This document discusses approaches and techniques in environmental management, specifically focusing on resource inventories, assessment methods, and impact assessments such as Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and Social Impact Assessments (SIA). It emphasizes the importance of participatory management and community involvement in environmental planning and decision-making processes, as well as the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of products throughout their life cycle. Additionally, various methodologies for assessing social impacts and the importance of integrating these assessments into planning for sustainable development are highlighted.

1. Key Approaches and Techniques in
Environmental Management
ENVS 503 – Environmental Planning
and Management
INSTR.: R.M. Bajracharya

2. Resource inventories and assessment
• Periodic assessment of the status and changing conditions of the
soil, water, vegetation, biodiversity and related resources
[www.wikipedia.com]
• in·ven·to·ry (nvn-tôr, -tr)n. pl. in·ven·to·ries
– 1. a. A detailed, itemized list, report, or record of things in one's
possession, especially a periodic survey of all goods and materials in
stock.
– b. The process of making such a list, report, or record.
– c. The items listed in such a report or record.
– d. The quantity of goods and materials on hand; stock.
– 2. An evaluation or a survey, as of abilities, assets, or resources.
[www.thefreedictionary.com]
• tr.v. in·ven·to·ried, in·ven·to·ry·ing, in·ven·to·ries 1. To make an
itemized report or record of.
– 2. To include in an itemized report or record.

3. Assessing the status of resources
• Done to know about the condition and availability of
resources
• Can be qualitative or quantitative (or both)
• Distribution of resources – the extent and spacing of
resources (land types, vegetation, water, wildlife,
etc.)
• Density of resources – the amount per unit area (i.e.,
forest stand density)
• Accessibility to resource – depends on factors like
distance from, available technology, infrastructure,
etc.

4. Identifying key issues and priorities
• Inventories and assessment of the status/condition
of resources and environment are the first steps
• Political, economic and/or social policies and factors
determine the issues & priorities to be tackled
• Increasingly, global and international interests are
playing a role in shaping national/local priorities, e.g.
– Climate change
– International trade and economics (globalization)
– REDD+; CDM; carbon trade
– International conventions and treaties
• Maps & matrices can help identify key issues

5. Maps and Remote Sensing Data
• Maps are usually the outcome of resource
inventories and field surveys
• They can incorporate resource status or condition
assessments as well
• These may be prepared in a participatory manner or
using remote sensing data (such as aerial photos or
satellite imagery)
• A useful first step is the participatory approach,
which develops a resource map through community
resource inventories.
• These can be verified and elaborated using RS & GIS

6. Community Resource Inventory
• CRI, is an atlas of the natural, cultural, and economic
resources in a given community.
• Helps educate decision makers and the general public
about what is available in the community, e.g., open
spaces, streams, water quality point discharges, forest
types, wildlife, etc.
• Planning, based on good natural resource information,
guides rational land use decisions, and allows the
community to consider innovative tools for resource
protection & management.
• Sends a clear message about what the community
values, and helps protect the community from
surprises.

7. Impact Assessments
• Commonly conducted for any activity with potential to
impact the environment and humans.
• EIA – used to identify and mitigate (to the extent
practicable) environmental & social impacts of project
prior to decision-making.
• Mandatory for major project in most nations, but differ in
content, detail, adequacy and integrity according to
international standards.
• Aims to predict impacts at an early stage in project
planning & design, propose ways & means to reduce
adverse impacts, mold projects to suit local environments,
and present the predictions & options to decision-makers.

8. Objectives of EIA
• To ensure environmental considerations are explicitly
addressed & incorporated into project design,
development and decision-making process.
• To anticipate & avoid, minimize or offset significant
adverse biophysical & social impacts.
• To protect the productivity & capacity of natural
systems and maintain ecological processes & functions.
• To promote sustainable development with optimization
of resource use and management opportunities.
EIA should be applied during the entire project cycle from
planning to implementation and closure & integrated
with environmental monitoring systems.

