Biodiversity - a GRI Reporting Resource - Global Reporting Initiative

Annex V
Assessing the impact on biodiversity
An environmental assessment gives information
on the impact resulting from specific
activities of the reporting organization and in
this way provides input for reporting.
An environmental assessment is a procedure
that ensures that the environmental
implications of decisions are taken into
account before the decisions are made. The
process involves an analysis of the likely
effects on the environment. The environment
and biodiversity are inextricably linked to
one another, though it appears that environmental
assessments do not automatically
cover all aspects of biodiversity. Many
countries have legislative requirements in
terms of environmental impact assessments.
VARIETY OF ENVIRONMENTAL
ASSESSMENTS
In principle, environmental assessments
can be undertaken for individual projects
such as a dam, motorway, airport, or factory
(‘Environmental Impact Assessment’) or for
plans, programmes, and policies (‘Strategic
Environmental Assessment’). Simultaneously,
environmental assessments can be either
general (applicable to all kinds of industries)
or targeted at a specific branch of industries.
INTEGRATION OF BIODIVERSITY
IN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENTS (EIA)
A better integration of biodiversity-related
considerations in environmental assessments
has received increasing attention over
the last several years. Under the CBD,
voluntary guidelines have been designed
on biodiversity-inclusive Environmental
Impact Assessments (EIA) and Strategic
Environmental Assessment (SEA) 18 .
Environmental Impact Assessment
For the purpose of these guidelines, the
definition of an EIA reads as follows:
“ Environmental impact assessment is a
process of evaluating the likely environmental
impacts of a proposed project or
development, taking into account interrelated
socio-economic, cultural and humanhealth
impacts, both beneficial and adverse.”
Pursuant to the guidelines, the fundamental
components of an EIA are said to involve the
following stages:
a. Screening: to determine which projects
or developments require a full or partial
impact assessment study;
b. Scoping: to identify which potential
impacts are relevant to assess (based on
legislative requirements, international
conventions, expert knowledge, and
public involvement) to identify alternative
solutions that avoid, mitigate,
or compensate adverse impacts on
biodiversity (including the option of
not proceeding with the development,
finding alternative designs or sites
which avoid the impacts, or providing
compensation for adverse impacts),
and to derive terms of reference for the
impact assessment.
c. Assessment and evaluation of impacts
and development of alternatives: to
predict and identify the likely environmental
impacts of a proposed project
or development, including the detailed
elaboration of alternatives.
d. Reporting: the Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) or EIA report, including an
Environmental Management Plan (EMP)
and a non-technical summary.
e. Review: of the EIS, based on the terms
of reference (scoping) and public
participation (including authority).
f. Decision-making: on whether to approve
the project or not, and under what
conditions; and
g. Monitoring, compliance, enforcement,
and environmental auditing: to
monitor whether the predicted impacts
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18] http://www.biodiv.org/doc/publications/imp-bio-eia-and-sea.pdf (English); http://www.biodiv.org/
doc/publications/cbd-ts-26-fr.pdf (French); http://www.biodiv.org/doc/publications/cbd-ts-26-es.pdf
(Spanish)