The document discusses environmental impact assessments (EIA) in Malaysia. It describes the purpose and legal requirements of EIAs, which were introduced in 1987 to identify and mitigate environmental impacts of development projects. The key aspects of the EIA process in Malaysia are: 1) Projects are screened to determine if an EIA is required based on their potential environmental impacts. 2) The scoping process identifies which issues and impacts the EIA will address. 3) EIAs involve assessing alternatives, environmental baselines, impacts, and mitigation measures. 4) Completed EIA reports are submitted for review and must include opportunities for public consultation.

1. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENTS (EIA)
Week 13

2. LEARNING OUTCOME
•Describe the purpose and role of EIA in the decision-making
process;
•understand the strengths of EIA in regard to environmental
management;
•understand the technical and social/political limitations of EIA;
•understand the scoping process and how it is applied;
•know the format of an EIA Report

3. LOOK AROUND

4. EIA :INTRODUCTION
•DOE was formed as a result of the section 34A:EQA
1974
•The emphasis was on control of pollution and
taking remedial action
•1970’s and 1980’s: agro based: palm oil and rubber
wastes
•1987:EIA was introduced for preventive control

5. WHAT IS EIA?
EIA is a study to identify, predict, evaluate and
communicate information about the impacts
on the environment of a proposed project and to
detail out the mitigating measures prior to project
approval and implementation.( DOE,Malaysia)

6. LEGAL REQUIREMENT IN MALAYSIA
•In Malaysia, EIA is required under section 34A, Environmental Quality Act, 1974 ,
which specifies the legal requirements in respect of EIA for Prescribed Activities.
•It empowers the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment after due
consultation, to prescribe any activity which may have significant environmental
impact as a Prescribed Activity.
•The section further requires the Project Proponent of a Prescribed Activity to
submit a report (the EIA) to the Director General of Environmental Quality before
approval for the proposed activity is granted by the relevant approving authority.
•The EIA report must be in accordance with the guidelines issued by the DOE
contain an assessment of the impact of the Prescribed Activity on the
environment; and detail the proposed measures that shall be instituted to prevent,
reduce or control adverse impacts on the environment

7. WHO CAN CONDUCT EIA STUDY?
•An EIA Study has to be conducted by
competent individuals who are registered with
the Department of Environment under the EIA
Consultant Registration Scheme.

8. How To Conduct EIA?
•In the preparation of EIA reports, project proponents
and EIA consultants may refer to A Handbook of
Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines
(fourth edition) 2007 and EIA Guidelines for specific
activities published by the Department of Environment
and other relevant guidelines published by other
agencies

9. WHY DO WE NEED EIA?
•EIA is essentially a planning mechanism for preventing
environmental problems due to an action.
•It ensures that the potential problems are foreseen and addressed
at an early stage in the project planning and design.
•Thus this will avoid costly mistakes in project implementation, either
because of the environmental damages that are likely to arise
during project implementation, or because of modifications that may
be required subsequently in order to make the action
environmentally acceptable
•EIA when integrated into the existing planning and decision-making
structure, provides additional information towards a better decision-
making.

10. GENERIC LIMITATION OF EIA
•EIA occurs at the project level, not the policy program level
•EIA is typically done after feasibility studies and preliminary
decisions are made.
•The EIA is then and ‘add-on’ to meet legal requirements, and
serves largely to suggest mitigation measures for a project
already selected, rather than an opportunity to come up with
optimal project.

11. •Environmental values which have not or cannot be monetized
may fall through the cracks
•Consultation with public does not necessarily require a full
inclusion of all relevant stake-holders
•Social equity considerations are typically outside the scope of
EIA
•Although EIA occur before the project decision, they should also
be used AFTER the decision to help ensure robust
environmental monitoring and management throughout project
life but this id not done.

12. EIA:SCOPE
•Before initiating environmental studies, an agency determines
scopes of issues to be addressed in the EIS.
•If preliminary studies determines that significant environment
impacts are likely, the appropriate agency must prepare the EIS.
•Agency identifies individual citizens, interest groups, institutions
likely to be interested.
•Scoping also involves synchronizing environmental studies and
decision making time table.

13. EIA: COMPONENTS
•Statement of purpose
•Scoping
•Alternatives, including proposed action
•Environmental impact of each alternative
•Mitigation measures
•Consultation and coordination
•List of papers

14. EIA:AIM
•To assess the overall impact on the
environment of development projects proposed
by the public and private sectors.

15. EIA:OBJECTIVES
•To examine and select the best from the project options
available
•To identify and incorporate into the project plan appropriate
abatement and mitigating measures.
•To predict significant residual environmental impacts
•To determine the significant residual environmental impacts
predicted, and to identify the environmental costs and benefits of
the project to the community.

