Incomplete surveys for environmental impact assessments jeopardise threatened species recovery

The Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth) was proclaimed on 16 July 2000. This Act represents the most fundamental reform of environment legislation since the 1970s and it will change dramatically the role of the Commonwealth in environmental impact assessment. The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act provides for Commonwealth involvement in environmental impact assessment to be focused on six matters of ‘national environmental significance’. Another significant feature of this Act is that it provides a framework for the accreditation of State and Territory environmental assessment and approval processes. This article provides an outline of the repealed Federal environmental impact assessment legislation, the Environment Protection (Impact of Proposals) Act 1974 (Cwlth), an assessment of its deficiencies and a discussion of the key reviews of Commonwealth environmental impact assessment. The main features of the new Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act along with the debate regarding the future role of the Commonwealth in environmental impact assessment, are then discussed. The issue of whether the new Act reflects an expansion or devolution of Commonwealth power with respect to environmental impact assessment is addressed and it is argued that the Act has the potential to expand Commonwealth power.

Proponents of development projects (e.g., new roads, mines, dams) are frequently required to assess and manage their impacts on threatened biodiversity. Here, we propose that the environmental legislation and standards that mandate such assessments are failing those threatened species and ecological communities listed as vulnerable. Using a case study of Australia's key environmental legislation, we highlight that vulnerable ecological communities receive no statutory protection, while vulnerable species are held to a less stringent standard in the impact assessment process compared with those that are endangered or critically endangered. In the 19 years since Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 was enacted, four times as many vulnerable species have declined in their threat status than have improved. Beyond Australia, we demonstrate the global relevance of this issue, as it applies to internationally recognized best practice impact assessment guidelines. These cases provide a cautionary tale: without greater attention and stricter assessment criteria in the impact assessment process, the vulnerable species of today risk becoming the endangered species of tomorrow, with all the attendant costs and missed opportunities for recovery that this implies.

Building the evidence base for ecological impact assessment and mitigation

As a country whose environmental protection legislation develops relatively late, environmental problems have occurred frequently in recent years, especially those related to enterprises’ environmental protection responsibilities. Through the comparison of environmental legislation and the legislative differences on corporate environmental responsibility between China and Japan, this paper aims at figuring out what deficiencies exist in Chinese environmental legislation. Some suggestions on China’s future environmental protection legislation concerning the advantages of Japanese environmental legislation will be given.

Roads affect wildlife in different ways. Road construction increases fragmentation of habitats, influences landscape pattern and alters the physical environment. Roads act as barriers to animal movements, increase their mortality rates and cause other negative impacts on biodiversity. The current paper overviews the assessment of road impacts in Lithuania, reviews approaches applied to evaluation of road development impacts as well as analyses application of Lithuanian legal documents in the field. In Lithuania, assessment of possible effects inflicted by envisaged road construction is determined by the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment of Planned Economic Activities and orders of the Ministry of Environment. Although the legislation covers some aspects of biodiversity, little attention is given to the assessment of the impact on biodiversity; meanwhile the impact assessment of proposed economic activities on Natura 2000 sites is clarified more extensively. Lithuanian methodological guidelines on determination of environmental impact assessment procedures and principles for the road network do not comply with international requirements concerning the biodiversity impact assessment of roads. The practiced biodiversity impact assessment used for road development projects in Lithuania complies with minimum requirements used in developed countries. To fulfil international requirements on biodiversity conservation, it is necessary to amend the Lithuanian legislation on environmental impact assessment and issue guidelines on biodiversity protection in road development projects. The article proposes models for calculation of road pollution dispersion for evaluation of air quality next to the already existing and newly projected roads.

Federal and provincial governments across Canada have enacted comprehensive environmental assessment processes to evaluate the benefits and burdens of significant proposed infrastructure and resource activities. In recent years, federal processes have become a focal point for jurisdictional tensions, including conflicts over the regulation of major projects, natural resource development, and greenhouse gas emissions. In the wake of the Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark 2023 reference opinion in Reference re Impact Assessment Act, this article follows the evolution of federal environmental impact legislation from its inception during the 1980s to the impugned legislation. Beginning with the development of the Environmental Assessment and Review Process Guidelines Order and its subsequent 1992 legal challenge at the Supreme Court in Friends of the Oldman River Society v. Canada (Minister of Transport), we provide a high-level overview of the successive legal and procedural frameworks governing environmental assessment in Canada. Special attention is given to jurisdictional issues considered in the 2023 Supreme Court reference opinion and anticipated amendments to the present iteration of the governing legislation.

Legal review of the Impact Assessment on the Environment, Disaster and Traffic Related to Urban Development

The promulgation of the Environment Conservation Act was responsible for the origins of contract archaeology in South Africa. In South Africa, Archaeological Impact Assessments (AIAs) are part of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), but both the environmental and heritage legislation can trigger impact assessments in the country. The relevant environmental laws are the Environment Conservation Act and the National Environmental Management Act. For heritage and as intimated above, the applicable laws are the NHRA and the KwaZulu-Natal Heritage Act. Under the heritage legislation, heritage agencies are the deciding authorities, whereas under the environmental legislation, they are merely commenting authorities as the deciding powers are vested with the relevant environmental authorities be they provincial or national. While South Africa is experiencing a surge in the demand for contract archaeology, the training of contract archaeologists is lagging behind this boom.

