A new development is always an exciting prospect and one which people devote large amounts of money and energy to. Whether the development is a factory or processing plant, the project is always of a substantial magnitude and so it requires extensive assessment and planning before construction can commence. Part of this preliminary activity is the environmental assessment, or Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (ESAS), which are conducted to determine whether an area is suitable for the development and what risks exist in it.
The consistent attitude of the developer should be that the environment matters and that pollution is not acceptable. The old-fashioned view that the environment should be taken for granted is not popular these days, and neither is a lax approach to pollution. The public and government are not going to appreciate that approach and where there is enough opposition, government can sometimes restrict or even curtail the entire project. An environmental assessment is part of a more responsible attitude.
As a general approach, then, developers should always try to maintain the attitude that the environment is to be respected. If they try to tell the public that environmental issues are not important, or that the pollution generated by their development is not significant, they may elicit opposition and criticism. Sometimes, this criticism is not unfounded and the authorities impede or prohibit the development entirely.
An ESAS examines a variety of environmental aspects in order to determine if the natural environment in the area demarcated for development is safe, and if not, what risks it presents to the developers. These aspects are all part of the natural environment and they relate to health, hygiene and the capacity of the site to support what the developers plan to do there.
The vegetation in the site area is one of these aspects. Plants are of interest to the assessors for two reasons. Firstly, they may be an alien species. Secondly, they may be vectors of environmental toxins or infections.
Another aspect to be examined is the plant matter. This examination may revolve around two factors - whether the plants are desirable, and secondly whether they are healthy.
Undesirable plants are those species which are not wanted by the authorities in that specific area. This is almost always because they are not indigenous species. Alien plant species are a threat to the environment because they do not form part of the endemic food chain. They then cause a disruption in the food chain by absorbing too many nutrients or taking up too much space. They may also cause the soil quality to deteriorate. Unhealthy plants are those which have been poisoned or which are carrying diseases. Poisoned plants are sometimes eaten as fodder by insects and animals, and this is how the poison enters into the local food chain.
Then there is the soil. The soil may seem uninvolved in trouble such as toxins or diseases, but it is equally pollutable. Soil is polluted by toxins in water (such as rain) and the dead bodies of animals and decaying plants. Once soil is poisoned, it has the potential to poison anything else. Farming is not possible in such areas.
All of these aspects need to be assessed in order to determine whether the environment is suitable for the proposed development. Developers should not try to pre-empt or bypass this assessment.
The consistent attitude of the developer should be that the environment matters and that pollution is not acceptable. The old-fashioned view that the environment should be taken for granted is not popular these days, and neither is a lax approach to pollution. The public and government are not going to appreciate that approach and where there is enough opposition, government can sometimes restrict or even curtail the entire project. An environmental assessment is part of a more responsible attitude.
As a general approach, then, developers should always try to maintain the attitude that the environment is to be respected. If they try to tell the public that environmental issues are not important, or that the pollution generated by their development is not significant, they may elicit opposition and criticism. Sometimes, this criticism is not unfounded and the authorities impede or prohibit the development entirely.
An ESAS examines a variety of environmental aspects in order to determine if the natural environment in the area demarcated for development is safe, and if not, what risks it presents to the developers. These aspects are all part of the natural environment and they relate to health, hygiene and the capacity of the site to support what the developers plan to do there.
The vegetation in the site area is one of these aspects. Plants are of interest to the assessors for two reasons. Firstly, they may be an alien species. Secondly, they may be vectors of environmental toxins or infections.
Another aspect to be examined is the plant matter. This examination may revolve around two factors - whether the plants are desirable, and secondly whether they are healthy.
Undesirable plants are those species which are not wanted by the authorities in that specific area. This is almost always because they are not indigenous species. Alien plant species are a threat to the environment because they do not form part of the endemic food chain. They then cause a disruption in the food chain by absorbing too many nutrients or taking up too much space. They may also cause the soil quality to deteriorate. Unhealthy plants are those which have been poisoned or which are carrying diseases. Poisoned plants are sometimes eaten as fodder by insects and animals, and this is how the poison enters into the local food chain.
Then there is the soil. The soil may seem uninvolved in trouble such as toxins or diseases, but it is equally pollutable. Soil is polluted by toxins in water (such as rain) and the dead bodies of animals and decaying plants. Once soil is poisoned, it has the potential to poison anything else. Farming is not possible in such areas.
All of these aspects need to be assessed in order to determine whether the environment is suitable for the proposed development. Developers should not try to pre-empt or bypass this assessment.
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