Environmental Impact Assessment System Research Articles

Change-making in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): piloting changeology approach using England as a case study

ABSTRACT Piecemeal changes to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process have to date not fully delivered EIA’s normative goals and met today’s environmental challenges. By regarding the to date approaches to change-making as a problem requiring a solution, this paper applies critical analysis to reflect upon current change-making based on England’s EIA system as a case study. The analysis identifies a lack of innovative ideas and sound evidence-based approaches to inform and support the change-making process. Consequently, we argue for an epistemology of change-making (changeology) so that the entire approach can be based on an empirically informed framework, to inform the journey (process) and destination (fit-for-purpose EIA) and make the EIA process fit-for-purpose and aligned to future expectations. Changeology should be viewed as more than informing one-time change-making but as a framework of well-studied practice for changing (or improving) EIA in the long term.

Transboundary water resource management and sustainable development in the lancang-mekong river basin: an analysis of international water law

ABSTRACT The Lancang-Mekong River Basin stands as one of the most critical and complex transboundary basins globally, where the utilization and protection of water resources are paramount. This basin, linking China, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, is characterized by a dense population and rapid industrial and agricultural development, fostering frequent economic and cultural exchanges. Cooperative efforts in water resource utilization and protection among these countries lead to issues such as resource disputes, environmental pollution, and collaboration barriers. Since the six basin countries have not jointly joined any international convention on water resources development or protection, disputes have been resolved and cooperation promoted through existing inter-state cooperation mechanisms for many years. However, these mechanisms often fall short due to the lack of common guiding principles. Achieving sustainable water resource development in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin aligns with the national interests of the six countries. The basin states can establish a transboundary Environmental Impact Assessment system and a dispute settlement mechanism. Constructing a comprehensive Integrated Water Resource Management Cooperation Mechanism, rooted in the fundamental principles of international water law, is crucial for enhancing the level of international cooperation within the basin.

Single-polyp metabolomics for coral health assessment

Coral reef ecosystems supported by environmentally sensitive reef-building corals face serious threats from human activities. Our understanding of these reef threats is hampered by the lack of sufficiently sensitive coral environmental impact assessment systems. In this study, we established a platform for metabolomic analysis at the single-coral-polyp level using state-of-the-art mass spectrometry (probe electrospray ionization/tandem mass spectrometry; PESI/MS/MS) capable of fine-scale analysis. We analyzed the impact of the organic UV filter, benzophenone (BP), which has a negative impact on corals. We also analyzed ammonium and nitrate samples, which affect the environmental sensitivity of coral-zooxanthella (Symbiodiniaceae) holobionts, to provide new insights into coral biology with a focus on metabolites. The method established in this study breaks new ground by combining PESI/MS/MS with a technique for coral polyps that can control the presence or absence of zooxanthellae in corals, enabling functions of zooxanthellae to be assessed on a polyp-by-polyp basis for the first time. This system will clarify biological mechanisms of corals and will become an important model system for environmental impact assessment using marine organisms.

Assessing the existing guidelines of environmental impact assessment and mitigation measures for future hydropower projects in Pakistan

Introduction: More than 16% of the total electricity used worldwide is met by hydropower, having local to regional environmental consequences. With positive indicators that energy is becoming more broadly available and sustainable, the world is moving closer to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7). Pakistan became the first nation to include the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in its national development strategy.Methodology: The current study sought to investigate the structural limits of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) guidelines for hydropower development in Pakistan. The study included the document review of the EIA reports about hydropower projects in Pakistan, scientific questionnaires from decision-makers, and public consultation.Results and Discussion: The document evaluates that an adequate mechanism is available, and donors like the Asian Development Bank and World Bank observe the implementation process of EIA in Pakistan. However, a comprehensive analysis of the EIA system found several things that could be improved, not only in the institutional framework but also in actual implementation and practices. More than 20% of respondent decision-makers disagreed with the compliance of the current Institutional Framework with EIA guidelines, and 25% think that the existing guidelines followed in Pakistan are not aligned with international standards and practices for Hydropower in actual practice. EIA has a limited impact on decision-making due to insufficient technical and financial resources.Recommendations: There should be a think tank with experts who can meet the needs of present and future epochs. The public should be communicated with and educated about EIA. For better efficiency, the officers and decision-makers should be trained internationally, i.e., the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA).

