Environmental Impact Assessment Studies Research Articles

Baseline Impact Assessment Studies on Flora & Fauna around Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), Goa Zone

This study projected for environmental impact driven by the pharmaceutical activity on regional biological environment quality. This Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study based on one season primary environmental quality data, environmental impact statement based on the identification, prediction, and evaluation of impact. Detailed studies were carried out about biological components of the environment in the study area of 7 km radial distance from Usgaon as a central point. The paper is dealing with, Study of the biological environment includes the topography, the vegetation type and the flora and fauna of the region along with crops for prediction of impacts due to the existing pharmaceutical effluents and bulk drugs at Marvasodo, Usgaon, and Phonda (Goa).

Building a New Urban Highway or Elevating an Old One? Finding Optimum Solution Based on Environmental Impacts

For a sustainable urban expressway development, it is necessary to conduct an EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) study. Expressway development and operation should, therefore, be planned with careful consideration of the environmental impacts. An assessment of an expressway project may include consideration of different routes as distinct alternatives. Thus, evaluating alternatives is an important step of environmental impact assessment. In this paper, some MCDM (Multi Criteria Decision Making) models, were used for assessing alternatives in EIA in earlier studies, reviewed and a hybrid MCDM model proposed to tackle the dependency relations of evaluation criteria with aid of the fuzzy DEMATEL (decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory) method. In next step, the fuzzy DEMATEL method combined with ANP (Analytic Network Process) method to weighting criteria for assessment of alternatives with aid of the fuzzy VIKOR (VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) method. Empirical study results illustrate the proposed model is a workable and reliable tool for evaluating alternatives of environmental impact assessment of urban expressway in order to make results much closer to reality.

Comparative LCA of concrete with natural and recycled coarse aggregate in the New York City area

The purpose of the present study is to compare the environmental impacts of using coarse natural aggregate (NA) and coarse recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) to produce concrete in the New York City area, by means of a unique LCA framework that incorporates comprehensive regional data. A comparative environmental impact assessment study was performed on the critical processes of the life cycles of NA and RCA concretes. For this purpose, concrete ready-mix plants, construction and demolition waste (CDW) recycling plants, NA quarries, and other producers and distributers of concrete raw materials, in addition to CDW landfills in the New York City area, were located. NA and RCA concrete mix proportions that result in the same compressive strength of concrete were used. Also, the environmental impact that would be caused if CDW was landfilled rather than processed into RCA was measured. In the New York City area, replacing NA with RCA as a concrete aggregate does not affect the environmental impact of concrete production significantly. However, if CDW is recycled only for the purpose of producing concrete aggregate, the avoided landfilling of the CDW will be a result of producing RCA concrete. When avoided landfilling is accounted for, the magnitude of some of the environmental impact indicators for RCA concrete is significantly lower than those of NA concrete (16 and 17% for acidification and smog formation, respectively). In addition, it was found that the impact from transporting RCA to ready-mix plants is on average 37% less than that caused by transporting NA to the plants. Sensitivity analyses and normalization of the results revealed that the environmental impact of changing the type of concrete aggregate from NA to RCA is negligible compared to the total environmental burden of New York City. If RCA concrete is used for all types of construction projects in the NYC area, achieving a significant reduction in the environmental impacts is unlikely. Future work is needed to study specific projects in the region that are categorized based on demand for transportation and cement (the largest environmental stressors of concrete production) to determine for which type of project the use of RCA concrete has the highest environmental benefits.

