Environmental Impact Assessment

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure in Malaysia has been developed primarily as an aid to the environmental planning of new development project. It is important to understand whether EIA fits into the overall scheme of environmental management. Pollution control is an essential curative process as well as EIA is essentially a preventive measure. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been acknowledged as a useful tool in which incorporates environmental factor in the agency's decision making process regarding new development. Besides that, EIA is an important tool for Local Authorities in regarding planning approval for the proposed project which has been submitted by the project proponents. EIA is essentially a planning mechanism in preventing environmental problems related to the land development. This will ensure the potential problems are foreseen and addressed during the early stage in the project planning and design. EIA then will be integrated into the existed planning and decision-making structure in order to provide additional information towards a better decision-making process.