Analyzing the effectiveness of environmental impact assessment in Paraná, Brazil and California, United States with fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis and the analytical hierarchy process.

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) has become one of the most widespread environmental management instruments. Despite this, EIA is routinely criticized for being ineffective at impacting decision-making. This study compared the EIA systems of Paraná, Brazil and California, United States using the effectiveness dimensions from the EIA literature. This study formats the cases into contextual conditions using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to identify the necessary or sufficient conditions that cause effective outcomes. These effectiveness outcomes are then ranked by EIA stakeholders via the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to identify stakeholder priorities and to improve stakeholder management. The results show that in Paraná stakeholders identified normative effectiveness as the most important dimension, while stakeholders in California identified this dimension as the second-most important following substantive effectiveness. Public participation was found to be a necessary condition for both substantive and normative effectiveness to occur. Early project definition was found to be sufficient for substantive effectiveness and necessary for normative effectiveness, for which stakeholder coordination was a sufficient condition. This suggests that in order for EIA to influence decision-making and foster sustainable development, greater care needs to be taken to actively engage stakeholders in public participation, with clear roles and project design communicated early on, and a clear role for regulatory authority to promote stakeholder coordination for acceptable outcomes. These findings suggest that some effectiveness dimensions are caused by similar conditions, which could help focus stakeholder management efforts and point to new avenues for future EIA effectiveness research.

Environmental Impact Assessment System: Historical Institutional Analysis of Trail, Logic, and Evolutionary Dynamics

Environmental Impact Assessment System: Historical Institutional Analysis of Trail, Logic, and Evolutionary Dynamics

A critical review of environmental assessment legislation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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.

Port developments and marine democracy in Latin America

Under the quest for continual blue growth, port developments in Latin America continue to grow, in ecological footprint and socio-economic impact. This article reviews a series of ports in Chile, Panama, and Colombia, which share a constellation of impacts, social struggles for blue justice similarly lacking marine democracy. It reviews how these different groups of fishers, NGOs and citizen scientists are coming together to challenge these issues and look for a new system of environmental impact assessment and participatory rights. Considering mixed benthic and wetland habitat in San Antonio and coral reef and mangrove complexes in Panama and Colombia, it shows how local stakeholders may have relevant, significant long-term baselines of knowledge. At the same time, ports and their consultants are systemically given effective decision monopolies over EIAs, during their own projects. Using semi structured interviews and participatory GIS it shows how across Latin America, the same issues with ports repeat, and that a joint a international agreement for marine democracy may be relevant.

Health effects of future dioxins emission mitigation from Chinese municipal solid waste incinerators

Dioxins (including 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, as Group 1 Carcinogen) in the atmosphere mainly originate from incomplete combustion during municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration. To significantly reduce dioxins emission from the MSW incineration industry, China has promulgated a set of ambitious plans regulating MSW-related pollution; however, the emission reduction potentials and concomitant environmental and health impacts associated with the implementation of these programs on a national scale remain unknown. Here, we use real measurements from official environmental impact assessment systems and continuous emissions monitoring systems (covering 96.6% of national MSW incinerators) to estimate unit-level dioxins emission and concomitant environmental and health impacts. We find that in 2018, 99.3% and 66.7% of Chinese incinerators met such concentration and temperature standards, respectively, controlling the total emissions to 19.6 g toxic equivalency quantity and maintaining carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic risks significantly below safety levels nationwide. Fully achieving both current standards and future regulations will reduce emissions and health risks by 67.7% and 62.6%, respectively, with waste sorting program contributing the majority. This study reveals substantial benefits from curbing MSW-related dioxins pollution and underscores the promise of ongoing management.