9. Basic steps in the EIA process
1. Screening – determine whether or not EIA is needed using
threshold criteria (e.g., land requirement, affected,
visibility/aesthetics, capital investment, etc.)
2. Scoping – defines aims, methods, agencies and time frame for
conducting EIA; established a detailed TOR.
3. Impact assessment – identify & analyze activities of proposed
project; predict significance of impacts to environment &
society (positive & negative).
4. Mitigation – measures to minimize/reduce adverse impacts
and maximize benefits; incorporate into implementation &
management plans.
5. Reporting – clear documenting of predicted impacts,
significance, mitigation measures & address concerns of
interested public and affected communities.

10. Steps in EIA, cont’d.
6. Review of EIA report – by concerned gov’t. body to
assess compliance to TOR, rigour, quality, and
adequacy of the report prior to decision-making.
7. Decision-making – on the basis of EIA findings and
recommendations, the project is accepted for
implementation or rejected (opt for alternatives).
• Other types of impact assessment approaches are
also used. These may be a part of EIA, associated
with it, or of broader scope than EIA. For instance,
LCIA, HIA and SIA are part of or associated with EIA,
while SEA is a broader and policy-level activity.

11. Social Impact Assessment
• "Social impact assessment includes the processes of analyzing,
monitoring and managing the intended and unintended social
consequences, both positive and negative, of planned
interventions (policies, programs, plans, projects) and any social
change processes invoked by those interventions. Its primary
purpose is to bring about a more sustainable and equitable
biophysical and human environment." (
International Association for Impact Assessment).
• SIA overlaps considerably with monitoring and evaluation ; M&E is
carried out after a project or development has gone ahead, to
assess impacts and to see how well its goals were met. Evaluation
is particularly important in the areas of:
– public policy,
– health and education initiatives, and
– international development projects more generally, whether
conducted by governments, international donors, or NGOs.

12. SIA continued
• “Social impacts“ refer to the consequences to human populations
of any public or private actions that alter the ways in which
people live, work, play, relate to one another, organize to meet
their needs and generally cope as members of society; also
includes cultural impacts involving changes to the norms, values,
and beliefs that guide and rationalize perceptions of themselves
and their society. [www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/social_impact_guide.htm]
• Social and biophysical impacts can vary in desirability, ranging
from the desirable to the adverse.
• They also vary in scale [100 or 1000 jobs created; spill 50 or 1000L
of toxic waste].
• Extent & duration of impacts in time and space. Some social
impacts can be of short duration, while others can last a lifetime;
and some communities "return to normal" quite quickly once a
source of disruption is removed, while other do not.

13. • Social impacts can also vary in intensity or severity, a dimension that
is defined differently in different project settings, just as an objective
biophysical impact (e.g., a predicted loss of 500 migratory birds)
might have a minor effect on populations in one area (e.g., Koshi
Tappu), while representing a significant fraction of the remaining
population in another location (e.g., Langtang NP).
• There are differences in the degree to which both type of impacts are
likely to be cumulative, at one extreme, or mutually counter-
balancing, at the other.
• Comparative SIA method may be used to study the course of events
in a community where an environmental change has occurred, and
extrapolate from that analysis what is likely to happen in another
community where a similar development or policy change is planned.
I.e., if we wish to know the probable effects of a proposed project in
location B, one of the best places to start is to assess the effects of a
similar project that has already been completed in location A.
SIA continued

14. Methods of projecting the future key to social assessment
Comparative method
Straight-line trend projects - taking an existing trend and simply projecting the
same range of change into the future
Population multiplier methods - each specified increase in population implies
designated multiples of other variables, e.g. jobs, housing units
Scenarios - (1) logical - imaginations based on construction of hypothetical
futures through a process of mentally modeling the assumptions about the
variables in question; and (2) fitted empirical - similar past cases used to
analyze the present case with experts adjusting the scenario by taking into
account the unique characteristics of the present case
Expert testimony - experts can be asked to present scenarios and assess their
implications
Computer modeling - involving the mathematical formulation of premises and
a process of quantitative weighing of variables
Calculation of "future foregone“ determine what options would be given up
irrevocably as a result of a plan or project (e.g., river recreation and
agricultural land use after the building of a dam).

