Gallardo, Amarilis Lucia Casteli Figueiredo (2004) Evaluation of the environmental management practices in the construction of the descending roadway of imigrantes highway. PhD thesis, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.
Abstract
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is one of the most disseminated and employed environmental management tools. However, it not always brings the expected environmental prevention results. The main purpose of this research is to demonstrate that EIA can assure the effective environmental protection when applied not only as a basis to the decision-making, but also as a management tool during the enterprise life cycle. Both the importance and the role of the EIA process phases that precede the approval of the project, particularly in the follow-up phase, are emphasized. The construction of the descending roadway of Imigrantes highway, a project that affects sensitive ecosystems, was used as a case study to confirm the reach of the EIA in the prevention and reduction of negative environmental impacts, mainly in the implementation phase of the project. Data obtained in field observations and the water quality monitoring allowed the recognition of impacts not foreseen in the environmental impact statement (EIS) that could be corrected with the adoption of mitigation procedures. The follow-up results proved the need of application of the EIA after the decision-making. This follow-up has demonstrated that the environmental management practices should be sustained properly by articulated technical activities, in a well defined organizational structure. With regard to amount of physical impacts, 68% were classified as significant or very significant, the alteration in the water quality due to the procedures of tunnels excavation being the major impact of the construction phase (58,3% of the very significant impacts). Concerning the 36 mitigation measures employed, 72,2% were classified as effective, 19,5% as partially effective and 8,3% as ineffective. In spite of the high significance of some physical impacts, the continuous evaluation of the mitigation measures performance permitted to maintain the local environmental balance. The follow-up phase costs incurred by the entrepreneur and the governmental authorities were evaluated. Based in the results of the research, the aspects that contributed to the follow-up success were highlighted as well as recommendations for its practice increment were made. Approaches between EIA and other management tools (environmental management systems and environmental audits) were also discussed. The links and similarities among those tools can contribute to EIA's strengthening as an instrument with a wide range and multiple particularities that allows the environmental protection
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Sanchez, Luis Enrique |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | environmental impact assessment; environmental management system; highway; imigrantes highway |
| Index terms: | case study, life cycle, environmental impact assessment, water quality, monitoring, environmental management, prevention, implementation, construction phase, organizational structure, environmental protection, tunnel, approval, environmental management system, mitigation, environmental impact, excavation, strengthening, decision-making, environmental audit |
| Subjects: | infrastructure and transport systems, environmental engineering, sociology, decision analysis, project delivery, control systems, value management, data collection methods, occupational health, financial risk, structural engineering, sustainability assessment, contractual arrangements, construction operations, environmental policy, environmental impact, contractual role |
| Topics: | Contract Administration, Site Management, Organizational Design, Research Practice, Cost Management, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Health and Safety, Sustainability, Procurement, Risk Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here