16. THE EIA DIRECTIVE
•The EIA should identify, describe and assess the
direct and indirect effects of a project on the following
factors:
o human beings, fauna and flora
o soil, water, air, climate and the landscape
o material assets and cultural heritage
o the interaction between the above factors
•EIA should therefore have a strong social dimension

17. Screening (does the project
require EIA?)
Scoping (what issues and
impacts should the EIA address?)
Baseline studies (establish the
environmental baseline)
Alternatives (consider the
different approaches)
Mitigation (what can be done to
alleviate negative impacts?)
EIS preparation/review
(document the EIA findings)
Public consultation (consult
general public and NGOs)
Monitoring (monitor impacts of
project)
Impact prediction (forecast
the environmental impacts)
Impact assessment
(interpreting the impacts)

18. SCREENING
•Is an EIA needed?
•A screening mechanism seeks to identify those
projects with potentially significant adverse
environmental effects

19. SCOPING
•The scope of an EIA is the issues and impacts it addresses
•Scoping is the process of deciding which of a project’s
possible alternatives and impacts should be addressed in
the EIA
•An EIA should focus only on the significant issues and
impacts

20. SCOPING
•Scoping is carried out in discussions between the
developer, the competent authority, relevant agencies
and, ideally, the public
•Effective scoping enables limited resources to be
allocated to best effect (i.e. through investigation of
only the most significant impacts)
•Scoping is not mandatory under the EIA Directive

21. BASELINE STUDIES
•Following the scoping phase, it is essential to
assemble all the relevant information on the current
status of the environment
•The baseline study should anticipate the future state of
the environment assuming the project is not
undertaken - the ‘no action alternative’
•This provides the ‘baseline’ against which future
impacts can be assessed

22. BASELINE STUDIES
•Baseline studies should be undertaken for each
alternative site so that the relative severity of the
impacts for each alternative can be assessed
•New field work may necessary (e.g. ecological survey)
if relevant data is not already available

23. ALTERNATIVES
•EIA is ideally undertaken for a project and its alternatives (e.g.
different locations, scales, designs)
•Alternatives are the ‘raw material’ of EIA
•The US Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has described
the discussion of alternatives as the ‘heart’ of the EIS
•Many EISs fail to consider alternatives

24. IMPACT ASSESSMENT
•Impact assessment involves evaluating the significance of the
impacts identified
•Significance can be determined through professional judgment,
reference to regulations etc.
•Potential for bias in determining what is significant
•The conclusions of the impact assessment can ultimately be
used by decision-makers when determining the fate of the
project application

25. MITIGATION
•Negative impacts on the environment identified during the EIA
can be alleviated through mitigation measures
•The mitigation hierarchy: Avoid - Reduce - Remedy -
Compensate - Enhance
•Impacts remaining after mitigation are known as residual
impacts
•The legislation obstructs the proper process of design
development

26. EIS PREPARATION / REVIEW
•The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is a formal
document which includes information on the development and
information relating to screening, scoping, baseline studies,
alternatives etc.
•Common requirement to include a non-technical summary

27. EIS PREPARATION / REVIEW
•Once complete, the EIS is submitted to the competent authority
(along with the planning application)
•The EIS is often reviewed (either formally or informally)
•The review enables the competent authority to decide whether
the EIA is adequate, accurate and unbiased

28. PUBLIC CONSULTATION
•The EIA Directive provides for public consultation on
the application for development and the EIS

29. POST-PROJECT MONITORING
•Monitoring should determine:
o the accuracy of the original predictions
o the degree of deviation from the predictions
o the possible reasons for any deviations
o the extent to which mitigation measures have achieved their
objectives

30. MALAYSIA EIA PROCEDURE
•The EIA procedure in Malaysia has been designed to follow the
integrated project planning concept so that EIA is carried out at
the pre-feasibility and feasibility stages.
•Comparable to the National Environmental Policy Act
1969(NEPA) model in US

31. EIA: PROCEDURES

32. EIA: PROCEDURES
•Preliminary assessments of all prescribed activities
•Detailed assessments of those prescribed activities for
which significant residual environmental impacts have
been predicted in the preliminary assessments
•Review of assessment reports

33. EIA: Steps- Preliminary Assessments
•Objectives
To examine and select the best from the project
options available
To identify and incorporate into the project plan
appropiate abatement and mitigating measures
To identify significant residual environmental
impacts