ROLE OF PUBLIC PARTICIPAITON IN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSENT IN THAILAND

An integration of public participation in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) issignificant in terms of its implication for sound decision and a sustainability of development projects.Accordingly, the Thai EIA system provides a public participation process for stakeholders in an assessmentand review of the EIA study process. There are a number of different participatory techniques to facilitatepublic participation. However, in Thailand traditional public participation methods like public hearing ispreferred. The public hearing process in the Thai context, stakeholders including the project proponents andthe opponents are brought together in a forum to express their view points and recommendations for theproposed projects in order to influence the decision-making process. Frequently, this process leads to violentconflict among stakeholders. This study aimed at trying to close the gap between regulators and civilcommunities with respect to public participation in the Thai EIA system. A case study approach was appliedfor this study. The study revealed that appropriate public participation is essential and may lead to enormousbenefits for the proponents and stakeholders. Where public participation is ignored and ineffective conducted,environmental conflicts and problems may be created for project implementation and sustainability.

Performance and evaluation of a coupled prognostic model TAPM over a mountainous complex terrain industrial area

Atmospheric modeling is considered an important tool with several applications such as prediction of air pollution levels, air quality management, and environmental impact assessment studies. Therefore, evaluation studies must be continuously made, in order to improve the accuracy and the approaches of the air quality models. In the present work, an attempt is made to examine the air pollution model (TAPM) efficiency in simulating the surface meteorology, as well as the SO2 concentrations in a mountainous complex terrain industrial area. Three configurations under different circumstances, firstly with default datasets, secondly with data assimilation, and thirdly with updated land use, ran in order to investigate the surface meteorology for a 3-year period (2009–2011) and one configuration applied to predict SO2 concentration levels for the year of 2011.The modeled hourly averaged meteorological and SO2 concentration values were statistically compared with those from five monitoring stations across the domain to evaluate the model’s performance. Statistical measures showed that the surface temperature and relative humidity are predicted well in all three simulations, with index of agreement (IOA) higher than 0.94 and 0.70 correspondingly, in all monitoring sites, while an overprediction of extreme low temperature values is noted, with mountain altitudes to have an important role. However, the results also showed that the model’s performance is related to the configuration regarding the wind. TAPM default dataset predicted better the wind variables in the center of the simulation than in the boundaries, while improvement in the boundary horizontal winds implied the performance of TAPM with updated land use. TAPM assimilation predicted the wind variables fairly good in the whole domain with IOA higher than 0.83 for the wind speed and higher than 0.85 for the horizontal wind components. Finally, the SO2 concentrations were assessed by the model with IOA varied from 0.37 to 0.57, mostly dependent on the grid/monitoring station of the simulated domain. The present study can be used, with relevant adaptations, as a user guideline for future conducting simulations in mountainous complex terrain.

QUANTIFICATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PARAMETERS LEADING TO ECONOMICAL EVALUATION TECHNIQUE FOR CHOOSING THE TREATMENT METHOD FOR SMALL VILLAGES IN EGYPT.

The sanitation situation in the remote Villages in the Delta Egypt is becoming not only a huge Environmental crises but also a crucial health problem .The problem lies in the rising of G.W.T due to the old used systems of disposal (bottomless cesspool trench), the waste water is mixing with the G.W.T and causing its rising to the extent that it floods the streets in some cases. One of the solutions that was considered was stabilization ponds, another was Extended Aeration (activated sludge). As new concept the Japanese university introduced Down Hanging sponge as an experienced solution for the task. For many years decision makers for sanitation in Egypt built their decision upon initial cost only, neglecting the other long term costs like running cost and operation and maintenance and other factors affecting the treatment processes. Then when fundamentals of Value Engineering science were introduced, thinking began to change. Now after the development of Environmental Engineering science, other factors that may affect the decision making process, like sustainability, surrounding impact, the assessment, manipulation of environment. Moreover other social factors were neglected like peoples habits and what effect that could have on them in daily life. Their ability to manage every system in case of decentralization , the contribution of different stake holders that effects the management of every system especially in decentralization , those factors could be essential in any study. This study focuses on these new parameters and to translate them into numerical values to help the decision makers to make a better judgment and to reach the most practical decision needed for sanitation and water treatment in Egypt. The study of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is becoming urgent and more relying on management techniques such as risk analysis , creating weight score matrices for different variables surrounding the Environment of the different treatment plants in each case depending on the location , the cultural habits of inhabitants , Socio economic impact assessment , Sociological impacts , Ethical considerations .