Background: Many countries undertake development activities that utilize resources from the environment. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Congolese Environmental Agency is supervised by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development to undertake an environmental assessment of all projects that pose risks to the environment. The present study conducted a critical review of the country’s existing environmental assessment legislation, identifying strengths and weaknesses in the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) system. Methods: A literature survey was done in the Google Scholar, Taylor & Francis, and Elsevier databases, which were also guided by the PRISMA. All full-text articles included in the study were written or translated (using online translation software) into the English language, and also, reported on environmental impact assessment as well as legislation. A textual examination of the included literature was done. A set of adapted analytical criteria was used to critically review the ESIA system in the DRC. The results were discussed, and recommendations were given. Results: It was found that the decree was not effective and efficient for the ESIA study. Some of the key limitations of the ESIA decree included the lack of scoping in the entire ESIA process, alternatives that were limited in scope, fees and charges that were not explicitly stated in the legislation, and the lack of public participation at some stages. Conclusion: The ESIA system in the DRC is ineffective and needs revision to improve its effectiveness.

Background: Many native orchids with ornamental value are at risk and should be managed sustainably. This country has environmental regulations for the protection and management of its orchid flora place, but the level of implementation and compliance needed to achieve sustainable orchid use remains unknown. Question: What is the level of compliance and implementation of sustainable management for wild orchids in Mexico that arise from its environmental legislation? Study Species: Wild orchids of Mexico. Study site and years: The study covered the entire country, was conducted in 2015-2016. Methods: The instruments of the current environmental policy framework in Mexico were reviewed. The level of operational effectiveness and compliance with this regulation was evaluated through consultations with governmental agencies and interviews with orchid producers. Results: Although Mexico’s environmental regulations align with international treaties, they do not always support the sustainable use of orchids. This is due to legal omissions, regulatory gaps, excessive bureaucracy, and the absence of scientific criteria. Additionally, compliance levels are low, and enforcement actions are inadequate. Conclusions: To improve orchid protection and management, administrative procedures should be simplified, and specific formats for this plant group should be designed. It is also necessary to harmonize and update legal instruments by incorporating criteria based on scientific studies.

Chapter 18 - Environmental Legislation and Best Practice in the Emerging European Rare Earth Element Industry

Research the current situation of Vietnam’s environment. Researching the real situation of the law on environmental protection: the achievements of the law on environmental protection; Current issues raised in the regulation of environmental protection legislation. Proposing and proposing major solutions to perfect the environmental protection legislation in the coming time: perfecting the environmental protection legislation; complete the national standards and technical regulations on environment; complete the regulations on environmental impact assessment; complete the regulations on waste management, especially those in urban and industrial areas; complete the regulations on environmental protection of soil, water and air; issue documents specifying the process of publication and democratization of environmental protection activities.

Robust science underpinning legislation can create better outcomes for threatened species impacted by infrastructure projects

ABSTRACTZoological consultants in Western Australia survey northern quolls (a small, cat-like marsupial) for environmental impact assessment. Confronted by habitat destruction and on the verge of extinction, northern quolls are protected as a conservation significant species, yet their precarious ecological position is made visible only through zoological work. This article explores how consultative zoologists negotiate relationships between themselves and northern quolls in order to both craft detailed population studies and mobilise the species’ power to reframe human development. Traversing environmental legislation, zoologists nurture (rather than take for granted) quoll relations, manifesting an attentiveness that entangles the animal in fact-making and modes of environmental protection. Drawing from a growing compendium of multispecies scholarship, this article questions how attentiveness can bring new entanglements into being, and how these entanglements can be managed in order to both make sense of the world and level the playing field for those nonhumans who inhabit it.

Environmental Impact Assessment is a tool in ensuring environmental protection. Projects which impact the environment significantly are assessed with the aim of predicting the consequences as well as identifying appropriate measures for minimizing the adverse effects the project may have on people and their property as well as the environment. The Environmental Assessment Act, 1992 while providing details as to environmental assessment, makes for the enforcement of the stipulations in the Act through an Agency. Formerly known as Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) (created under the repealed Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) Act), the National Environmental Standards, Enforcement Agency (NESREA) (created under the National Environmental Standards, Enforcement Agency (NESREA) Act), is the Agency charged with the responsibilities of enforcing all provisions of Environmental Impact Assessment Act, in Nigeria. This research work is on the challenges as faced by the regulator i.e. NESREA in enforcing the provisions of environmental impact assessment. The work defines environmental impact assessment as well as outlines the role and function of Environmental assessment. The work looks in brief the international provisions for environmental assessment as well as environmental impact assessment in Nigeria. NESREA as the regulator is ex-rayed as to the enforcement of Environmental Impact Assessment in Nigeria. The doctrinal research methodology was employed in writing this paper. The paper identifies several challenges faced by NESREA and makes recommendations as to capacity building, infrastructure, funding, increase sanctions and penalties amongst others.