Environmental Justice and Sustainability Impact Assessment: In Search of Solutions to Ethnic Conflicts Caused by Coal Mining in Inner Mongolia, China

This paper compares Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) practices and effectiveness in the Portuguese islands of the Azores and Madeira. This was accomplished by qualitative appraisal and evaluation of the contents of EIA statements and the characterisation of the EIA practices. Data was collected from the islands' regional environmental agencies and from the Environmental Portuguese Agency internet database. The findings reveal that most EIA project practitioners and consultants in the islands are associated with the regional government agencies. Proposals were generally approved with 'conditions' and the diversity of project types were lower in the islands than in the mainland. There was limited follow-up on the EIA process so that evaluation of conditions compliance was scanty. Key areas identified for consideration in the development of good impact assessment practice in the islands included, the Islands' unique geographical and ecological characteristics, scale effects, intra-insular regional dimension, impact significance evaluation approaches, and training, education and development skills in EIA processes.

Baseline Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of mining projects in Sierra Leone creates a challenging environment for data collection and impact prediction. Application of geographic information systems provides suitable spatial analysis data collection methods to reduce the challenges created by mining environments. This research develops a baseline spatial geodatabase template for evaluating potential and predicted environmental impacts assessment of mining projects in Sierra Leone. It is observed that spatial analysis of impacts of mining projects on the environmental attributes, especially air, noise, water, land, and socio-economy in mining areas is largely unexplored in Sierra Leone. The literature review revealed that no complete GIS spatial data geodatabase collection template appears to have been developed to date to provide an integrated sustainable spatial analysis and modelling tool for EIA and environmental management of mining in Sierra Leone. Therefore developing a Geographic Information Systems baseline geodatabase template for the evaluation of potential and predicted environmental impact for sustainable environmental impact assessment of mining in Sierra Leone will: 1) provide support to the data acquisition process of environmental impact assessment, 2) offer a concept for developing analysis methods for environmental management of mining, 3) minimize the undesired environmental impacts of mining, and 4) give an optimal proposal for data collection and analysis of mining industry in attaining sustainable development in Sierra Leone. Due to the limited available data, a conceptual GIS database template has been developed rather than a database case study of a mining site. No site investigation and data collection were undertaken. The geospatial database template was designed using ArcCatalog, ArcGIS 10.7.1. software, through the following steps: exploration of the general data requirement of environmental impact assessment studies of mining, the definition of the general baseline datasets requirement of environmental impact assessment in mining, structuring of the environmental impact assessment baseline spatial geodatabase, creating the geographic geodatabase dictionary, selecting, matching geographic data with geodatabase structure, designing the feature class and attributes, creating the baseline GIS geodatabase template. The GIS spatial geodatabase template has several advantages for environmental impact assessment of mining including avoiding data redundancy, integrating data into a single database, creating uniformity in data collection, easy to find and track data, integrated spatial and non-spatial data, and reducing the volume of data.

The Environmental and Social Impact Assessment: a further step towards an integrated assessment process

Local participation is always beneficial for sustainable action and environmental problems resulting from urban implementation due to the failure of social and institutional change necessary for a successful transformation of rural life to urban life ahead of the rapid movement of the population. Despite good legal practice and comprehensive guidelines, evidence suggests that Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or more broadly Environmental, Social and Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA) have not yet been found satisfactory in Nigeria, as the current system amounts to duplication of efforts and cost. However, ESHIA has been developed and integrated to help manage project activities, facilities, and operations sustainably, so that both economic and ecological profits are accrued (sustainable development) or ensure that any development project does not result in excessive deterioration of and/or the irreversible adverse effect on any component of the environment – a recite for sustainable development. A literature review was done by using a variety of search engines including Research Gate, Google Scholar, Academia, Mendeley, SSRN search strategy to retrieve research publications, “grey literature” and expert working group reports. The thrust of this study is to evaluate the potential benefits of ESHIA as a tool for sustainable environmental development. The evaluation and implementation of EIA are one of the strengths of these tools. Indeed, EIA is the first and foremost management tool employed to help mitigate adverse, potential, and associated impacts of proposed major developments in our environment. EIA is a regulatory requirement that is efficiently used to improve performance, project design, enhancing decision-making, and facilitating policy programs in a sustainable environment. An evaluation of the EIA systems reveals several weaknesses of the EIA system. These include the inadequate capacity of EIA approval authorities, deficiencies in screening and scoping, poor EIA quality, insufficient public participation, and weak monitoring and erratic government policies. Overall, most EIA study rarely meets the objectives of being a project planning tool to contribute to achieving sustainable development and mitigate the impact of the development project. The study recommends some directions for the future to ensure that entire content of the EIA are religiously implemented, review the existing EIA act, increase the expertise of EIA consultants, create a liaison office with an international organisation and with sister agency, ESHIA must enjoy Improved budgetary provision, time latitude, spatial contexts and methodological improvements for outcome measures to achieve results that are relevant to sustainable development by improving project design, enhancing decision making and facilitating policy programs.