An innovative implementation of LCA within the EIA procedure: Lessons learned from two Wastewater Treatment Plant case studies

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been identified in the literature as a promising tool to increase the performance of environmental assessments at different steps in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure. However, few publications have proposed a methodology for an extensive integration, and none have compared the results with existing EIA conclusions without LCA. This paper proposes a comprehensive operational methodology for implementing an LCA within an EIA. Based on a literature review, we identified four EIA steps that could theoretically benefit from LCA implementation, i.e., (a) the environmental comparison of alternatives, (b) the identification of key impacts, (c) the impact assessment, and (d) the impact of mitigation measures. For each of these steps, an LCA was implemented with specific goal and scope definitions that resulted in a specific set of indicators. This approach has been implemented in two contrasting Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) projects and compared to existing EIA studies. The results showed that the two procedures, i.e., EIAs with or without inputs from LCA, led to different conclusions. The environmental assessments of alternatives and mitigation measures were not carried out in the original studies and showed that other less polluting technologies could have been chosen. Regarding the scoping step, the selected environmental concerns were essentially different. Global impacts such as climate change or natural resource depletion were not taken into account in the original EIA studies. Impacts other than those occurring on the project site (off-site impacts) were not assessed, either. All these impacts can be significant compared to those initially considered. On the other hand, unlike current LCA applications, EIAs usually address natural and technological risks and neighbourhood disturbances such as noises or odours, which are very important for the public acceptability of projects. Regarding the impact assessment, even if the conclusions of the EIAs with or without LCA were partially common for local on-site impacts, LCA gives crucial additional information on global and off-site impacts and highlights the processes responsible for them. Finally, for all EIA steps investigated, interest in LCA was demonstrated for both WWTP case studies. The feasibility in terms of skills, time and cost of such implementation has also been assessed.

Case Study on Quarry Rehabilitation and Land Resettlement in Dimce Quarry

Titan Group’s environmental policy and Sharrcem’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are the driving forces behind the development and implementation of a comprehensive Rehabilitation Plan at Dimce Quarry, which is the main raw material source for Sharrcem Cement Plant since the 1970’s, located in the municipality of Hani i Elezit in Kosovo. Based on an Environmental Impact Assessment Study and the approved Mining Plan and also on the principles prescribed in the Guidelines on Quarry Rehabilitation, released by the Cement Sustainability Initiative of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD-CSI), Sharrcem has adopted a quarry operation and rehabilitation process in line with the best practices in the mining and cement sector. This paper discusses the background for the development of the rehabilitation plan and the results of rehabilitation activities, as have been implemented over the last few years. The main objective of the progressive rehabilitation plan at Dimce Quarry is to restore the depleted pit and return it back to the original land owners for resettlement. To date approx. 3,4Ha of former mining area has been restored by backfilling and levelling of the depleted closed pit and returned back to owners, who have built their houses and turned it into a living area again. This Quarry has turned out to be a real composition and practical example of preserving and returning back the natural resources in a state compatible with the surrounding environment and with respect to the needs of the local stakeholders. The motivation for business to engage in rehabilitation activities in the first place lies in the belief that the development and implementation of a progressive and practical Quarry rehabilitation plan and restitution of the land will deliver significant environmental and social benefits that outweigh the long-term rehabilitation costs, while maintaining the company’s reputation.

