdisciplinary nature of the planning
and EIA fields.
Learning outcomes – Upon successful completion of the
module, students will be able to:
- Explain key steps in a project cycle and
apply them to environmental planning.
- Describe the delicate interplay between
natural and human environments.
- Describe key themes and approaches for
environmental planning.
- Explain the idea of EIA – its history,
principles, process, methods and best practices.
- Outline the processes for conducting
EIAs.
- Discuss emerging approaches for EIA.
- Describe the legislative context for EIA
in Bhutan.
- Analyse potential issues and bottlenecks
that can arise with EIAs.
- Explain the role of NEC and other key stakeholders
for EIA in Bhutan.
- Discuss common mechanisms involved in
environmental compliance.
- Conduct a sample EIA.
- Critically evaluate an EIA.
Skills to be developed:
·
Students
should learn how to analyse project/development proposals for key information.
Learning and teaching approaches used:
The module will be
conducted over 15 teaching weeks as follows:
·
3
hrs/wk lecture & discussions.
·
1
hr/wk guest lectures, group discussions, practice EIA analysis, and the
presentation thereof.
·
4
hrs/wk outside of class, on average, for independent study.
·
A
block-day field trip and accompanying field report to an active development
site to conduct a sample EIA.
Assessment:
Semester-End
Examination (SE):40%
Continuous Assessment
(CA): 60%
|
CA
Assessment
|
Weight
|
Assessment
Detail
|
|
Group Project
|
20%
|
Group (3 students) project work on NEC’s eight sectoral
EIA guidelines; EIA will be carried out around college campus. Written report
of 2000 words (10%) and 10 min presentation (5%).
|
|
Quizzes (3 x 5%)
|
15%
|
One verbal quizzes of 5 minutes and two written of 30 min
each.
|
|
Field Report
|
10%
|
Group (3 students) field visit report, 1000 words.
|
|
Midterm Exam
|
15%
|
|
Pre-requisite knowledge: ENM101 Energy
Resources and Materials Management, BDC202 Biodiversity Conservation and
Management II, ENM202 Water Resources Management, ENM203 Agriculture and Land
Management
Subject matter:
I.
Environmental
management
a. Values
b. Historical paradigms
c. Sustainable development
II.
Landscape
planning
a. Characteristics
of landscapes: geology, hydrodynamics, soils, ecology, human settlement
patterns and historical development
b. Scenic and
visual aspects of landscapes: nature and extent of visual impacts and qualities
relating to locations and proposals
c. Health of
landscapes
d. Integrated landscape
planning goals and processes; stakeholder coordination
III.
Environmental
planning
a. Approaches
b. Interdisciplinary
aspects
c. Environmental
evaluation
IV.
Land-use
planning
a. Urban sprawl
& growth management
b. Land-use impacts
c. Bioengineering
& industrial ecology
V.
Emerging
approaches
a. Brief review
of community-based management (covered fully in BDC202)
b. Brief review
of watershed management (covered fully in ENM202)
c. Adaptive
management
i. Key features
ii. Use in
environmental practices
iii. Applications
for specific environmental projects
d. Ecosystem management
VI. Environmental Impact
Assessment
a. Introduction
to EIA
i. Definition, history,
principles
ii. EIA procedures:
screening, scoping, managing impacts, alternatives, implementation, monitoring,
evaluation, modification
b. Public participation
i. Collaborative
planning
ii. Tools for participation
iii. Traditional ecological
knowledge
iv. Participatory
rural appraisal
c. EIA methodologies
i. Checklists
& matrices
ii. Networks
iii. Cost-benefit
analyses
d. EIA in
Bhutan
i. EA Act
(2000) and Regulations (2002)
ii. NEC
iii. Guidelines
& IEE Forms
iv. Review of
IEE applications and EIAs submitted to NEC
e. Strengths
& weaknesses of EIA; case studies
f. Developments
in EIA practice
i. Strategic
Environmental Assessment
ii. Community-Based
Environmental Assessment
VII.
Environmental
compliance
a.
Concept, definition, and
scope
b.
Relationship to
environmental concerns, laws, regulations, standards, permits
c.
Environmental
audit: definition
and purpose
d.
Indicators
and monitoring protocols
e.
Types of
environmental audits: compliance audits and management system audits
f.
Audit tools
and technology
g. Environmental auditing in
Bhutan and region with case studies
Essential Readings:
1. Gilpin, A. (1995).
Environmental Impact Assessment: Cutting Edge for the 21st Century. Cambridge
University Press.
2. Glasson, J.
(2005). Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment. Spon Press UK
3. National
Environment Commission. (2000). Environment Assessment Act 2000 and Regulations
for the Environmental Clearance of Projects from the NEC website.
4. National
Environment Commission. (1999). EIA- Background Document, Sectoral guidelines (full
set). National Environment Commission. Royal Government of Bhutan.
5. Randolph, J.
(2004). Environmental Land Use Planning and Management, Ch. 1-4. Washington:
Island Press.
Additional Readings:
1. Conkin, P.K.
(2007). The State of the Earth Environmental Challenges on the Road to 2100,
University Press of Kentucky, Lexington. USA.
2. Hoban, T.M. (1996). Green Justice: The Environment and
Courts, West view press, Boulder, Colorado.
3. Morris, P
& Therivel, R. (2001). Methods of Environmental Impact Assessment. Spon
Press.UK
4. National
Environment Commission. (1999). Mining and Mineral processing: Bhutanese
Environmental Assessment Sectoral Guidelines, NEC Thimphu.
5. National
Environment Commission. (2004). Environmental Discharge standards 2004, NEC,
Thimphu.
6. National
Environment Commission. (2007). National Environmental Protection Act of Bhutan
2007. Printed at Phama Printing and Publishers.
7. National
Environment Commission. (2002). Regulations for the Environmental Clearance of
Projects and regulation of Strategic Environmental assessment, NEC secretariat,
Thimphu.
8. National
Environment Commission. (2006). Reference manual for Environmental Impact
assessment Training in Bhutan, NEC Publication, Thimphu.
9. Quarrie, J. (1992).
Earth Summit ’92, The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.
Rio de Janiero., Published by the Regency Press, London.
10. Ramachandra, T. V &
Kulkarni. V. (2006) Environmental Management. Capital Publishing Company. New
Delhi
11. Spaling, H. (2003).
Innovation in environmental assessment of community-based projects in
sub-Saharan Africa. The Canadian Geographer (47:2), pp151-168.
12. Tetlow, M. and Hanusch,
M. (2012). Strategic environmental assessment: the state of the art. Impact Assessment
and Project Appraisal (30:1), pp15-
13. Wright, R. T, Boorse, D.F.
(2011). Environmental Science – Towards a Sustainable Future, 11th
Edition, PHI Learning Private Limited, New Delhi.
Date last updated: May 30, 2015