Problems Of Environmental Impact Assessment Research Articles

The Role and Problems of Environmental Impact Assessment in Avoiding Nimby Effect

The Role and Problems of Environmental Impact Assessment in Avoiding Nimby Effect

Legal Problems of Environmental Impact Assessment in Thailand Calling for Law Revision

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is well-known and widely used as an essential tool for environmental management. Over the past 40 years, there have been problems and obstacles in law enforcement and prosecutions in many cases under the EIA laws related to national development projects in Thailand. For this reason, this article aims to present the results of a study of the legal measures on the EIA process in Thailand. This study was conducted through reviewing concepts and theories concerning the EIA and related laws both in Thailand and abroad. The main objective of this study was to analyze the condition of problems and obstacles caused by attempts made in the law enforcement. The importance of the study would result in revision of the laws related to the EIA process to achieve sustainable development goals.

The Role and Problems of Environmental Impact Assessment in Governing Hydro-Power Projects in Cambodia

Hydro-power projects on the Mekong River may cause great impacts on sustainability of the river. This paper investigates the role of Cambodia’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) in governing hydro-power projects and examines whether the current EIA legal regime is capable to address the challenges raised by hydro-power projects. The author finds that Cambodia has established high standards in EIA legal framework. Some proposed requirements, such as the consideration of the impacts of climate change and trans-boundary impacts, may constitute great challenge for future enforcement. Case study in hydro-power projects suggests that the implementation of EIA is far from fulfilling the purposes promised by the black letters in the law. Currently, the main difficulties in implementation are lack of capacity building and public participation. The imperfection of land law as an external element is another obstacle to the effectiveness of EIA law. As a mid-stream riparian state of the Mekong River, on one hand Cambodia is facing potential negative impacts of hydro-power projects in Lao PDR and China, on the other hand, its hydro-power projects may add more threats to the sustainability of Mekong River. This paper argues that for the sustainability of the Mekong water system, Cambodia should implement its EIA law seriously and speed the work of land titles.

The features of landscape mapping in the environmental assessment

Along with the General scientific methodology of mapping of geosystems, special cartographic models are developed for practical purposes, which take into account the needs of the industry for which they are created. The article deals with the main methods of mapping to solve the problems of environmental impact assessment of objects Verkhnechonskoye oil and gas condensate field and the system of external transport of oil. Due to the specifics of the Northern territory in the legend of the map reflects the geological and permafrost characteristics of each landscape, as well as the main processes taking place in them. Analysis of the set of factors displayed for each landscape made it possible to divide the latter into three degrees of stability (the ability to restore its original appearance after external influence). For convenience of perception of the cartographic image, each area is shown in the color scale with separate numbering of contours. Colors within each district differentiate according to certain basic typology landscape on different landforms, which alter hydroclimatic conditions. The article gives examples of legend maps and explanations to assess the transformation of landscapes in natural and anthropogenic conditions. The modern transformation of landscapes and the forecast of their changes are based on a detailed assessment of natural conditions, their dynamic and evolutionary transformations, ecology of plant species, and the nature of anthropogenic impact.

Assessing the environmental impact of tourism development: Use of the Delphi technique

This article reports the development and application of a methodology for the environmental impact assessment of tourism projects. It reviews the background literature on tourism-related impacts and the wider problems of environmental Impact assessment, including issues associated with measurement. The Delphi technique is presented as a potentially valuable tool for the identification and assessment of environmental impacts. Findings are presented of the application of the developed methodology to a specific tourism project, namely Salt's Mill, Bradford. An assessment is then made of the methodology along with an outline for further refinement and testing of the approach.

Assessing the environmental impact of tourism development: the use of the Delphi technique

This paper reports the development and application of a methodology for the environmental impact assessment of tourism projects. It reviews the background literature on tourism related impacts and the wider problems of environmental impact assessment, including issues associated with measurement. The Delphi technique is then identified as a potentially valuable tool for the identification and assessment of environmental impacts. The findings of the application of the developed methodology to a specific tourism project, namely Salts Mill, Bradford (UK) are presented. An assessment is then made of the methodology along with an outline for further refinement and testing of the approach.

Environmental impact studies: An interdisciplinary approach for assigning priorities

The cross-impact assessment process (CAP) is presented as a practical method for efficiently identifying a parsimonious set of critically important variables and associated relationships needed to conduct environmental impact studies. CAP was developed from the logic of a number of techniques that are collectively referred to as cross-impact analysis. The process is based on a series of structured workshops. The participants represent a variety of disciplines and individual members are selected because they have both the depth of understanding necessary to contribute specific knowledge on the environmental impact assessment problem and the breadth of view to integrate that knowledge with the information provided by other panelists. The results of the workshops are summarized in an importance index and presented in a cross-impact matrix. CAP is illustrated with an example from an Upper Mississippi River recreation impact study, but it can also be applied to any environmental impact assessment problem that can be characterized as a system of variables and relationships. CAP also provides an efficient and reasonably objective means for assigning priorities to environmental impact studies.

Application of adenylate energy charge to problems of environmental impact assessment in aquatic organisms

Various physiological and biochemical methods have been proposed for assessing the effects of environmental perturbation on aquatic organisms. The success of these methods as diagnostic tools has, however, been limited. This paper proposes that adenylate energy charge overcomes some of these limitations. The adenylate energy charge (AEC) is calculated from concentrations of adenine nucleotides ([ATP+½ADP]/[ATP+ADP+AMP]), and is a reflection of metabolic potential available to an organism. Several features of this method are: correlation of specific values with physiological condition or growth state, a defined range of values, fast response times and high precision. Several examples from laboratory and field experiments are given to demonstrate these features. The test organisms used (mollusc species) were exposed to a variety of environmental perturbations, including salinity reduction, hydrocarbons and low doses of heavy metal. The studies performed indicate that the energy charge may be a useful measure in the assessment of environmental impact. Its use is restricted, however, as several limitations exist which need to be fully evaluated. Further work relating values to population characteristics of multicellular organisms needs to be completed before the method can become a predictive tool for management.