Application of WRF Model for Air Quality Modelling and AERMOD - A Survey

ABSTRACTMeteorology plays a crucial role in air quality. The presence of uncertainties of a significant nature in the meteorological profile used during air quality model simulation has the potential to affect negatively the results of the simulations. This paper describes a most recent version of the meteorological model called Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and its importance in air quality. The performance of WRF depends upon the intended application and parameterization scheme of physics options. WRF model is also applied to investigate the simulation results with various land surface models (LSMs) and Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) parameterizations and various set of microphysics options. It predicts various meteorological spatial parameters like mixing layer height, temperature, humidity, rain fall, cloud cover and wind. The WRF results are integrated with air quality model (AQM) and the AQM depends upon the performance of WRF. It has been applied for evaluation of national pollution control policy, behaviour of plume rise, property of aerosols, prediction of Ozone, SO2, NOx, PM10, PM2.5 etc. using AQM for various sources. The effect of topography and different seasons on the concentration of pollutants in the atmosphere has also been studied using AQM. AQM AERMOD has also been reviewed with various other AQM models such as ADMS-Urban and CALPUFF. AERMOD has been used for different time scales, health risk assessment, evaluation of various control strategies, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies and emission factor estimation. This paper presents the importance of meteorological model to AQM as well as many applications of AQM to demonstrate various scientific questions and policies.

Comparative Evaluation of the EIA Systems in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Angola, and the European Union

This article provides a comparative overview of environmental impact assessment (EIA) in Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Angola, and the European Union (EU). EIA “systemic measure” and “foundation measure” criteria are used to evaluate and compare the performance of each system. In contrast to the EU, EIA must be carried out by registered experts in the African countries. In Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa public consultation is mandatory during scoping. In Kenya and Tanzania the EIA study should contain measures to prevent health hazards, to ensure employee safety, and for emergency management. EIA system monitoring is required in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and in the EU, but not in South Africa and Angola. Financial issues, insufficient qualified personnel, and an increasing number of EIA applications undermine the capacity of competent authorities to adequately monitor these EIA systems. Consequently, training programmes increase effectiveness of EIA implementation is a common request. The African countries reviewed here have adopted EIA and integrated EIA systems into public policy despite the constraints they face. As they continue to gain experience in EIA and to revise their EIA systems, they are moving towards a more flexible system with greater public involvement and robust arrangements and practices.

Estimating traffic volume on Wyoming low volume roads using linear and logistic regression methods

Abstract Traffic volume is an important parameter in most transportation planning applications. Low volume roads make up about 69% of road miles in the United States. Estimating traffic on the low volume roads is a cost-effective alternative to taking traffic counts. This is because traditional traffic counts are expensive and impractical for low priority roads. The purpose of this paper is to present the development of two alternative means of cost-effectively estimating traffic volumes for low volume roads in Wyoming and to make recommendations for their implementation. The study methodology involves reviewing existing studies, identifying data sources, and carrying out the model development. The utility of the models developed were then verified by comparing actual traffic volumes to those predicted by the model. The study resulted in two regression models that are inexpensive and easy to implement. The first regression model was a linear regression model that utilized pavement type, access to highways, predominant land use types, and population to estimate traffic volume. In verifying the model, an R2 value of 0.64 and a root mean square error of 73.4% were obtained. The second model was a logistic regression model that identified the level of traffic on roads using five thresholds or levels. The logistic regression model was verified by estimating traffic volume thresholds and determining the percentage of roads that were accurately classified as belonging to the given thresholds. For the five thresholds, the percentage of roads classified correctly ranged from 79% to 88%. In conclusion, the verification of the models indicated both model types to be useful for accurate and cost-effective estimation of traffic volumes for low volume Wyoming roads. The models developed were recommended for use in traffic volume estimations for low volume roads in pavement management and environmental impact assessment studies.

QUALITY REVIEW OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STUDY ON THE DUPLICATION OF A STRETCH OF BR 153 HIGHWAY IN THE STATE OF SÃO PAULO - BRAZIL

The field of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been studied for decades and applied in several countries, including Brazil, since its regimentation in 1986. In this research, EIA study approach focused on the analysis of procedural issues concerning, specifically, the quality of the Environmental Impact Study (EIS). The general objective of this inquiry was to assess the quality of the EIS on the duplication of Transbrasiliana Highway, BR 153, on the stretch of the city of São José do Rio Preto, state of São Paulo - Brazil, identifying its gaps and best practices by means of the application of the European Community checklist created to review environmental impact studies, the Guidance on EIA - EIS Review. This study is qualitative in nature and had its data collected by means of public documents obtained from DNIT (National Traffic Department) and of information available in several websites. The process of data generation occurred through a questionnaire sent to a regional environmental expert. The analysis of the data showed that the referred EIS had gaps especially in areas such as description of the project, mitigation and alternatives - fields whose marks coincide with the ones found in studies done using the same guidelines in countries such as Spain, Portugal and Estonia. Besides, it was possible to identify new information about the project and about environmental impacts through the questionnaire sent to the environmental expert.

Factors influencing separation distances against odour annoyance calculated by Gaussian and Lagrangian dispersion models

Direction-dependent separation distances to avoid odour annoyance, calculated with the Gaussian Austrian Odour Dispersion Model AODM and the Lagrangian particle diffusion model LASAT at two sites, are analysed and compared. The relevant short-term peak odour concentrations are calculated with a stability-dependent peak-to-mean algorithm. The same emission and meteorological data, but model-specific atmospheric stability classes are used. The estimate of atmospheric stability is obtained from three-axis ultrasonic anemometers using the standard deviations of the three wind components and the Obukhov stability parameter. The results are demonstrated for the Austrian villages Reidling and Weissbach with very different topographical surroundings and meteorological conditions. Both the differences in the wind and stability regimes as well as the decrease of the peak-to-mean factors with distance lead to deviations in the separation distances between the two sites. The Lagrangian model, due to its model physics, generally calculates larger separation distances. For worst-case calculations necessary with environmental impact assessment studies, the use of a Lagrangian model is therefore to be preferred over that of a Gaussian model. The study and findings relate to the Austrian odour impact criteria.

Enhancement of chromium uptake in tanning process of goat garment leather using nanocomposite

In the present study, a greener approach to tanning process based on nanocomposite assisted chrome tanning has been attempted. Nanocomposite was offered prior to basic chrome sulfate of chrome tanning process during goat garment making. It was found that the shrinkage temperature of the wet blue tanned by nanocomposite associated with less chrome was above 100 °C and the Cr2O3 content in tanning wastewater of nanocomposite associated with less chrome systerm decreased to 165.6 mg/L which brought about better chromium uptake and reduction of chromium load in the wastewater compared to where the 3% and 8% chrome was offered alone. The mechanical properties of crust treated with nanocomposite were close to those of the crust tanned by 8% chrome and the addition of nanocomposite could endow crust with good handle feeling, filling property and softness. The scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy showed that the grain surface of the crust treated with nanocomposite was flat and smooth. The scanning electron microscopy analysis also indicated that the crust treated with nanocomposite contained well-dispersed fibrils and did not destroy the microstructure of collagen. Additionally, The energy dispersive spectrometer analysis revealed that the nanocomposite associated with less chrome tanning process also afforded uniform distribution of chromium in the leather. More specifically, the significant reduction in biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand in the wastewater and appeared that suspended solid in the effluent when compared to tanning with 3% and 8% chrome alone conventional tanning method were revealed from environmental impact assessment studies. Most importantly, nanocomposite could bring about the enhancement of chrome uptake, resulting in environmental, economic and social positive impacts to accelerate the sustainable development of leather industry.

