Abstract
ABSTRACT Good practice social impact assessment (SIA) should lead to improved local community development outcomes. However, the social benefits alleged to flow from projects are often not as evident to affected communities as the project’s adverse impacts. Projects still give inadequate attention to social issues and fail to achieve social development outcomes. Using a prominent gas project in Russia, the Nord Stream 2 project, as an illustrative example, we explore the potential of environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) to enhance the effectiveness of project contributions to local community development. We analyse the main steps of the community development process for the Nord Stream 2 project, and consider how it benefitted from the SIA process. We also reflect on the potential further contribution of SIA to community development. Even though SIA and community development are interrelated, we conclude that SIA, as currently practiced, is constrained in its ability to contribute to community development outcomes. Adjustments to the SIA and corporate social investment frameworks are needed to make them more effective in achieving social development outcomes.
Highlights
Social impact assessment (SIA) is a well-established field of research and practice that is essentially the process of assessing and managing the social impacts of development projects (Esteves et al 2012, 2017; Vanclay et al 2015)
Using a prominent gas project in Russia, the Nord Stream 2 project, as an illustrative example, we explore the potential of environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) to enhance the effectiveness of project contributions to local community development
We examine how social investment was considered in the Nord Stream 2 project, a prominent gas pipeline project in Europe, looking at the pipeline’s landfall area in Russia
Summary
Social impact assessment (SIA) is a well-established field of research and practice that is essentially the process of assessing and managing the social impacts of development projects (Esteves et al 2012, 2017; Vanclay et al 2015). The international SIA discourse advocates that projects, and the SIAs undertaken for them, should assist in developing local affected communities and in enhancing the development opportunities arising from projects (Vanclay 2003; Esteves and Vanclay 2009; Vanclay et al 2015; Vanclay and Hanna 2019). Providing local employment can be complex in that the project proponent often has limited control over the hiring practices of contractors (Esteves et al 2016). Limited employment opportunities for local people mean that there will likely be community dissatisfaction with the project (Esteves and Barclay 2011; Hanna et al 2016a; Vanclay and Hanna 2019)
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