34. EIA: STEPS-DETAILED ASSESSMENTS
•Objectives
To describe the significant residual environmental
impacts predicted from the final project plan
To specify mitigating and abatement measures in
the final project plan
To identify the environmental costs and benefits of
the project to the community

35. AIR QUALITY
•Looking for
oOxides of nitrogen (NOx)
oOxides of sulphur (SOx)
oOzone O3
oParticulates PM10 and now
PM2.5
oDioxins and Furans for
Incinerators
oParticulates (dust)
oOdour

36. AIR QUALITY
•No legal standards
•Most projects have very limited impact
•Dioxins and Furans have become significant concerns
since the extremely low levels could be measured

37. FORESTRY AND AGRICULTURE
•Classification of land (Grade 1, 2, 3)
•Severance and viability
•Orphaning of land parcels
•Isolating buildings from fields etc
•Opportunities for landscaping on isolated pieces of land

38. WATER QUALITY
•Aquifer protection zones
•River designations
•Ecology impacts
•Hazard assessment from spills etc

39. LANDSCAPE AND VISUAL
AMENITY
•Visual assessment
•Site categorisation ( Conservation area)
•Inter visibility plots
•Landscape description
•Landscape value
•Opportunities for landscaping

40. HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY
•Site categorization (World Heritage
Site, Conservation Area)
•Locally important buildings without
designation
•English Heritage
•National Trust
•County Archaeologist

41. ECOLOGY
•Assessment of ecological value
•Site categorisation
•Inventory of flora and fauna
•Rare species
•Protected species
•Impact of severance, disruption etc
•English Nature, Wildlife Trusts etc

42. GEOLOGY AND SOILS
•Assessment of geological value
•Site protection

43. TRAFFIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT
•Traffic flows generally on roads
•Cars, taxis, trucks, buses, cycles
•Pedestrian journeys
•Public/private transport split
•Congestion/traffic management
•Proposed mitigation measures

44. SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT
•Currently part of EIA
•Should be the over-arching process
•No current guidelines

45. CONSTRUCTION IMPACTS
•Traffic movements
•Dust
•Mud
•Social impacts itinerant workers
•Business generation
•Spoil heaps
•Contamination of rivers & streams

46. CONSTRUCTION IMPACTS
•Light pollution
•Noise
•Vibration of piling plant
•Materials stockpiles
•Construction sites

47. EIA: ISSUES AND PROBLEM
•Lack of awareness of the strength of EIA as a planning tool.
Many still perceive EIA as a stumbling block to development.
•Perception that carrying out EIA would delay project approval
and implementation
•EIA not carried out prior to final project design, so that issues
such as sitting and technology are not considered.
•Lack of baseline data on environmental quality
•Poor prediction of impacts
•Limitation public participation

48. EIA:CASE STUDY- BERIS DAM,KEDAH
•Title: Dam Project: Environmental Impacts and
mitigation Measures: A case of Beris Dam,
Kedah,Malaysia
•Purpose: To alleviate water shortage problems meting
the demands for the agricultural, domestic and
industrial needs

49. EIA:CASE STUDY-PRE-CONSTRUCTION
•There are various steps necessary to be taken during the
planning and site preparation.
•This include: providing sufficient buffer zones between a road
reserves and the project area and maintaining as far as possible
the natural topography of the project area.
•In an EIA report, it is required at this stage to prepare scheduled
earthworks in such a way that rainy seasons are avoided.
•Detailed earthworks plan shall be paved before the start of any
construction

50. •For site preparation prior to actual construction, any cleared
areas must be turned immediately. Cutting of trees should be
reduced to a minimum and only areas designated for
construction of building, roads or any other infrastructures shall
be cleared.
•Temporary sanitary facilities shall ne provided in the worker’s
camp.
•The ground conditions as described in the EIA is usually very
brief and further investigations are required to ascertain the sites
especially if the land use of the areas are known as former
industrial area or dumping sites.
•Studies on the state of the health of the site should be carried
out.

51. EIA:CASE STUDY-DURING CONSTRUCTION
•During construction, the disposal of construction wastes must be
removed within the project area and the open burning should not
be carried out.
•Noise level at the boundary of the construction site shall be
controlled as not exceed 55 dBA at night and 65 dBA during the
day.
•Silt trap shall be followed to minimized the impacts to river
quality.
•Vehicles and machineries used for transportation of construction
materials shall be cleaned before leaving the construction sites.

52. EIA:CASE STUDY- POST-CONSTRUCTION
•The period just before handing over and years beyond
require certain aspects of environmental management.
•The construction wastes and debris have to be
disposed at approved sites.
•Monitoring for river quality downstream of the site has
to be carried out if stated by the EIA report.

53. THANK YOU