Improving the consideration of human health in environmental planning and decision-making – perspectives from Germany

Abstract

The effects of projects, plans or programmes on human health are currently often dealt with unsatisfactorily in terms of the indicators and methods used in current German environmental assessments – whether in environmental impact assessments (EIA) or in strategic environmental assessments (SEA). The absence of more stringent techniques for the identification, prognosis and evaluation of effects on human health (like health impact assessments, many approaches are difficult to understand, especially in light of international efforts to improve the implementation of health concerns in planning and decision-making processes. As a result of an interdisciplinary initiative, a working group, affiliated with the German EIA Association, published the ‘Guideline Human Health – supporting an efficient examination of health effects within planning decision-making processes’. In the current process of transposing the new demands of the revised EIA Directive into German EIA law, the Guideline can only be a first step towards supporting practitioners and administrative actors involved in environmental assessments, enhancing the perception of health effects and fostering their better incorporation within environmental assessments.