The politics of policy implementation and reform: Chile's environmental impact assessment system

This paper examines the policy impacts of social movement organizations in conflicts over mega-project development, focusing on the linkages between the politics of policy implementation and subsequent reform efforts. I argue for the utility of a comparative political economy approach to disentangle the relationship of structural context to movement specific factors, such as movement organization, strategies, and tactics, to explain the policy impacts of movements. This helps to specify systemic, medium and short-term conditions more rigorously, and, more importantly, how they affect the balance of power between movements and opposing socio-economic and political forces. I test these propositions in the case of the politics of policy implementation and how they affected efforts to reform the Chilean Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA) from 1994-present. Within shifting structural conditions, movement organization, strategies, and tactics had discernable impacts on outcomes: positive outcomes mediated by political allies under favorable conditions, and indirect impacts under unfavorable conditions when allied politicians killed a bill hostile to their interests in committee.

Investigating the implementation of the mitigation hierarchy approach in environmental impact assessment in relation to biodiversity impacts

Global loss of biodiversity has directly and indirectly been caused by human activities. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) attempts to address the loss of biodiversity caused by development projects, by avoiding, reducing or compensating the loss (in that order following the mitigation hierarchy approach). Evidence suggests that in practice the mitigation hierarchy is not always applied correctly, and that monitoring is frequently absent, or flawed, meaning that the success of the mitigation measures, and their associated biodiversity outcomes, remain unknown. However, there is no literature that has systematically examined the application of the mitigation hierarchy and assessed the effectiveness of associated monitoring in an EIA system. This study fills that gap using Chile as an example because of its high biodiversity setting, and ease of access to EIA-related data. The results indicate that the use of compensation measures exceeded what would be expected from correct implementation of the mitigation hierarchy, and that there was also some misclassification of the measures. Monitoring studies focused on inspecting implementation of mitigation measures rather than measuring biodiversity outcomes (meaning that mitigation effectiveness cannot be fully evaluated). Further, there was a focus on specific elements of ecosystems and lack of consideration for broader biodiversity implications. Thus, the findings raise some concerns over the ability of EIA to achieve its goals of zero net loss of biodiversity. We make suggestions to improve the mitigation and monitoring aspects of the EIA process in Chile and would suggest that the recommendations are likely to have wider relevance to other jurisdictions.

Effectiveness and challenge of environmental impact assessment in industrial park, a case study in Northeast rust belt China

The conventional rough-and-tumble pattern of industrial development in the northeast has severely affected China's sustainable development in recent years. As a result, the industrial park emerged and prospered with the advantages of clear industrial positioning, optimized functional layout and complete support facilities. Nonetheless, for the environmental management of industrial parks, environmental impact assessment (EIA) should be better applied as an upstream environmental protection means. Thus, in three aspects, this study summarizes the research on EIA in the world and analyzes the effectiveness and development of EIA in Northeast China. First, this study analyzed the status and trends of international research in EIA, based on the Web of Science database and the CiteSpace scientometric software. The number of papers continues to rise. Some countries collaborate closely and bring forth new ideas. Research focuses on environmental management, EIA methodology, and energy issues. Research hotspots are public participation and life cycle methods. Second, to specifically investigate the effectiveness of the EIA of the Northeast Industrial Park in recent years has been profitable for the improvement of the Northeast EIA system and for promoting the environmental management approach of the EIA at the micro level. It has been demonstrated that the effect of 70% EIA implementation is relatively significant with high effectiveness. Third, using a SWOT analysis approach, it aims to identify internal strengths and weaknesses, external opportunities and challenges in the development of the Northeast Industrial Park EIA, and propose a future development strategy for the Northeast Industrial Park EIA at the macro level.

Developing an evaluation approach to consider the influence of country context on environmental impact assessment performance, from a southern African perspective.

