Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

A written analysis of the predicted environmental consequences of a proposed development activity, including

1. a description of the avoidable and unavoidable adverse environmental effects
2. a description of alternatives to the activity which might be less harmful to the environment, together with the reasons why such alternatives were rejected; and
3. a description of any required irreversible or irretrievable commitments of resources required by the proposed development activity^[1]

This is the common definition for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), other definitions can be discussed in the article