The Environment Consultant

In previous blogs we navigated the purpose of conducting an Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIA), and discussed that a third-party entity is required to conduct the assessment — to guarantee trust, transparency, objectivity and independence. This third-party entity is often an environmental consulting firm, experienced in environmental subjects and skilled at conducting comprehensive assessments.

Environmental consultants who prepare an ESIA typically come from a variety of professional backgrounds, each bringing specialized expertise to assess the potential impacts of a development. Depending on the project — such as what environmental aspects will be included or ruled-out of the assessment (done during the Scoping phase), the following professionals may be involved in preparing an ESIA:

1. Environmental Scientists

• Role: They analyze the ecological and environmental aspects of a project, assessing potential impacts on ecosystems, air, water, soil, and biodiversity. They often conduct field surveys and collect data.
• Specializations: Ecology, environmental impact analysis, climate change, conservation, habitat restoration.

2. Environmental Engineers

• Role: They focus on the technical aspects of environmental management, including waste management, water treatment, pollution control, and sustainable infrastructure. They assess the engineering aspects of the project’s potential environmental impacts.
• Specializations: Civil engineering, water resources, air quality management, waste management, sustainable infrastructure design.

3. Social Scientists

• Role: They assess the social, cultural, and economic impacts of a project on local communities, indigenous populations, and stakeholders. This includes potential impacts on livelihoods, health, and community dynamics.
• Specializations: Social impact assessment (SIA), community engagement, anthropology, sociology, public health, history, archaeology.

4. Hydrologists

• Role: Hydrologists study the movement, distribution, and management of water resources. They assess potential impacts on local water bodies, groundwater, and water quality.
• Specializations: Surface water, groundwater, flood risk assessment, water quality monitoring.

5. Geotechnical Engineers

• Role: These engineers evaluate the soil, rock, and geological conditions at the project site. They assess the potential for erosion, landslides, or other ground-related risks, and they help in designing safe foundations and structures.
• Specializations: Soil analysis, erosion control, geological assessments, foundation design.

6. Air Quality Specialists

• Role: Air quality experts assess the potential impacts of a project on air pollution levels, including emissions from construction, industrial activities, or transportation. They also evaluate compliance with air quality regulations.
• Specializations: Air pollution monitoring, emissions modeling, climate change, air quality standards.

7. Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Specialists

• Role: These professionals evaluate the potential health and safety risks of a project, including workplace safety and community health impacts. They ensure that the project complies with health and safety regulations.
• Specializations: Occupational health, public health, safety regulations, hazardous materials management.

8. Environmental Law Specialists

• Role: Legal professionals ensure that the ESIA process complies with local, national, and international environmental laws and regulations. They also help navigate environmental permitting and legal requirements.
• Specializations: Environmental law, regulatory compliance, permitting, land use law.

9. Ecologists and Wildlife Biologists

• Role: These specialists focus on assessing the impact of the project on local wildlife, habitats, and biodiversity. They conduct surveys, identify endangered species, and recommend mitigation measures to protect ecosystems.
• Specializations: Conservation biology, wildlife management, biodiversity assessment, habitat restoration, species relocation.

10. Climatologists/Climate Change Experts

• Role: These experts assess the potential effects of a project on climate, including greenhouse gas emissions, and they evaluate how the project might be affected by climate change. They also provide climate adaptation strategies.
• Specializations: Climate modelling, greenhouse gas inventories, climate adaptation, environmental resilience.

11. Stakeholder Engagement Specialists

• Role: These professionals facilitate communication between the project developer, local communities, government agencies, and other stakeholders. They ensure that public consultation processes are conducted transparently and inclusively.
• Specializations: Community engagement, public relations, stakeholder management, conflict resolution.

12. Risk Assessment Specialists

• Role: They analyze potential environmental, social, and financial risks associated with the project and provide recommendations for risk mitigation. They help quantify risks and assess the probability of adverse impacts.
• Specializations: Risk analysis, environmental risk management, disaster preparedness.

13. Landscape Architects/Urban Planners

• Role: These professionals assess the visual and aesthetic impacts of a project on the landscape and the surrounding environment. They also help with land use planning and integration of sustainable design practices into the project.
• Specializations: Urban planning, sustainable design, landscape architecture, environmental aesthetics.

14. Sustainability Consultants

• Role: Sustainability consultants focus on ensuring that the project aligns with sustainable development goals (SDGs) and minimizes its long-term environmental footprint. They assist in designing green solutions and evaluating lifecycle impacts.
• Specializations: Sustainability strategy, green building design, environmental performance assessment, resource efficiency.

These professionals collaborate as part of an interdisciplinary team to ensure that the ESIA is comprehensive, addressing the full range of potential environmental, social, and technical impacts of a project.

When it comes to writing the ESIA report, all specialist are involved, providing input in each ESIA phase — from discussion of relevant legislation for their field, to conducting baseline studies, and evaluating the impacts and mitigation measures.

The Subconsultants

Not all consultancy companies have all the expertise in-house, thus several specialized consultancy firms can work together to cover all elements of an ESIA. For example, an environmental consultancy specialized in ESIAs can hire another specialized consultancy company such as DHI (hence, a subconsultant) to carry out a hydrodynamic modelling and investigate development impact in a pristine island surrounded by coral reefs.

This collaboration is cost-efficient, as not all ESIA evaluate the marine environment, and not all marine development might affect coral reefs. It will be costly for an environmental consultancy firm to purchase expensive modelling software and databases, and have an oceanographer in their team, to potentially work on subject-related projects a few days per year. The same applies to most disciplines, depending on what are the common environmental requirements by a local regulator.

Wearing Multiple Hats

Environmental consultants, especially those working in smaller teams, have to wear multiple hats and take on generalist roles. While they are experts in specific fields, such as ecology or waste management, the limited size of many environment teams means they must handle a broader range of tasks. This can include tasks outside their primary specialization.

Typical pairings are:

• Generalists (degree in environmental sciences): tasked to coordinate the reporting of the ESIA and gather input from specialists. They evaluate desktop-based subjects, and review the information provided by the project developer. Generalist interpret the data collected by sub-consultants for water, soil, air and noise assessments, and use it to identify impacts and environmental risks.
• Social scientists: responsible to conduct Social Impact Assessment, Heritage Impact Assessments (if the person is specialized in archaeology), community and stakeholder engagement, stakeholder management, public relations, conflict resolution.
• Biologists or ecologists: marine and terrestrial ecological aspects, environmental impact analysis, environmental law, climate change, conservation, habitat restoration, GIS.
• Sustainability consultants: Sustainability strategy, green building design, environmental performance assessment, resource efficiency, greenhouse gas inventories, climate adaptation, environmental resilience.

Although covering areas out of one’s expertise or interest could be overwhelming — as it often is, the ability to be adaptable and quickly acquire knowledge across different disciplines have some professional benefits. For instance, it exposes the consultant to a broad range of projects. Since projects are quite diverse, it bring opportunities to grow in the field faster, and develop new technical and soft skills.