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

Abstract

Since its introduction, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process has been subject to both critiques and adjustments with the aim of addressing the main issues emerging from its wide implementation. In this regard, one of the most active debates has focused on the weight allocated to the analysis of the social impacts of project implementation, often considered too limited. The Social Impact Assessment (SIA) was then launched but it has for long been considered as a component subordinate to the Environmental Impact Assessment. As a follow up to such a debate, the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) has been introduced and is now being widely applied by multilateral donors, international agencies and private lending institutions. It appears as a promising tool based on an integrated assessment where biophysical and social impacts of projects, programs and policy initiatives, are equally acknowledged and evaluated. However, it still misses a proper scientific foundation as, to date, few scientific publications on the theoretical base, opportunities and limits of such an assessment process have been made available. Therefore, the present paper aims to catch the attention of the scientific community on this gap in research, as well as to contribute to fill it. With this aim, a wide spectrum of grey literature documents has been analyzed in order to deduce the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment's core elements and advancements potentially provided in the framework of an increased awareness of environmental issues, no longer limited to biophysical components. While retracing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) co-evolution over time, as well as the outset of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), a profound change in the approach to environmental and social concerns arising from project implementation clearly emerged. Such a change, that occurred with a particular emphasis since the early 2000s, has led to the establishment of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment as an integrated assessment process properly capturing the interrelationship between land and society.