"Environmental impact assessment" denotes the attempt to predict and assess the impact of development projects on the environment. A component dealing specifically with human health is often called an "environmental health impact assessment." It is widely held that such impact assessment offers unique opportunities for the protection and promotion of human health. The following components were identified as key elements of an integrated environmental health impact assessment model: project analysis, analysis of status quo (including regional analysis, population analysis, and background situation), prediction of impact (including prognosis of future pollution and prognosis of health impact), assessment of impact, recommendations, communication of results, and evaluation of the overall procedure. The concept was applied to a project of extending a waste disposal facility and to a city bypass highway project. Currently, the coverage of human health aspects in environmental impact assessment still tends to be incomplete, and public health departments often do not participate. Environmental health impact assessment as a tool for health protection and promotion is underutilized. It would be useful to achieve consensus on a comprehensive generic concept. An international initiative to improve the situation seems worth some consideration.

BackgroundSince the 1960s, environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and recently, social impact assessments (SIAs), have been conducted during the planning stages of large development projects to identify potential adverse effects and propose mitigation measures to ameliorate these impacts. EIAs and SIAs should outline all possible positive and negative effects of a proposed action or development on ecological and social systems, respectively, including biodiversity, flora and fauna, abiotic components (such as air quality), human health, security and wellbeing. The work outlined herein aims to generate a list of all possible direct and indirect effects of metal mining (including gold, iron, copper, nickel, zinc, silver, molybdenum and lead) along with the impacts of mitigation measures proposed, that are mentioned in EIAs and SIAs in Arctic and boreal regions of the following countries/regions: Canada, Alaska (USA), Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.MethodsWe will conduct searches for environmental and social impact assessments in Swedish and English, and until theoretical saturation is reached (i.e. no new action-impact pathways are identified). We will perform searches of specialist websites (e.g. public repositories of environmental and social impact assessments) and Google Scholar. We will also contact relevant stakeholders (that have been identified in the wider 3MK project https://osf.io/cvh3u/) and make a call for additional information. Eligibility screening will be conducted at two levels: title and full text. Meta-data will be extracted from eligible studies including type of mining activity, location of mine, type of impacts, and planned mitigation measures. Findings will be presented narratively, in a searchable relational database and in an evidence altas (a cartographic map). We will produce a framework of different mining impacts and related mitigation measures from practitioners’ knowledge reflected in EIAs and SIAs. This framework will further form the basis of a multiple knowledge base on mining impacts and mitigation measures generated from different knowledges including scientific, Indigenous, and practitioners’ knowledge.

Environmental economic impact assessment in China: Problems and prospects

Environmental impact assessment practices of the federative republic of Brazil: A comprehensive review

Avoiding or minimizing potential environmental impact is the driving idea behind protecting a population’s health via Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs). However, both are often carried out without any systematic approach. This paper describes the findings of a review of HIA, EIA and SEA experiences carried out by the authors, who act as institutional competent subjects at the national and regional levels in Italy. The analysis of how health is tackled in EIA and SEA procedures could support the definition of a protocol for the integration of HIA with EIA and SEA. Although EIA and SEA approaches include the aim of protecting health, significant technical and methodological gaps are present when assessing health systematically, and their basic principles regarding assessment are unsatisfactory for promoting and addressing healthcare concepts stated by the WHO. HIA is still poorly integrated into the decision-making process, screening and monitoring phases are only occasionally implemented, and operational details are not well-defined. The collaborative approach of institutions involved in environment and health is a core element in a systematic advancement toward supporting effective decisions and effective protection of the environment and health. At the Italian national level, the definition of guidelines and tools for HIA, also in relation with EIA and SEA, is of great interest.

