Human environment shall be interpreted

comprehensively to include the natural and

physical environment and the relationship of
people with that environment. This means
that economic social effects are not intended
by themselves to require preparation of an
environmental impact statement. When an
environmental impact statement is prepared
and economic or social and natural or
physical environmental effects are
interrelated, then the environmental impact
statement will discuss all of these effects on
the human environment.
EXAMPLES OF SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS AND THEIR
POTENTIAL CHANGES RESULTING FROM PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

FACTOR POTENTIAL CHANGE
General characteristics and trends
in population for state, substate
region, country, and city


Increase or decrease in population
Migrational trends in study area
(The study area is a function
trends of the alternatives being
considered and the available
database.)
Increase or decrease in migrational
Population characteristics in study
area, including distributions by age,
sex, ethic group, educational level,
and family size
Increase or decrease in various
population distributions in
people relocations
Distinct settlements of ethnic
groups or deprived economic or
minority groups in study area
Disruption of settlements
patterns; people relocations
economic history for start, substate
region, country, and city

Increase or decrease in
economic activities;
change in economic patterns
employment and unemployment
pattern in study area, including
occupational distribution and
location and availability of
workforce
Increase or decrease in overall
employment or unemployment
levels; change in occupational
distribution


income levels and trends
for study area
Increase or decrease in income levels
land-use pattern and controls for
study area
change in land usage; project
may or may not be in
compliance with existing land-
use plans
transportation systems in study
area, including highway, rail ,air and
waterway systems
changes in demand for
transportation systems;
relocations of highways and
railroads
religious patterns and
characteristics in study area
disruption of religious
patterns change in
characteristics
FACTOR
EXAMPLE OF INFORMATION FLOW IN PREDICTION AND
ASSESSMENT OF SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS

Modeling of economic demographic impacts provides basic
information for addressing public service impacts(education,
health, services, police and fire protection, utilities, and solid-
waste management), social impacts (housing, transportation,
urban land use, and land ownership), and fiscal impacts.
Fiscal impacts are themselves dependent upon many public
services and social impacts. The quality of life (QOL)
represents a composite indication of of economic,
demographic, public service, social, and fiscal impacts, along
with impacts caused by still other factors related to a sense
of well-being at a given time and location. The impact
assessment (interpretation) described subsequently provide
a basis for interpreting existing and future socioeconomic
conditions, both with and without the project.
Social-impact assessment (SIA) is a phrase
which is used interchangeably with
socioeconomic-impact considerations. SIA
includes health impacts, recreational activities,
aesthetic interests, land and housing values, job
opportunities, community cohesion, lifestyles,
governmental activities, psychological well-
being, and behavioral response on the part of
individuals,groups and communities.

SIA VARIABLES

Population Impacts
Community Institutional arrangements
Conflicts between local
residents and newcomers
Individual and family level
impacts
Community infrastructure
needs





Specific advantages and features of the SIA process include the
following:
SIA is a systematic effort to identify, analyze, and evaluate social
impacts of a proposed project or policy change on the individuals
and social groups within a community or on an entire community
in advance of the decision-making process in order that the
information derived from the SIA can actually influence decisions.
SIA is a means for developing alternatives to the proposed course
of action and determining the full range of consequences for each
alternative.
SIA increases knowledge on the part of the project
proponent and the impacted community.
SIA raises consciousness and the level of understanding of the
community and puts the residents in a better position to
understand the broader implication of the proposed action.
SIA includes within it a process to mitigate or alleviate the
social impacts likely to occur, if the action is desired by the
impacted community.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR PREDICTION AND
ASSESSMENT OF SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
Identification of potential impacts represents the initial step ,
followed by the preparation of a description of existing
conditions for the selected factors. Relevant standards,
criteria, or guidelines should then be procured and utilized to
assess existing conditions. Impact prediction for both the
future-without-project and future-with-project conditions is the
emphasis of step 4. Step 5 involves the assessmentof the
predicted impacts in relation to existing conditions and
through use of relevant standards,criteria, or guidelines. The
final step consists of the identification and incorporation of
mitigation measures to minimize the negative consequences of
the proposed project. Steps 1,2,4 and 5 will be described in
subsequent sections.

