Methodology of Impact Assessment Key Definitions Sample Clauses

Methodology of Impact Assessment Key Definitions. Environmental Aspects These are elements of an organization’s activities or products or services that can interact with the environment. Environmental aspects could include activities that occur during normal, abnormal and emergency operations. Environmental aspects selected for further study should be large enough for meaningful examination and small enough to be easily understood. Environmental Impacts Environmental impacts are defined as any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s environmental aspects. Environmental Indices The environment includes surroundings in which an organization operates such as air, water, land, natural resources, flora, fauna, humans and their interrelation. The environmental indices (or parts of the receiving environment on which impacts are being assessed) include: Land use/land cover, air quality, noise quality, surface water environment, ground water environment, soil, ecology and bio diversity, socio economics, occupational health, community health and safety After the identification of impacting activities, impacts require to be assessed based on subjective / objective criteria to assess the impacting activities. This is done in the following steps. Identification of Impacts This entails employing a simple checklist method requiring: