Guidelines for Environmental Assessment of Development Projects

This document provides methodological guidelines for conducting environmental assessment of development projects, prepared following a regional symposium held in January 1982. It aims to support policy and decision makers by presenting environmental information in a structured and comparable form using a common test model. The guidelines describe the purpose, scope, and sequence of assessment, beginning with project description and progressing through identification, quantification, and costing of resource impacts. They emphasize selective evaluation of relevant resource elements and integration of environmental and economic cost benefit analysis. The document includes illustrative cases, standardized worksheets, and a comprehensive checklist of land, water, air, biological, social, and manmade resource elements to support consistent application across countries.