15. Social impact assessment variables point to measurable change in
human population, communities, and social relationships resulting
from a development project or policy change:
1. Population Characteristics - present population and expected change,
ethnic and racial diversity, and influxes and outflows of temporary
residents as well as the arrival of seasonal or leisure residents.
2. Community and Institutional Structures - size, structure, and level of
organization of local government including linkages to the larger political
systems.
3. Political and Social Resources - distribution of power authority, the
interested and affected publics, and the leadership capability and capacity
within the community or region.
4. Individual and Family Changes - factors which influence the daily life of
the individuals and families, including attitudes, perceptions, family
characteristics and friendship networks.
5. Community Resources - patterns of natural resource and land use; the
availability of housing and community services to include health, police
and fire protection and sanitation facilities.

16. Social Impact Assessment Variables, by Project/Policy Setting (type) and Stage
Project/Policy Stage
Project/Policy
Settings (type)
Planning/Policy
Development
Construction/
Implementation
Operation/
Maintenance
Decommission/
Abandonment
Hazardous
Waste Site
Perceptions of
risk,
health and safety
Influx of
temporary workers
Trust in political
and social
institutions
Alteration in size
of local
government
Industrial
Plant
Formation of
attitudes towards
the project
Change in
community
infrastructure
Change in
employment/
income
characteristics
Change in
employment
equity of
minority groups
Forest Service
to Park Service
Management
Interested and
affected publics
Trust in political
and social
institutions
Influx of
recreation users
Distribution of
power/authority
SOURCE: www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/social_impact_guide.htm

17. Principles for Social Impact Assessment
* Involve the diverse public - Identify and involve all potentially affected groups and
individuals
* Analyze impact equity - Clearly identify who will win and who will lose and emphasize
vulnerability of under-represented groups
* Focus the assessment - Deal with issues and public concerns that really count, not those
that are just easy to count
* Identify methods and assumptions and define significance - Describe how the SIA is
conducted, what assumptions are used and how significance is determined.
* Provide feedback on social impacts to project planners - Identify problems that could be
solved with changes to the proposed action or alternatives.
* Use SIA practitioners - Trained social scientist employing social science methods will provide
the best results.
* Establish monitoring and mitigation programs - Manage uncertainty by monitoring and
mitigating adverse impacts.
* Identify data sources - Use published scientific literature, secondary data and primary data
from the affected area.
* Plan for gaps in data - Evaluate the missing information, and develop a strategy for
proceeding.

18. Participatory Management
• Participatory = involving the local people (community), who are
the beneficiaries of the program/project to actively take part in
planning, decision-making, implementation and monitoring.
• Come up with solutions and reach decisions collaboratively.
• Rapid Rural Appraisal, Participatory Rural Appraisal,
Appreciative Planning & Action, Participatory Action Research.
• PRA evolved from RRA in which outsiders (study team) did the
fact-finding & data collection (on relevant aspects of an issue).
• PRA uses group animation & exercises to facilitate information
sharing, analysis and action among stakeholders; it emphasizes
local knowledge and empowerment of local people.
• Uses semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, key
informant interviews, community mapping, etc.

19. Main Tenets of PRA
• Participation – inputs of the local people essential; indigenous
knowledge, local perceptions, values and needs considered.
• Teamwork – informal interaction, brainstorming and multiple
perspectives; team should be balanced to include with requisite
disciplinary expertise, as well as, diversity of socioeconomic,
cultural, gender and generational representation as appropriate.
• Flexibility – no exact recipe; uses a combination of techniques and
approaches as relevant to a given development context; size, skill
mix of team, time & resources are all variable.
• Optimal ignorance sought – efficiency in terms of time & money,
gather only sufficient information to make necessary
recommendations and decisions.
• Triangulation – for validity & reliability of qualitative data, at least 3
sources must be consulted or techniques used to investigate the
same topics.

