Course Introduction

The Module is designed to provide a critical overview of the theory and practice of EIA as operated internationally to those students who need to understand EIA: this includes formal students being graduate and postgraduate students, plus practitioners/professionals.

Within this framework there are opportunities to customise the material to reflect local jurisdictional procedures and issues.

The Module covers the:

  • purpose and aims of EIA;
  • EIA administration and practice;
  • concept of associated assessment processes;
  • key elements of the EIA process;
  • undertaking an EIA;
  • role of public participation;
  • stages that follow EIA;
  • the costs and benefits of undertaking EIA; and
  • understanding of the strengths and limitations of EIA.

The aim of the Module is to provide understanding of EIA and confidence with its application and limitations. Broadly the objectives are for students to:

  • appreciate 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;
  • know the administration and procedures that apply in the student’s jurisdiction;
  • understand the screening process;
  • understand the scoping process and how it is applied;
  • know the options for estimating environmental and social impacts;
  • know the format of an EIA Report (Environmental Impact Statement, or Environmental Statement);
  • appreciate the factors that assist, and detract, from the usefulness of the EIA Report;
  • understand the purpose of developing follow-up procedures, and the options for designing these procedures.

The learning that students will achieve will come from the structured materials that form the basis of the Module, the self-administered questions that are contained within the Modules’ Sections, and the assignments that are specified at certain points in the Module.

January 18, 2007 Uncategorized — brendan @ 7:27 pm

23 Comments »

  1. First of all I would like to thank the web for giving us this opportunity which is very great resource specially for developing country like Ethiopia. And I would like to comment that if there could be downloadable resources not only online, because it is too costly for poor country like us. Thanks a lot. With regards , Anwar Kamal

    Comment by anwar kamal — March 24, 2007 @ 6:17 am

  2. Holla. Aunque leo inglés, mi idioma de origen es el español. Es posible que el módulo del curso aparezca en español?
    Estoy muy interesada en seguir el aprendizaje
    Gracias
    Nancy de Pérez.
    Barquisimeto.venezuela

    Comment by nancy jiménez — April 4, 2007 @ 9:20 am

  3. We are currently looking into how to make a downloadable version of this course for individual learners. We don’t have plans to make a Spanish version.

    Brendan Barrett

    Comment by brendan — April 16, 2007 @ 1:28 am

  4. I really appreciate the UNU for allowing us to learn from the website,however it could be very good if the information can be downloaded to enable us as developing countries to share with the colleagues who do not have access to internet

    Comment by Lely Saima Angula — May 4, 2007 @ 9:26 am

  5. Thank you for the valuable information, and I join my voice to others who ask for the information to be downloadable, its very useful and important to have such site with that kind of knowledge, hope to see more topics in future. Thank you

    Comment by Sanaa Shami — May 22, 2007 @ 4:39 am

  6. It is really a step forward for the developing countries where students dont have much opportunities in this field. As a practitioner I am benefited from it. Thanks.

    Comment by Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, IFS — May 26, 2007 @ 10:07 am

  7. Your EIA module has made it easier for me to understand the basics of EIA. I would appreciate it if there would be more examples for the EIA methods that would be relevant for developing countries.

    Many thanks!

    Comment by Fernando Paras Jr. — July 27, 2007 @ 12:22 pm

  8. Thanks for a very informative website. Do you mind including a few case studies - preferably from developing countries?

    Comment by Remigius Rushomesa — August 22, 2007 @ 9:16 am

  9. Hi Remigius,

    Thanks for your comments. Actually, we have been including the case studies in the EIA wiki that is connected to this course module. The thinking that we had is that the course module includes the general principles of EIA and then if you want to learn more about EIA is different countries or about EIA for different types of projects then you could find these in the EIA Wiki.

    You can see the EIA wiki at this link - http://eia.unu.edu/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

    Brendan Barrett
    UNU Media Studio

    Comment by brendan — August 22, 2007 @ 11:07 pm

  10. I am currently enrolled on an MSc in Sustainable environmental management. One module is related to the environmental tools. Great to have access to such information on your website. Thanks but would like to say that a downloadable version would have been helpful.

