An Approach to Environmental Impact Assessment for Projects affecting the Coastal and Marine Environment: UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No. 122

The formal process known today as environmental impact assessment (ElA) resulted from the raising of environmental awareness during the 1950s and 1960s. During those two decades it became increasingly evident that many industrial and other projects were producing undesirable environmental consequences. In response to these problems several governments realized the need for a mechanism ensuing that the environmental consequences of all major projects and plans were examined before their execution was formally authorized. The Congress of the Unfiled States of America was among the first to enact, in January 1970, a comprehensive environmental legislation, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), using the concept of EIA and requiring a systematic interdisciplinary evaluation of the potential environmental effect of all major federally funded projects.