Meeting information requirements

The integration of environmental concerns was given much impetus by the publication of 'Our Common Future' by the World Commission on Environment in 1987 and followed by the Earth Summit held in 1992. Both of these landmark events have become the driving force on the consideration of environmental components in economic development planning in order to achieve environmentally sound and sustainable benefits.

As of today, approximately 87 percent of the countries of Asia and the Pacific have adopted EIA as one of their national instruments for achieving sustainable development goal. However, the EIA process has been defined in different ways in different countries. No two developing countries appear to have undertaken EIA in the similar way. In some countries, there are omissions of some important components of EIA and there are also lots of deficiencies in the process. Therefore, the major objectives of this module is to highlight the best EIA practices and to offer enough insight into the concepts, methods, and practices in order to provide valuable guidance to the EIA practitioners, academicians, administrators, planners, professionals, teachers, trainers and the students concerned with EIA.

Contents	Description
Environmental impact assessment principles and processes	This concept of EIA and its processes along with the benefits and flaws of the EIA are all explained here.
Environmental impact assessment project cycle and project management	Each development project have its life cycle, which are all rather similar. This section describes the relevant EIA activities for each stage of the project life cycle.
Institutional modality for an EIA implementation	Institutional aspects of the EIA are given under this section, such as, institutional responsibility for EIA implementation, institutional coordination for EIA implementation, etc.
Policies, laws, guidelines, standards and international obligations on EIA implementation	A brief explanation on the policies, laws, guidelines, etc., and their relation to the EIA, along with an example from Nepal to further elaborate this section.

VIII. Meeting Information Requirements at Project/Firm Level