Certified Environmental Practitioner and specialist certifications Environmental Impact Assessment & Strategic Environmental Assessment: practice questions

1 · History, purpose and principles of EIA · hard

What did the International Court of Justice hold in the Pulp Mills case (Argentina v. Uruguay, 2010) about EIA?

1. EIA is a voluntary practice with no basis in international law for any project type or location worldwide
2. Only projects funded by the World Bank need EIA under international law
3. International law requires a transboundary EIA where significant transboundary harm is possible
4. EIA must always be followed by an international public hearing chaired by the UN

2 · History, purpose and principles of EIA · medium

Which weakness is reported most consistently in reviews of EIA systems worldwide?

1. Excessive public participation that delays every project for many years before construction starts
2. Weak follow-up: little monitoring of whether predictions and mitigation hold after approval
3. Too many alternatives considered, making reports impossible to read
4. Over-investment in monitoring after projects are built and operating

3 · Baseline data collection · medium

Which design gives the strongest basis for later detecting a project's ecological impact?

1. Before–after–control–impact sampling, known as BACI
2. A single survey at the impact site after construction
3. A literature review of species recorded in the district
4. A survey of the control site only, before construction

4 · Baseline data collection · hard

Why should a baseline describe the likely evolution of the environment without the project, not only its current state?

1. The current state cannot be measured, so only a projected state is available
2. Other developments and climate change will change conditions, so impacts are measured against that future
3. The law forbids describing current conditions in an EIA report
4. Future conditions are always better than current ones, which favours the project in every comparison made

5 · Mitigation hierarchy: avoid, minimise, restore, offset · medium

Why do mitigation measures often fail to be implemented?

1. Because EIA law forbids proponents from paying for any mitigation measure
2. Because mitigation can be implemented only after the project is decommissioned and the site cleared
3. Because regulators require all mitigation to be done by the public
4. They are described in the EIA but not carried into the EMP, clearance conditions and contracts

6 · Environmental management plans and monitoring · medium

Monitoring stack emissions to check that they meet the limits in a permit is which type of monitoring?

1. Pre-project baseline monitoring
2. Environmental effects monitoring
3. Ecological impact monitoring
4. Compliance monitoring

7 · Public consultation and hearings · medium

Which international instrument recognises indigenous peoples' right to free, prior and informed consent?

1. UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007)
2. Stockholm Declaration (1972)
3. Kyoto Protocol (1997)
4. Montreal Protocol (1987)

8 · Cumulative impact assessment · medium

When the combined effect of two stressors is greater than the sum of their separate effects, the cumulative effect is:

1. Synergistic
2. Additive
3. Antagonistic
4. Residual

9 · Social impact assessment · easy

Social impact assessment (SIA), as defined in IAIA's international principles, includes which processes?

1. Auditing a company's accounts for tax compliance and transfer pricing across all of its subsidiaries
2. Analysing, monitoring and managing intended and unintended social consequences of interventions
3. Measuring air and water quality at sensitive social receptors only
4. Counting the number of social media posts about a proposed project

10 · Social impact assessment · hard

IAIA's 2015 SIA guidance emphasises which shift in purpose?

1. From participatory approaches to purely desk-based expert studies prepared by international consultants alone
2. From long-term monitoring to a single assessment before approval
3. From only predicting and mitigating harms to improving outcomes, human rights and benefit sharing
4. From vulnerable groups to the interests of shareholders only