subject: What You Should Know About Environmental Process Monitoring [print this page] There is a weakness in the majority of environmental impact assessments and that lack is due to the absence of impact monitoring and baseline data during the operation and construction of great development projects. In the absence of such information, it's practically not possible to test the success of impact predictions. On top of that, in the absence of the right ecological monitoring also gets into the way of the scientific progress and in what regards assessment and impact prediction, it makes it hard to take past experiences as examples to avoid. But when it comes to environmental process monitoring, this is amongst the most important pieces to consider and it's vital for the following:
Informing on possible environmental damages:
-Checking the mitigation implementation measure in the way the report from EIA described them
-Making sure that if there are any impacts recorded, they will not go beyond the legal standards
There are also many principles of EIA which cannot actually be disregarded. If the EIA environmental process monitoring process happens in order to generate a lot of vital information, the following goals need to be all accomplished by it:
1) Taking rational decisions based on drawn conclusions; 2) Have tangible conclusions drawn when information is being processed; 3) Reviewing objective conclusions on the info collected; 4) Applying measurable criteria in relationship with the chosen indicators; 5) Determining the indicators that are going to take part in the monitoring activities.
Currently there are many kinds of environmental process monitoring in practice and actually has a certain relevance to an EIA study. Below people will be able to read some of the main types of monitoring and a brief explanation of each one.
Compliance Monitoring: This is a simple type of monitoring that use a continuous recording of certain pollution levels, in order to ensure the project is in compliance with the standards imposed by the environmental protection agencies.
Impact Monitoring: The socio-economical and bio-physical parameters in the project have to be measured whilst operational phases and project construction take place so that any environmental changes can be easily detected. These changes will most of the time occur as a conclusion of project implementation.
Baseline Monitoring: Before the construction begins, a survey will need to take place in the area that surrounds the proposed project. The area needs to be carefully analyzed and any information regarding pollution will have to be presented ahead of time. This way, if there is anything wrong, the team doing the research will know about it immediately.
When it comes to monitoring, it should be something that is not only conducted regularly, but also performed over very long periods of time. If the monitoring is halted or completely stopped, this will have a direct impact on the results of the whole monitoring process. The primary aim of an EIA environmental process monitoring is to ensure that the environmental will suffer the least amount of damage. With that being said, hopefully everyone knows now the importance of environmental monitoring and the side effects it can have if not done right.
