Environmental Impact Assessment

Course Description

Objectives
The aim of this course is the enhanced understanding of the process of environmental impact assessment, aiming at the more complete protection of the natural environment and human society, which depends deeply on it for its well-being. Within this course the students will be able to understand the conceptual and operational framework of this methodology, through lectures but also practical work and exercises.
Content
THEORY
1. Content of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) (EU Directives, local policies)
2. The process of Environmental Impact Assessment (basic steps and examples)
3. Projects and activities that are most commonly assessed
4. Environmental parameters that are used for EIA (e.g., soil, climate, landscape, geomorphology)
5. Social parameters that are used for EIA (e.g., land use, built environment, historical and cultural environment)
6. Methods for the inclusion and recording of impacts (e.g., matrix, lookup tables, mapping, expert judgement, Battelle method)
7. Presentation of EIAs across different ecosystems and scales
8. Use of EIA within the decision-making process
PRACTICALS
1. Analysis and exploration of EIAs
2. Analysis and use of of environmental parameters
3. Analysis and use social-ecological parameters
4. Interdisciplinary integration of the social and ecological information for a complete EIA
5. Analysis of policy objectives for their interpretation and use for selected cases
6. Critical analysis of EIA results
Teaching & Assessment
Teaching is conducted through a combination of theory with practice
Student evaluation is happening through:
o Written theoretical exam (30%)
o Group project report (70%)