In contrast to the conceptual framework for prediction and assessment of
socioeconomic impacts, a project-category-based approach for the SIA
procedure for the projects in developing countries has been promulgated
by the Asian Development Bank; the following project categories are used
:
Category AP Those projects whose major objective is to have a
direct positive impact in the form of poverty alleviation; poverty
projects almost always require the active participation of
beneficiaries.
Category A Projects which are expected to have a direct, positive social
impact and which, in order to be successfully executed and/or sustained,
require the active participation of the intended beneficiaries; this category
includes most projects in the agriculture and social infrastructure
sectors.
Category B Projects that rarely have an immediate,
direct (positive or negative) social impact and/or projects
that can be executed and sustained without beneficiary
participation; this category includes most projects in the
energy, transport, communications, and industrial
(except small-scale or cottage-type) sectors.
Category C Projects which have the potential for
direct, negative impact on the lives of a significant
number of people . Category C includes all projects
which may require the elocation of significant numbers
of people, for example, large dams, highways, airports
and so on.
STEP 1 : IDENTIFICATION OF SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
Potential socioeconomic impacts can be identified through the use
of interaction matrices, networks, simple checklists, and/or
descriptive checklists. The basic impact are associated with
predicting and assessing impacts on the socioeconomic
environment is called the region of influence (ROI) This
represents the geographical area, or region, wherein the project-
induced changes to socioeconomic environment will occur. In an
analogous sense, the ROI for addressing socioeconomic impacts
would be comparable to (1) an air-quality control region for
addressing air quality impacts. (2) a watershed for addressing
surface-water quantity and quality impacts, or (3) an ecoregion or
habitat type for addressing biological impacts.

REPRESENTATIVE SOCIOECONOMIC ISSUES IN WATER-QUALITY
MANAGEMENT PLANNING EFFORTS
Employment and economic growth
Increase in construction-related employment for pollution control
facilities
Locational shift of businesses
Increase in employment for operation and maintenance of pollution
control facilities
Increase in employment for administration, planning, and management of
pollution controls

Public fiscal costs
Increase in capital, operation, and management costs related to publice
pollution controls
Increase in revenue from pollution control changes and fees
Increase in regulatory costs related to private pollution controls

Land use
Pre-emption of land for pollution control facilities
Changes in site design
Changes in use of existing built environment and land uses
Changes in growth pattern (timing,amount,locations, and type of growth)
Public health/safety
Impacts associated with operation of pollution control facilities involving
hazardous wastes
Impacts associated with improved water quality for drinking and
recreational uses
Impacts associated with strategies that offer multiple benefits in terms of
flood prevention, erosion control, environmental sanitation
Impacts associated with malfunctioning of pollution control facilities

Recreation
Changes in recreational opportunities
Changes in recreational demand
Private cost and benefit incidence
Increase in homeowner user charges
Increase in property taxes
Increase in special assessments
Increase in real estate values
Other public services
Change in water consumption demands
Change in water supply availability
Change in solid waste management
Change in storm drainage management
Change in street maintenance
Historic resources
Changes in the number, type, location, use, and character of historic,
archaeological and architectural resources
STEP 2 : Description of existing socioeconomic conditions
The key approach in describing existing conditions is to focus on
selected socioeconomic factors expected to be changed by he
proposed project. Sources of socioeconomic information can
provide primary data (data from specific field studies on selected
factors) or secondary data (data from published reports). For
example, secondary data can be obtained from U.S. bureau of the
census; regional planning agencies such as councils of government;
local planning departments; local chambers of commerce; and
special studies related to transportation planning, water supply
development, water quality management involving wastewater
treatment, and solid waste management.

