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screening — English
The process of determining whether a proposed action or development project should be submitted to a full environmental impact assessment (EIA) or not. This process should determine whether the potential impacts of the proposed project could/would affect the environment so significantly that a complete EIA needs to be done in order to obtain permission to proceed with the proposed project. Note that all proposals must be screened, but some proposed actions or projects do not pose a potential environmental impact serious enough to merit a full EIA. Screening differs from scoping (see “scoping”) in that screening considers the proposed action or project as an entity or a whole, while scoping considers the individual impacts which might be associated with the action or project. It is not always easy to make a decision during the screening phase, and with an influential environmental lobby or a number of active, vociferous environmental NGOs watching out for the least wrongdoing, the competent authorities in the developed countries are very hesitant to permit an action or project without demanding an EIA. In order to assist the authorities, handy checklists have been developed. In South Africa, two screening lists are used for screening: the List of Activities and the List of Environments. All activities listed in the first, and any project in an environment listed in the second, must submit to a full EIA process. Erecting a small, wooden ice-cream booth along the road main road inside the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, seems harmless enough, but because it is in a world heritage site the List of Environments would indicate that an EIA has to be done. Building a nuclear waste disposal site in the middle of a large, deserted, uninhabited, arid wilderness might also seem harmless enough, but because it involves radio-active material the List of Activities would demand a full EIA. Despite these handy lists, the golden rule applied in all developed states is: “When in doubt, do an EIA”. In the developing states, screening is slacker, but that is not desirable as the aforementioned nuclear waste disposal site might be right in the middle a nomadic clan’s habitual terrain or even a secret sacred site. A proposal to build an explosives factory in the heart of a city, does not need any lists to send it directly to the “no-go” class.
