John Bailey

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a process that is used to predict the potential environmental impacts of developments and to identify and prescribe mitigating measures to manage these impacts if and when they occur. The information generated by EIA assists decision-makers responsible for granting or denying development approval. In Western Australia, EIA has become an established component of the Government’s decision-making process, and is administered by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).

The environment is being increasingly thought of as an economic resource not a dispensable luxury. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is widely acknowledged as being a basic tool for the assessment of the environmental implications of development proposals. EIA may also reduce management costs, and the time taken to reach a decision, if implemented at an early stage in project planning. The environment is now firmly on the political agenda in both developed and developing countries and there is a growing realization that procedures, methods and techniques to assess the environmental impacts of projects and developments must be given the same emphasis that economic and technical assessments have received in the past .