Search

In this paper we aim at determining the link between EIA report substance and administratively just EIA decisions. In so doing, previous research based on 42 case studies from South Africa, which analysed whether they comprised administratively just decisions (i.e. that were lawful, procedurally fair and reasonable) were reviewed for the substance of the EIA reports on which the decisions were based. The research found that administratively just decisions can be achieved even with weak EIA report substance in areas such as: need and desirability, identifying alternatives, dealing with significance, and addressing mitigation measures. We thereby conclude that administrative justice may be a false safety net in ensuring more environmentally sustainable EIA outcomes if not supported and informed by good EIA report substance. We conclude by making recommendations to improve substance and thereby strengthening administrative justice in EIA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the efficacy of public participation in the EHIA (environmental and health impact assessment) process of Thailand based on the opinions of 53 interviewees from various stakeholder groups in relation to certain public participation criteria. The evaluation revealed that public participation in Thai EHIA was partially effective. The project proponents provide an opportunity to anybody interested in the project to get involved from the scoping stage onwards. However, the important decisions are already made before the public can get involved. In addition, government officers and non-governmental organizations appear to be able to influence outcomes of public hearings more concretely than the project-affected people due to the highly technical nature of the discussions. The stakeholders were questioned whether their concerns were taken seriously during the decisionmaking process. In our conclusions, we make three major recommendations to enhance the public participation process and practice in Thai EHIA, based upon: (1) stakeholder analysis, (2) public participation in EHIA guideline revision, and (3) validation the authenticity of the concerns raised by stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how health aspects connected with the planning of urban green space are currently supported through two types of impact assessments: health impact assessment (HIA) and environmental assessment, including strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of policies, plans and programmes and environmental impact assessment (EIA) of projects. Seven HIAs and five EIAs/SEAs from the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Austria and Germany are reviewed, using an analytical framework designed on the basis of a literature review. An important finding is that whilst all HIAs follow a problem-/objectives-driven approach, designing guidelines for potential future projects, all EIAs/SEAs use an impact-driven approach, focusing on the impacts of planned and concrete action. HIAs therefore approach policy, plan, programme and project-making exercises from theoutside, making suggestions to those working on them to consider certain aspects in the future, rather than working with them on improving thingswithina decision-making process, as is usually is usually the case with EIAs/SEAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent regulatory evolutions gave the opportunity to professionals and academics from the health, urban planning and environment sectors – within a working group – to conduct in-depth research at a national level on health challenges in the field of EIA procedure and urban planning. This work resulted in the publication of a guide aimed at all actors involved in the urban planning decision process, which has now become a national reference document. Among the key findings of this project, three main concrete outputs caught our attention: a reference framework for Healthy Urban Planning (HUP); an all-encompassing tool for analysing urban planning projects ‘with a health lens’; an operational tool aimed at French regional health agencies (ARS) to help them formulate their health statements within the framework of the EIA regulatory procedure applied to urban development projects. This paper reviews the process of co-constructing the guide with special attention paid to the ARS tool, present the key findings and outputs and discuss the potential of the EIA process in promoting HUP in the current French context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) practitioners have a tendency to emphasize assessment phases over the linkages between the phases. Explicitly addressing the transitions between stages could add rigour to SEA processes and make them more structurally robust. There is a considerable body of research on project management practices used by corporations during new product development (NPD). The stage-gate®model is presented as an example of a successful and innovative NPD approach that is frequently used by various industries, and which addresses the links between assessment phases. Stage-gate theory treats connections between project stages as gates which must be passed. The philosophy behind the stage-gate model is explored as a macro-process that could support current practices in SEA and other types of impact assessment. The stages and gates designed for a proposed Nova Scotia SEA framework are presented to show how stage-gate thinking can be adapted for use in SEA processes. The paper concludes that SEA processes could become more efficient and effective by integrating a philosophy of gated assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper is a call for more studies that explicitly demonstrate the benefits of impact assessment to proponents. While the community of impact assessment practitioners generally believe that impact assessment is beneficial (to all stakeholders), empirical demonstration of this, particularly to project proponents, is warranted, and especially in financial terms. While many impact assessment benefits are intangible in nature, learning from the business and management literature shows how such benefits can usefully be measured based upon perceptions of managers within proponent agencies in tandem with archival material. A framework of the nature of impact assessment benefits for proponents, and their relative tangibility, is presented along with a five-step methodology for determining benefits. We now call upon impact assessment researchers and practitioners alike to use this framework and methodology to structure investigations from practice that will contribute to an empirical database for demonstrating the benefits of impact assessment to proponents. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The concept of significance is fundamental to environmental impact assessment (EIA). Even though there are many guidelines describing technical characteristics of impacts (such as magnitude, geographic extent, extent and frequency) that should be considered, there has remained a long-standing need for increased clarity on how significance determinations are ultimately reached by significance determiners, those who, on behalf of governments, make a legal determination of significance in EIAs. This involves the application of societal values, in the form of subjective informed judgement, about the acceptability of the predicted impacts. This paper introduces the significance spectrum, a graphic model that illustrates a process for determining significance, using the following steps: (1) determining the threshold of significance for each valued component; (2) weighing the evidence and considering predicted impacts; (3) deciding which side of the threshold the predicted adverse impact falls on; and (4) for unacceptable impacts, deciding if mitigations can make the residual impact acceptable. Concepts such as ecological significance should not be confused with significance in EIAs, which may not only include ecological significance but also considers societal values. We provide specific steps for determining significance that help clarify this fundamental aspect that lies at the core of EIA decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Public consultation is an important decision-aiding process in environmental impact assessment (EIA) and aids in building up consensus between various stakeholders, primarily the local public. In this meta-analysis, proceedings of 100 public hearings (PHs) recorded in the Indian state of Gujarat were analysed for the views of local public between environmental issues and others while an industry is being set up across five sectors – bulk drug and drug intermediates, cement, highway projects, oil and gas exploration and thermal power plants. The analysis shows that environmental issues are only 33% of the total issues raised, while socio-economic, infrastructure, PH process, track record and other general issues cover 21%, 13%, 2%, 12% and 19%, respectively. This implies that irrespective of sector or project local socio-economic and developmental concerns outweigh environmental issues and the current PH process is not able to get the appropriate inputs and insights from the stakeholders in improving the environmental decision-making. In light of these, some alternatives for strengthening the EIA-PH process is proposed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]