20. Focus Group Discussion
• The investigator should have a checklist to ensure required
topics are covered; a predetermined time and place is set.
• May be done in a participatory (researcher is a facilitator) or
non-participatory (researcher actively gathers data) manner.
• No exact rule on number of participants – depends on size of
area and population being studies (3-5 is common).
• Type of participants depends on the study purpose and issues at
hand; may be homogenous or diverse group.
• Can be conducted anywhere – office room, house, public place,
tea shop/café, etc.; generally limit discussion to 2-3 hours.
• Investigator should provide background information on purpose
and mission of the study to the participants.
• Flip cards or noting points in a note book, along with recording
dialogues are often done.

21. SWOT or SWOC Analysis
• Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (or
constraints) of a given project, program or activity.
• Aim is to maximize or promote strengths and opportunities
while minimizing weaknesses and threats.
• Used to critically analyze any development activity or project.
• May be done in a participating or non-participating approach;
i.e., research actively seeks information, or discuss and allow
respondents to analyze and collate the requisite information.
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
THREATS
OPPORTUNITIES
Internal
External
Positive aspects Challenges

22. Life Cycle Assessment
• Also known as life-cycle analysis, eco-balance, and cradle-to-
grave analysis
• A technique to assess environmental impacts associated with
all the stages of a product's life from raw material extraction
through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use,
repair and maintenance, and disposal or recycling.
• LCAs can help avoid a narrow outlook on environmental
concerns [more holistic view]
• The term life cycle refers to the notion that a fair, holistic
assessment requires the assessment of raw-material
production, manufacture, distribution, use and disposal,
including all intervening transportation steps necessary or
caused by the product's existence. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life-
cycle_assessment; www.epa.gov/nrmrl/std/lca/lca.html]

23. LCA, cont’d.
• Life cycle assessments involve:
– Compiling an inventory of relevant energy and material
inputs and environmental releases;
– Evaluating the potential impacts associated with
identified inputs and releases;
– Interpreting the results to help make a more informed
decision.
• The goal of LCA is to compare the full range of
environmental effects assignable to products and
services in order to improve processes, support
policy and provide a sound basis for informed
decisions.

24. Two main types of LCA
• Attributional LCAs seek to establish the burdens associated with
the production and use of a product, or with a specific service or
process, at a point in time (typically the recent past).
• Consequential LCAs seek to identify the environmental
consequences of a decision or a proposed change in a system
under study (oriented to the future), which means that market and
economic implications of a decision may have to be taken into
account.
• Social LCA is a different approach to life cycle thinking intended to
assess social implications or potential impacts. It can be
considered as an approach that is complementary to
environmental LCA.
• The procedures of life cycle assessment (LCA) are part of the
ISO 14000 environmental management standards. GHG product
life cycle assessments can also comply with standards such as PAS
2050 & GHG Protocol Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting
Standard.

25. Four main phases of LCA
1) Defining goal & scoping - explicit
statement of the goal and scope of the
study; sets out context of the study;
explains how and to whom the results are
to be communicated; includes technical
details that guide subsequent work.
Includes:
– the functional unit (what precisely is being
studied & quantifies the service delivered by
the product system), provides reference to
which the inputs and outputs can be related;
basis to compare alternative goods or services;
– the system boundaries;
– any assumptions and limitations;
– the allocation methods used to partition the
environmental load of a process when several
products or functions share the same process;
and
– the impact categories chosen.

26. Four phases of LCA, cont’d.
2) Life cycle inventory (LCI) - inventory of flows from and to nature
for a product system. Inventory flows include inputs of water,
energy, and raw materials, and releases to air, land, and water. A
flow model of the technical system is constructed using data on
inputs and outputs (illustrated using a flow chart).
3) Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) - aimed at evaluating the
significance of potential environmental impacts based on the LCI
flow result; consists of the following mandatory elements:
– selection of impact categories, category indicators, and characterization
models;
– the classification stage, where the inventory parameters are sorted and
assigned to specific impact categories; and
– impact measurement, where the categorized LCI flows are characterized,
using one of many possible LCIA methodologies, into common equivalence
units that are then summed to provide an overall impact category total.

