Environmental Impact Assessment for Wetlands: Screening

Abstract

In Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), screening is used to determine which projects should be subjected to EIA. For this, screening criteria are used. Biodiversity criteria are e.g. the extent to which the proposed activity increases the risk of extinction of certain species, disturbs the ecosystem or surpasses sustainable harvesting levels. For wetlands, the appropriate impact scale is larger than just the wetland itself; it should consider at least the catchment area. Use can be made of existing references for wetland species published by e.g. Wetlands International or IUCN. The outcome of the screening phase is a screening decision which specifies if the project may be pursued, and if an EIA is required. Wetlands-inclusive screening for EIA can include specific steps such as a biodiversity screening map, a list of activities for which and EIA is required, and threshold values for screening, e.g. of drivers of change.