    Rani from Mauritius

    Comment by Rani — September 10, 2007 @ 8:58 am

  11. Dear Rani,

    There is a download-able version. You can access it here - http://eia.unu.edu/download.html

    Brendan Barrett
    UNU Media Studio

    Comment by brendan — September 10, 2007 @ 7:29 pm

  12. Is there any procedure in place that the persons who undertake this course are assessed.

    Regards

    Lakhu

    Comment by Lakhu Luhana — October 18, 2007 @ 12:54 am

  13. Hi Lakhu,

    This course is designed as an open educational resource and is being utilized in a number of teaching programmes around the world, including in the UNU-Global Virtual University. In order to be assessed for this course, you would need to be enrolled at one of those universities. The UNU is currently not implementing this course for credit.

    Best regards

    Brendan

    Comment by brendan — October 18, 2007 @ 9:30 am

  14. The content is great but i need to know how i may get involved in the whole thing from as far as Zimbabwe.

    Comment by daniel — December 24, 2007 @ 10:33 pm

  15. Hi Brendan

    I really liked what you posted and reading from the feedbacks it is worth downloading the programme. However, twice I downloaded the Basic Version but each time it resulted in the Advance Version being downloaded which I can’t access because of my limitations.

    Is there another better way of downloading the Basic Version??

    Alex Makini
    School of Natural Resources, Solomon Islands College of Higher Education, SI.

    Comment by Alex Makini — January 7, 2008 @ 8:31 am

  16. Dear Alex,

    When you download the basic version, you will have a file with the title eia-local.zip.

    This is a compressed file and you then need to un-zip it. For Windows you can use a free application called Winzip.
    http://www.vodahost.com/winzip.htm

    If you have a Mac, you will need Stuffit expander - http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/stuffit.html

    Once you have un-zipped the file, you will have access to a folder called eia-local folder, which contains the entire course content.

    Best of luck,

    Brendan

    Comment by brendan — January 7, 2008 @ 6:40 pm

  17. [...] UN University. Environmental Impact Assessment Course Module. Available [...]

    Pingback by Perkenalan Impact Assessment / Analisis Dampak « mo ngapain sih Q?! — February 2, 2008 @ 12:58 pm

  18. The module is very succinct and comprehensive. I feel some more legal input is to be added in the module.

    Comment by Dr.Zafar Mahfooz Nomani — February 2, 2008 @ 5:39 pm

  19. Dear Brendan Barrett

    Currently, I am teaching EIA at one University in Spain and this resource is very useful, in fact I strongly recommend the “EIA Wiki” as part of the course material. However, it would be very useful to having this site in Spanish. Maybe, I can help you with the translation.

    Regards,
    María Eugenia

    Comment by Dr. Maria Eugenia Suarez-Ojeda — February 8, 2008 @ 3:29 am

  20. Dear Maria,

    We are delighted to hear that you find the resources useful. The idea of translating the EIA wiki into Spanish is very interesting. As you know wikis can be developed easily in a multi-lingual format. If you take a look at the SEA wiki, we made started playing around with some Spanish pages. Perhaps you could experiment there.

    http://sea.unu.edu/wiki/index.php/PaginaPrincipal

    Regards

    Brendan Barrett

    Comment by brendan — February 8, 2008 @ 9:52 am

  21. Wonderful! Think of a virtual community of impact assessors. We can keep sharing.

    Comment by Martin — February 26, 2008 @ 11:30 pm

  22. you have taught a great deal,iam planning to do a course in eia.thanks

    Comment by john too — April 28, 2008 @ 8:42 pm

  23. Hi Brendan..

    It was a great time for me, when you gave me a lecture at your office on June 3th, 2008. I am one of JICA participants. I think will be more useful if you put any EIA method in your web and course for downloading. best regards

    Comment by Amrizal — June 9, 2008 @ 7:15 am

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