Public Opinion on the Role of Committees in Environmental Impact Assessment Studies

The objectivity of expert committees working on environmental impact assessment studies is under intense public scrutiny. Citizens are often concerned about the potential impact of planned interventions on people’s health and the environment, which is why constant and stable communication should be maintained between all interested parties. Expert committees are in charge of addressing concerns coming from the public, private, and civil sectors by keeping communication channels open, efficient, and accessible. The importance of public participation in the procedures of environmental impact assessment is constantly growing, and expert committees involved in decision-making processes related to the assessment of environmental impact studies are exposed to increasing pressure from the public, economic, and civil sectors. This paper presents the results of empirical research on the knowledge and opinions of the concerned public in the Republic of Croatia on the role of expert committees in environmental impact assessment studies. The qualitative study was carried out using a purposive sample and the methods of in-depth interview and participant observation. The grounded theory method was used in the analysis of the empirical material and the quantification of the qualitatively processed coded material was carried out with the Statistica software suite (ver 11. 00). Participants were polarised in their opinions. Some of the participants believe that expert committees cannot be neutral as they are appointed by the Ministry. On the other hand, a number have stated that they believe the committees to be professional and neutral, that we should maintain trust in public institutions and that committee members should not be in any way associated with or related to the investors behind a particular project. The majority of participants from the public sector agrees with this positive opinion of the committees as neutral and professional, as does the majority of the economic sector. Participants from the civil sector, on the other hand, have mostly claimed that the committees are not neutral, but are either for or against a project, and that public interest has not been clearly defined in this context.

Discriminant analysis for the prediction of sand mass distribution in a holding pond using deposition thickness model of a single grain-sized particle

Discriminant analysis (DA) was applied to derive the classification function to spatially determine the sand mass distribution in an urban stormwater holding pond, Malaysia, using simulated deposition thickness results of a single grain-sized particle (d50 = 0.375 mm). The upstream boundary lines at the inflow gates of the hydrodynamic model were fixed to three inflow parameter values, 16, 40 and 80 m3 s−1, representing the inflow variations of diverted floodwater into the holding pond during major storm events. The annual mean suspended sediment concentration of approximately 373 mg l−1 at the confluence of the Klang and Ampang Rivers was fixed as input parameter value for the sand deposition model. The simulated deposition thickness of the single grain-sized particle displays a significantly strong correlation with the measured sand mass content of the surface sediment samples at corresponding locations. The surface sediment sampling locations were hierarchically clustered into two groups based on the sand mass composition of the sediment samples. Group one comprises nine sampling locations representing areas of relatively higher sand mass composition ranging from 16.9 to 45.5 %. Group two comprises twenty sampling locations representing areas of relatively lower sand mass composition ranging from 3.7 to 12.2 %. DA was conducted to generate linear combination of the independent variables that will discriminate best between the objects in the groups. Two classification functions also known as Fisher’s linear discriminant functions, F 1 = −6.441 − 125.438 × A + 57.519 × B and F 2 = −1.248 − 53.442 × A + 24.424 × B, were produced to predict group memberships of relatively high and low sand mass composition areas, where A and B denote the simulated deposition thickness results of a single grain-sized particle computed at nodal points of the model domain, generated by an inflow magnitude of 16 and 40 m3 s−1, respectively. The classification of areas which comprises of relatively high and low sand mass composition is based on whichever group (F 1 or F 2) is related to the highest classification score. Classification result indicates that the model correctly predicts 66.7 and 100.0 % of the surface sediment sampling locations consisting of relatively high (group one) and low (group two) sand mass percentage, respectively. The predicted results of the sand mass distribution show that 23.6 % of the model domain area (25.20 m2) at the western bank region consists of a relatively higher sand mass content compared to the remaining 76.4 % comprising areas of lower sand mass content mostly situated at the central and south-eastern regions of the holding pond. The predicted sand mass distribution results can be used implicitly to spatially distinguish the most likely contaminated sediment areas and identify accurately sampling locations of polluted sediment for environmental impact assessment study prior conducting any dredging activities for future maintenance.

