Local Environmental Sensitivity Analysis (LESA): A program to improve the preparation of environmental impact statements

Abstract

Amir, S., 1976. Local Environmental Sensitivity Analysis (LESA): A program to improve the preparation of environmental impact statements. Landscape Plann., 2: 229–241. The prime purpose of recent environmental impact assessment legislation has been to make the public decision maker aware of the environmental cost associated with any single proposed project development. The procedures often require that information gathered be fully disseminated to the public to enable groups and individuals affected by the proposed project to study the impact. Two different approaches and types of programs exist to attain these objectives. The more common approach is typified by the programs developed in the U.S. following the legislation of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), in the form of a requirement to assess the environmental impact of projects and the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (E.I.S.). The main feature of this program is that it is only done when a project is proposed for a site. A broader approach to environmental assessment is the one now being developed in Israel as the Local Environmental Sensitivity Assessment Program (LESA). Under this program the project by project approach becomes a phase in a wider environmental protection effort. The LESA program is developed independently of a project or site and then applied on a local basis. It is thought that an E.I.S. program could be made more efficient and valuable if it is based on a combined program constituting the LESA type assessment and the project by project approach. This paper summarizes the experience, so far, of the project by project approach, explains the properties and gives an example of the LESA program, and suggests a way to combine the two phases to improve the preparation of E.I.S.