Culturally sustainable environmental impact assessment (EIA) requires consideration of the impact of development on local people's cultural activities, including holding ceremonies, collecting resources, and learning skills, which are fundamental essences of Indigenous rights. While culturally sustainable EIA has become a common practice when a development project involves an Indigenous community, it is still argued that Indigenous cultural heritage is not adequately protected. This is due to the fact that Indigenous people do not always keep power in the post‐approval stage of EIA, or the lack of practical measures to minimise the impact of development projects on Indigenous cultural heritage and to enhance the possibility of reaching a consensus among stakeholders. The Cultural Impact Assessment of the Saru River Region in Japan was the first investigation of a site to preserve an ethnic minority culture, with regard to a dam construction. In the second phase of the assessment project, research staff members, some of whom are of Ainu ethnicity, suggested alternative ceremony sites and conducted experimental transplants to protect the local cultural activities. The long‐term investigation by research staff, in fact, influenced the direction of the dam construction. The developer agreed not to proceed with the construction until measures were taken to minimise the impact on cultural activities that would satisfy residents in the construction area. While still early to conclude that Indigenous participation in this assessment project has been successful, Indigenous participation has clearly enhanced the possibility of reaching a consensus. The project should be considered with other published EIA reports, in demonstrating a return from investing in EIA with Indigenous participation, with a practical means for realising Indigenous rights.

The article considers the synthesis of the concepts of sustainable development and environmental impact assessment procedures as the main approaches to environmentally responsible planning. The purpose of the article is to systematize the theoretical basis of sustainable development and determine the role that environmental impact assessment of planned activities plays in the practical implementation of this concept. The study uses methods of systematic and comparative legal analysis of international standards and summarizes current experience in the implementation of environmental assessments. It reveals the three-part structure of sustainable development through economic, social, and environmental dimensions and analyzes the evolution of international initiatives. The methodology for conducting environmental impact assessments is examined in detail, including the stages of preliminary assessment, determination of the scope of assessment, basic research, impact forecasting, and development of measures to minimize potential impacts. Particular attention is paid to the system of sustainability indicators (carbon footprint, water footprint, biodiversity index), which allow for a quantitative assessment of the contribution of projects to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.. The need to ensure transparency of processes and active public participation as the basis for trust in institutional mechanisms is justified. The main challenges of current practice related to climate change, cumulative effects, and the transboundary impact of projects are identified. The scientific novelty lies in a comprehensive approach to considering sustainable development and environmental impact assessment as complementary concepts. The practical significance of the work is determined by its potential use for environmentally responsible planning

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) performance has remained of interest, and over the past ten years, the evaluation technique has evolved. Thailand implemented an EIA with a health impact assessment (HIA) as an environmental health impact assessment (EHIA), which necessitated investigating and developing these instruments; however, its implementation performance has been questioned. The main goal of this study is to comparatively assess how well EIAs and EHIAs are performed in projects in an area in Thailand. Six projects in various sectors that were implemented in Eastern Thailand were studied. The 162 residents (nine local authorities and 153 villagers) closest to the project completed a survey and evaluated the performance according to three aspects (i.e., substantive, procedural, and transactive), using a rating scale and evaluation checklists. The results were presented as a percentage of the total scores and interpreted according to the five scales. The overall performance reached a satisfactory level, albeit not significantly different between cases; however, it was pointed out that the shortcomings of EHIAs and EIAs, particularly their dependability, lack of public involvement, and the need for more transparency, could be addressed through the establishment of an open access database, which would help to simplify the assessment of all stages of EIAs and EHIAs.

GreAT (Greener Air Traffic Operations) is a project funded by the European Commission under the H2020 framework programme. The overall objective is to reduce the fuel consumption and gas emissions during “gate-to-gate” flight phases through developing and assessing environment-friendly air traffic operational concept, adaptive airspace and green trajectory optimization technologies, and supporting avionic systems. Based on the scientific description of the impact of aviation emissions on the climate, the work within GreAT is seeking the key factors of the impact about aviation emissions on climate change characteristics by using sensitivity analysis, such as greenhouse gases, pollutant gases and condensation, and then select these factors as environmental impact assessment indicators, including fuel consumption, aviation emissions, air quality and greenhouse effect, establishing a calculation model for evaluation indicators using the fuel consumption model, gas emission model and climate change model. System analysis methods are used to build an aviation emission environmental impact (EIA) assessment index system structure, apply environmental impact assessment indicators, construct a general environmental impact assessment index system, and propose a comprehensive assessment method for aviation environmental impact. The following step in the project is the environmental impact assessment of air traffic operations to determine how green air traffic performs. According to the existing air traffic operation patterns, the flight characteristics and trajectory characteristics of the aircraft are determined, and the environmental impact assessment index system is used to evaluate the environmental impact under the air traffic operation plan and the impact and improvement effect on climate change.

Environmental impact assessment system in Thailand and its comparison with those in China and Japan

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