Environmental Impact Assessment in the United Arab Emirates - A Case Study: Ruwais and Zirku Industrial Areas - UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No. 87

Before considering the individual sites and issues within the U.A.E., the report provides an introduction to the subject of E.I.A. This explains that E. I.A is a process of determining the direct and indirect environmental benefits and disbenefits of a proposed development, including alternative sites and processes, and presenting them in an ordered and logical manner such that government departments or developers take balanced decisions on whether, and how, development should proceed. The E.I.A. process considers matters of safety, human health and social acceptability, as well as the impact on the natural environment. A major part of the E. I.A. process is the baseline assessment (desk and field studies) which will determine the pollutant arisings from the proposed development, the state of the environment prior to development and its ability to receive pollutants without unacceptable environmental consequences. The baseline field studies can be continued as monitoring after the commissioning of plant to keep the environmental effects of the development under continual observations.