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) as an environmental policy has been adopted in some countries. However, in terms of achieving its stated objectives in the developing country context, EIA system performance often falls short compared with the developed country context. Evaluation of EIA system performance has gained considerable attention with the aim of ensuring the achievement of its purpose, most recognizably the promotion of sustainable development through informed decision-making. Different evaluation approaches have been developed and applied to explore areas of inadequacy in the EIA system components, EIA implementation, and EIA report. Researchers have considered the context of the EIA system as the underlying cause of its limited performance in developing countries. However, the literature has not rigorously explored the relationship between EIA system performance and country context, and it is the subject of ongoing debate. Our aim in this article is to contribute to the practical analysis of the influence of country context on EIA system performance. Drawing on the conceptual frameworks and evaluation methods in the literature, we propose an evaluation approach to the EIA system performance that combines the importance of considering the country context in the evaluation process. It consists of EIA system components, EIA report, and an indicative set of country context indicators. The developed evaluation approach was validated by applying it to four case studies from southern Africa. The South African case study results are presented here. The outcome is a practical evaluation approach that promotes understanding of the relationship between EIA system performance and country context and can improve EIA system performance. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2023;19:1510-1524. © 2023 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

The evolution of China's environmental impact assessment system: Retrospect and prospect from the perspective of effectiveness evaluation

It has been nearly 20 years since the Law of the People's Republic of China on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) formally came into effect in 2003. The development of China's EIA system has gone through the stages of exploration, practice and reform. The evaluation objects have expanded from construction projects to planning, and then to policies, forming an EIA system with Chinese characteristics. This paper first draws on the experience of international EIA effectiveness evaluation and puts forward a checklist combined with China's practice. Based on this checklist, the development of China's EIA system is systematically reviewed and analyzed from the perspective of effectiveness evaluation. Finally, this paper proposes keys and priorities for the future effectiveness improvement of China's EIA system, and puts forward policy recommendations of realistic value for EIA to help China achieve high-standard protection and high-quality development. It is found that, as an important means of environmental management, the laws and regulations system, and administration system of China's EIA system play an important role. However, there are still some imperfections. The connotation of Strategic Environmental Assessment in China still needs to be further enriched, and support system such as public participation need to be strengthened.

How does the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process affect environmental performance? Unveiling EIA effectiveness in China: A practical application within the thermal power industry

Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) are widely accepted by organizations worldwide, despite differences in cultural backgrounds and political and environmental management systems. In recent years, the EIA process in China has been increasingly customized to national political intent and the legislative framework. Meanwhile, the substantive effectiveness of EIAs has become a widespread concern, indicating that the effectiveness of EIAs is gauged by their capacity to reduce the negative impacts of plans, projects, and programs (PPPs). In this study, using policy analysis, we identified how EIAs influenced the effectiveness and compatibility of other environmental regulations, as well as the interrelationships between them. This study examined coordinated efforts in the national thermal power industry to reduce pollutant emissions within the constraints of EIA approval. The results revealed that the EIA process could assist in reducing pollutant emissions without impeding economic development in China, with the unique characteristics of the Chinese EIA system playing a significant role. As a mandatory policy in China, EIAs helped curb the cumulative regional pollution caused by rapid industrialization, thereby preventing the occurrence of serious environmental issues. It should be noted that EIAs not only provided a structured approach to consultations and operational experiences to resolve environmental problems, but also for a wide range application path for other environmental management policies.

The Predicament and Outlet of Environmental Impact Assessment Mechanism from the Perspective of Risk Society: Taking Japan’s Accident-Type Nuclear Sewage Disposal as a Cut-In

As an important yardstick of social modernization, nuclear technology not only promotes the in-depth development of the national economy but also hangs a sword of Damocles in the field of the risk society. Against the background of the unrest of the nuclear leakage disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the Japanese government has announced its unilateral decision to discharge nuclear sewage into the sea, undoubtedly putting at least the Pacific Rim countries at huge potential risks. In order to maximize risk reduction and focus on preventive construction in advance, Japan's measures to discharge accident nuclear sewage into the sea have a legitimate basis for the application of an environmental impact assessment system. At the same time, in the process of operation, there are numerous risk dilemmas, such as lack of safety treatment standards, long follow-up disposal cycle and negative domestic supervision system, which need to be broken through one by one. The effective application of the environmental impact assessment system in the Japanese nuclear accident not only helps to reduce the environmental crisis caused by accidental nuclear effluent discharge to the sea but also has a positive and far-reaching international demonstration significance, which helps to better build a foundation of international trust and preventive guarantee system in advance for the possible accidental nuclear effluent treatment in the future.

