Can anybody help in 'Environmental Audit'?

Question

How can Environmental Audit help in making the Environmental Impact Assessments for development projects more effective?

Can anybody give me some examples?

Thanks !!

Answer 1

You really must have an audit of a development site to know where the bad things are buried!  Once you know specifics of the site in question you can then develop the EIA outlines what it is necessary to do on the site.  Once the site evaluation is completed you can move on to the impact of the development on the surrounding areas - New roads will impact drainage (water pollution) and air pollution caused by mobile traffic.  New homes will impact both air and water and will have an impact on garbage and trash disposal (land pollution)  BIG JOB - but someone had to do it which is why I have been involved for almost 40 years.   Keeps me off the bread line too.

Chuck

[e-mail]

Answer 2

Every Environmental Assessment is an Environmental Audit.  This is just a matter of words.  However, different jurisdictions use different names for the same thing.  What make audits, etc... more effective would be a better defined standard for what constitutes these assessments.

While working for a government agency I frequently prepared EAs (Environmental Assessments).  The EA for the Federal Government was different than the EA for the State Government, different questions and different interpretations for similar questions.  Even within my agency, there were EA "experts" who would disagree about how EAs regulations were to be interpreted.

I worked on public works projects, pipelines for water, treatment plants for water and waste-water and other water system support facilities.  It was inevitable that some stakeholder, or interested party, would cry foul that the EA regulations had not been properly applied.

Let's all use the same ISO standard, so no single jurisdiction, or stakeholder, can obstruct progress on projects that are generally for the public good.  Also by using the same standard we would be sure not to miss some important point in the EA process.