Impact assessment

Impact assessment is sort of like asking yourself, "If I do this, what will happen?" Imagine you want to build a big treehouse in your backyard. The first thing you need to do is think about what could happen if you build it – like what will neighbors think, will it be safe, and what will happen to the trees and animals living nearby?

Impact assessment is when you ask and answer all those questions before doing something, and you do it to make sure whatever you're planning to do will not hurt anybody or anything. So in this case, you might talk to your neighbors, look at pictures of other treehouses, and make sure you're using safe materials so that you can build a fun treehouse without anyone or anything getting hurt.

But impact assessment isn't just for kids building treehouses. It's the same thing big companies and governments do before they start a big project like building a new factory or highway. They look at how the project will affect the environment, the people living nearby, and make sure they are doing it in a safe and responsible way.

So impact assessment is a way of asking questions to make sure that what we do doesn’t hurt people or things around us, and helps us figure out what we can do to make sure everything goes well.