The Feasibility of Constructing a Greenhouse Gas Emission Assessment System in China and Its Legislative Path

In order to achieve the ambitious carbon peak and neutrality targets, China is in the process of revising Environmental Impact Assessment Law. This study is devoted to the proposition of how to incorporate activities regulating greenhouse gas emissions into the legal system of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). This study is inspired by the Embedding Theory, which provides the explanatory framework that allows economic activities to be regulated by political and social norms. This framework requires a relevance and cost analysis of the three indicators required to regulate economic activities: administrative support, technical support, and legal support. The results reveal that the structure of China’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Assessment (GGEA) system and that of the EIA system are closely related and that the generation and transaction costs involved in the process of institution embedding are low. This result satisfies the requirements of the Embedding Theory for achieving institutional coupling. In conclusion, this study provides an outlook on the direction of the revision of China’s EIA Law from the perspective of building a rule of law pathway for GGEA with “4EM-3CS-3RC” as the core.

Post-assessment in policy-based strategic environmental assessment: Taking China's agricultural support and protection subsidy policy as an example

As the top-level component of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) system, policy-based strategic environmental assessment (SEA) plays an important role in avoiding the negative environmental impacts of policy implementation. However, the development of policy-based SEA in China is relatively slow due to institutional and technical difficulties. In fact, the effective inclusion of policy-based SEA in the early stage of policy decision-making will continue to face major and long-term practical resistance in the future, such that conducting policy-based SEA on a large-scale will be difficult. Therefore, this study proposes a chain-type post-assessment framework suitable for assessing the environmental impact of policies under implementation from the perspective of policy life cycle assessment to promote policy-based SEA to cover more policies. This framework includes five parts, namely, policy analysis, impact identification, impact analysis, cause exploration, and policy recommendations. This framework follows a typical model with environmental impact analysis as the core and incorporates the concept of system optimization. Following this framework, this study conducts an EIA of China's agricultural support and protection subsidy policy (ASPSP). The study finds that the framework demonstrated good applicability in the post-assessment of policies under implementation. In the future, to promote the establishment and development of policy-based SEA in China, work should be conducted from the following aspects: promotion of the policy EIA into law, establishment of an assessment framework throughout the policy life cycle, and strengthening the research on methods. Through case studies, this study finds that China's ASPSP, which is beneficial to the environment in terms of policy design, lacks a prominent positive impact on the eco-environment and even has a negative impact. This is related not only to unreasonable policy design but also to deviation from policy implementation under the joint action of policy implementers, policy object, and the policy implementation environment. In the future, while continuing to optimize and adjust policies, work should be conducted in terms of optimizing the policy implementation environment, improving policy implementation methods, and strengthening the foundation of policy implementation to improve policy effectiveness.

Evaluation of the effectiveness and performance of environmental impact assessment studies in Greece

As environmental management is becoming increasingly complex, adequate assessment techniques must be utilized to forecast environmental impact trends. The current study aims to investigate the effectiveness of the evaluation system in Greece regarding environmental impact assessment (EIA) concerning projects. Data were extracted from literature and a questionnaire, which was distributed electronically on a Pan-Hellenic scale. Results indicated that the EIA system in Greece has solid foundations with a weak point regarding implementation. Strengths, weaknesses, and threats of EIA institution were analyzed through SWOT-AHP (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats and Analytical Hierarchy Process) analysis. A dominant criterion in the analysis due to the dynamic of the deep economic recession was found to be the economic crisis.

Environmental Impact Assessment System and Process in Developing Countries

Environmental Impact Assessment System and Process in Developing Countries