STEP 4 : PREDICTION OF SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
The most important technical activity of the SIA process is
the prediction of impacts for each of the alternatives being
evaluated, including the one that will become the proposed
action. Four approaches can be used for predicting impacts:
(1) qualitative description (2) quantitative description, (3) the
use of application-specific prediction techniques, and (4) the
use of relative comparisons of the effects of alternatives.
Application of these approaches for impact prediction will
vary depending upon the socioeconomic category and
specific factors within the category that might be impacted.
Qualitative description refers to the approach used by
individual professionals or interdisciplinary teams to
describe the effects of alternatives based on general
knowledge of generic types of impacts and case studies .
The approach using quantitative description involves use of a
numerical technique by either an individual professional or an
interdisciplinary team to project impacts based on anunderstanding of the
existing situation and unit-impact information. This approach requires
knowledge of effects that have occurred in similar situations and the use
of quantitative impact factors.





Methodologies have been formulated which can be used to address the
social, economic (employment,housing,and property values), fiscal,
demographic, and public services impacts of land -development projects.
Seven typical social-impact areas (1) recreation patterns at public
facilities (2) recreational use of informal outdoor space, (3) shopping
opportunities, (4) pedestrian dependency and mobility (5) perceived
quality of the natural environment, (6) personal safety and privacy, (7)
aesthetic and cultural values.

"Use of application-specific or model-
based techniques" involves predicting
likely effects by using an explicit and
predefined relationship,such as a
mathematical model. In mathematical
models, for example, mathematical
relationships between system variables
are used to describe the way a
socioeconomic system will react to an
external influence.

STEP 5: ASSESSMENT OF
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
The first consideration relates to the
application of screening criteria.
Following this, the interpretation of
changes in socioeconomic features
can be made based on several
approaches: one would be to consider
the resultant impact information
relative to recommended professional
and institutional standards and criteria
for various socioeconomic features.
Another approach would be to compare the resultant
information to geographical information to geographical
averages or temporal trends (ranging from local or
county-level, to regional, to state, to multi-state and
national averages or trends) for the same feature.
Another approach for considering the significance of
predicted socioeconomic changes is to examine the
relationship of the information to original design
standards for the socioeconomic resource being
evaluated. Finally, professional and public inputs can be
used to establish value judgments. Documentation of the
rationale to be used for assessing the significance of
impacts should be developed early in the EIA process.
VALUE JUDGMENT
The final aspect of assessing socioeconomic-
impact significance is to apply an overall value
judgment. (Professional judgment has to be used in
all aspects of the procedure, including applying
screening criteria, considering relevant
professional and institutional standards and
criteria, and comparing project-induced changes to
spatial and temporal averages.) Formalized
approaches for generating significance threshold
values can be based on judgments made by either
experts (using, for example, Delphi techniques) or
affected publics (by survey research or the nominal
group technique).

HUMAN HEALTH IMPACTS
1.Definition of Project Type and Location- Project title,
location, department, executing agency and major
project components are defined as part of the screening
process and project classification.
2. Health Hazard Identification- This is the primary screen.
It is based on existing experience and the screening tools
provided. The output is a long list of health hazards.
3. Initial Health Examination (IHE) - This is the secondary
screen. It uses rapid appraisal, secondary data and fact-
finding mission (if necessary). It is part of the initial
environmental evaluation (IEE) and should normally be
undertaken at the pre-feasibility stage. The outputs are: a
short list of the health hazards which may carry the most
significant health risks. The identification of a hazard short
list is part o the scoping process.

4. Requirement for health impact assessment
(HIA) -A decision is made based on the experience
of previous projects and the need to obtain further
experience.
5. Terms of reference (TOR)Definition for HIA-A
TOR is prepared for an HIA which specifies the
scope of the assessment. ItIncludes, but is not
limited by, the short list of health hazards
identified by the IHE.
6. Health Impact Assessment -the assessment is
undertaken by a specialist consultant. The output
is a health impact statement. The HIA may be a
stand-alone study, but more typically, it will be
part of an EIA.
7. Health Risk Management and Evaluation 1.
Requirement for Health Impact Assessment
(HIA) -the health impact statement recommends
health risk management actions including
environmental management and health
monitoring. Health monitoring data is an
output.

8. Benefit Monitoring and Evaluation -the project
may be evaluated by an appropriate bank unit. The
output should include a health impact evaluation
report which can be used in future projects.