A Study of Environmental Impact Assessment on Intrinsic Energy and Full Life Cycle of Typical Energy-Saving Exterior Windows

This paper established a set of localized intrinsic energy and full life-cycle environmental impacts of database for exterior windows. It deeply surveys and analyzes the non-renewable resource consumption (ADP), non-renewable energy consumption (PED), influence of greenhouse effect (GWP), acidification effect (AP), eutrophication (EP) and inhalable inorganics (RI) closely related national energy conservation policy objectives. These lay the foundation for intrinsic energy of buildings. Meanwhile, It discusses contributions of various exterior windows for energy consumption of buildings, which is conducive to using of green building materials and realization of green buildings.

Environmental Impact Assessment of Improper Dumping of Municipal Solid Waste in Salem City, Tamilnadu, India

Salem City is one of the hundred cities selected under the Smart Cites Mission Program by the Government of India and positioned at sixth place out of twelve selected Smart Cities in Tamil Nadu State with an area of 100 sq.km and a population of 8,51,577. It generates around 335 MT per day of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) at a rate of 393 gram per capita per day. At present the entire solid waste generated from the city has been dumped in an unscientific manner in Erumapalayam Landfill area of 28 acres which is located 12 km away from the city. The open dumping of Salem City MSW in the landfill area due to without liners and without a leachate management facility causes groundwater pollution and as well as saturation of an existing landfill site. Hence, in the present study an attempt has been made to quantify the impacts on land and water environments due to improper disposal of Salem city MSW in and around the Erumapalayam Landfill through an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study. From the detailed investigation of the water quality analysis of ground water in and around the dumping yard, it was found that the ground water was not suitable for drinking at places within 1000m radius of the landfill and this was exclusively due to the infiltration of leachate from the dumping yard which caused the ground water pollution. Similarly, the Environmental Impact Assessment study on soil environment revealed that the top soil layer is not polluted due to the improper dumping of MSW in the landfill area at present, nevertheless if the prevailing situation continues, it will affect the soil fertility in the near future.

The Contribution of Environmental Impact Assessment Studies to the Flora Biodiversity in Sudan

Environmental Impact Assessment Studies (EIA) for four developmental projects were chosen for this study viz-a-viz., oil and gas, river diversion, hydropower and gold mining. The EIA studies for these activities have been conducted in three different ecological regions: the flood region in the former southern Sudan, low rainfall Savannah and desert region. Trees, shrubs and herbaceous species were identified and recorded in each region. Species encountered for the first time, endangered, invasive and increasers were also reported. The EIA studies have produced lists of natural flora in areas which were difficult to access without the EIA missions. During the EIA study for Jonglei Canal project the new mono specific genus Suddia sagitifolia was discovered in the flood region as the only endemic aquatic plant in Sudan. Within the same region, the smallest floating plant in Sudan (Wollfia hyaline) was reported. The critically endangered “Argon Palm” (Medemia argun) was encountered in the Nubian Desert of the Red Sea State during a gold mining EIA study. The Seha (Belpharis persica), not reported to exist in desert conditions, has been found in the Great Desert west of the Nile during an EIA study for Kajbar Hydropower project. The paper calls for the publication of the above findings and highlights the need for further detailed studies in order to enhance knowledge of the Sudanese biodiversity status.

Analysis and evaluation of the environmental impacts of 'upstream' petroleum operations

Sustainability is increasingly considered an essential business function, but in Libya, petroleum companies are slow to address operational issues that could reduce environmental concerns. This study aims to evaluate the environmental impacts of upstream petroleum operations. The methods adopted in the study are a literature review, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) study and qualitative analyses from, fieldwork trials and 56 semi-structured interviews. The results of the study show that the main environmental impacts are aquatic, terrestrial or atmospheric, with the most significant pollutants linked to the latter category, mainly from engine exhausts, turbine emissions, gas flaring and venting. Major environmental degradations are identified in Libyan upstream operations and a number of recommendations formulated minimising their effect. Particular importance is placed on establishing strict sustainability policies and regulations, and the implementation of an environmental management system.