27. 4) Life Cycle Interpretation - systematic technique to identify,
quantify, check, & evaluate information from the results of
the life cycle inventory and/or the life cycle impact
assessment; outcome of the interpretation phase is a set
of conclusions and recommendations for the study.
According to ISO 14040:2006, the interpretation should
include:
– identification of significant issues based on the results of the LCI
and LCIA phases of an LCA;
– evaluation of the study considering completeness, sensitivity and
consistency checks; and
– conclusions, limitations and recommendations.
– Reference test - the best alternative is the one that the LCA
shows to have the least cradle-to-grave environmental negative
impact on land, sea, and air resources.
Four phases of LCA, cont’d.

28. Components of life cycle analysis

29. Inputs and outputs associated with various life cycle stages

30. Raw materials acquisition: all activities required to obtain
raw materials for production. E.g., trees, crops, water,
minerals/ores, coal, oil, gas, wind, solar energy, etc.
Manufacturing: transformation of raw materials and
energy into a product/service. Uses: equipment,
chemicals, metals, non-metals (wood, plastic, rubber,
etc.), energy & fuels; transportation to point of use/sale.
Use/Reuse/Maintenance: all activities conducted during
the operation of the product/service. E.g., operation,
monitoring/testing, fuel/energy consumption, parts
replacement & repair; transport to point of disposal.
Disposal/recycling/waste mgt.: final disposal of product
and material from process – i.e., demolition (if required),
recycling of components, bio-solids mgmt., land-filling.
INPUTS
Raw
Materials
Energy
Human
resources
(Time,
energy)
Waste
stream
OUTPUTS
Gaseous
emissions
Effluents
Solid
wastes
Co-
products
Neutrali-
zed waste
stream
Other
releases
System Boundary

31. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis
• MCDA – useful for strategic decision-making taking into account
several criteria; applicable in a variety of natural resource mgt.
areas. [Montibeller and Franco, 2010]
• Often used when both technical and social aspects of a resource
mgmt. issue need to be explicitly taken into consideration.
• Frequently strategic decisions face considerable risk and
uncertainty, i.e., lack of complete knowledge about the external
environment (“epistemic” uncertainty).
• Another area of uncertainty arises from lack of clear
understanding of organization value policies and objectives.
• Moreover, such decisions are “social representations” with
“psychological and political internal negotiations”.
• Under such circumstances, MCDA, which consists of a number of
methods/approaches for decision support can prove helpful.

32. Common methods for MCDA
• Traditional decision tree approach (example in next unit)
• Value measurement model – numerical scores given to
represent degree of preference of option for each criterion then
aggregated into higher level preference models.
• Goal, aspiration or reference-level model – desirable or
satisfactory levels of achievement determined for each criterion
then options closest to achieving the desires or aspirations are
chosen.
• Outranking model - ‘‘alternative courses of action are compared
pair-wise, for each criterion identify the extent to which a
preference for one over the other can be asserted; aggregation
of preference information across all relevant criteria is done to
establish the strength of evidence favoring selection of one
alternative over another. [Mendoza and Martins, 2006]

33. Decision-making using
traditional decision tree
Decision analysis with
multi-attribute utility
functions

34. [DCLG, 2009]

35. Value tree for objectives of appraisal of transport investments
DCLG, 2009 (London, UK)

36. Key features of MCA - summary
• MCA may involve monetary-based techniques (CBA, Financial, or
Cost-effectiveness analysis); used to identify a single most
preferred option or to rank options for short-listing.
• Establishes preferences by reference to an explicit set of
objectives identified by decision-making body based on
measureable criteria.
• Emphasis on the judgment of the decision making team –
subjectivity is involved; but goes beyond simple CBA.
• MCA cannot, however, show that an action adds more to welfare
than it detracts; i.e., no explicit rational for Pareto improvement,
hence, sometimes “do nothing” could be the preferable option.
• Standard procedure involves a performance matrix; may be done
with or without scoring/weighting, quantitative or qualitative
(direct, linear additive models, analytical hierarcy, or based on
fuzzy sets) [DCLG, 2009 (London, UK)]