Environmental Impact Assessment & Resource Management Flashcards
7 cards from real CSC practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Environmental Impact Assessment & Resource Management flashcards as text
When assessing cumulative impacts in an EIA, analysts must evaluate:
Answer: The combined effects of the project plus past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions
Cumulative impact analysis examines how the project's effects combine with those of other actions over time and space, even if individually minor.
Which waste management hierarchy level is most preferable from a sustainability standpoint?
Answer: Source reduction/prevention
The waste hierarchy ranks source reduction (prevention) highest because avoiding waste generation is more resource-efficient than managing it after the fact.
An Environmental Management System (EMS) based on ISO 14001 follows which continuous improvement cycle?
Answer: Plan–Do–Check–Act (PDCA)
ISO 14001 EMS is structured around the PDCA (Plan–Do–Check–Act) cycle to drive continual environmental performance improvement.
In the context of biodiversity impact assessment, the mitigation hierarchy lists options in what order?
Answer: Avoid, minimize, restore/rehabilitate, offset
The mitigation hierarchy prioritizes avoiding impacts first, then minimizing, then restoring on-site, and finally offsetting unavoidable residual impacts elsewhere.
The 'precautionary principle' in environmental policy states that:
Answer: Lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason to postpone cost-effective preventive measures
The precautionary principle, articulated in the Rio Declaration (Principle 15), supports preventive action even under scientific uncertainty when threats are serious.
Which indicator is most appropriate for evaluating a facility's water use efficiency relative to its production output?
Answer: Water intensity (m³ per unit of product)
Water intensity normalizes water consumption against production, enabling meaningful comparisons across facilities of different sizes.
A Tier 1 greenhouse gas emission is best described as:
Answer: Direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by the reporting entity
Scope 1 (Tier 1) GHG emissions come directly from sources the organization owns or controls, such as on-site combustion and company vehicles.