Quality Of Environmental Impact Assessment Research Articles

Striking a Balance: Streamlining Environmental Licensing for Business Growth and Environmental Protection in Indonesia

Indonesia's environmental licensing process is critical for regulating business activities and safeguarding the environment. This analysis explores the interaction between this process and the government's recent efforts to enhance "ease of doing business." Before streamlining measures, obtaining environmental permits was a complex and time-consuming ordeal. Businesses faced difficulties meeting stringent requirements and navigating a bureaucratic labyrinth. The "ease of doing business" provisions aim to simplify procedures and expedite permit acquisition, ideally without compromising environmental protection. The paper emphasizes the importance of achieving a balance between efficiency and environmental protection. While streamlining can improve business competitiveness, a decline in environmental impact assessment quality could have negative consequences. The discussion also explores the various obstacles hindering the current licensing process, including complex bureaucracy, high costs, and limited interagency coordination. To overcome these challenges, the paper suggests measures to simplify procedures, improve communication between government agencies, and raise environmental awareness among businesses. By effectively integrating ease of doing business with environmental considerations, Indonesia can create a more efficient licensing system that fosters sustainable economic growth.

A Quality Review of EIA: A Comparative Study of State-Funded and International Aid Agency-funded Development Projects in Sri Lanka

A development project's environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a tool for mitigating the effects on the environment and promoting sustainable development. EIA is an expensive and professionally engaged process that involves the public. Many countries around the world have long-standing laws in place connected to this topic, as well as solid knowledge and experience. One persistent argument against the efficacy of EIA in developing nations is that the procedure and quality differ from country to country. The International Aid Agencies (IAA) have their guidelines for protecting the environment while following local environmental assessment standards for any financing requirements. IAA involvement in the EIA process might significantly affect how well- written EIA reports are. To evaluate the assessment quality, six EIA reports from state-financed development projects (SL-EIAs) and another six development projects EIAs funded by the IAA (IAA-EIAs) in Sri Lanka were randomly chosen. LeeCooley review package (1990) was used to evaluate the Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) of each EIA. In this investigation, it was discovered that IAA-EIAs and SL-EIAs had a significant difference in overall quality. IAA-EIAs show values that range from highly satisfactory to satisfactory and each share 50 percent, whereas SL-EIAs indicate 83 percent satisfactory and 17 percent of borderline quality. In comparison to the SL-EIAs, all four review areas of the IAA-EIAs performed notably well. While the SL-EIA shows good to borderline quality (0.66-0.72), all evaluated IAA-EIA reports reveal highly satisfactory to satisfactory (0.81-0.93) quality. The engagement of IAA in the environmental assessment has a considerable impact to improve assessment quality in comparison to the only domestic assessment. Finding the weak area in the SL-EIA process and adhering to the IAA standards would elevate the standard of the report.
 Keywords: EIA quality, Review, International Aid Agency, Development projects

Quality of Environmental Impact Assessment Reports for Lodge Developments in Protected Areas: The Okavango Delta Case, Botswana

This paper evaluates the quality of environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports for lodge developments in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, which is a wetland of international importance and forms part of a transboundary conservation area and world heritage site. A quality review of 31 EIA reports, approved between 2013 and 2021, was conducted by applying a context specific EIA report quality review package. The review package consists of four review areas with seventeen categories and 64 sub-categories, adapted from similar international packages to address the specific legal requirements for EIA in Botswana as well as best practice. Results show that the overall quality of the reports are poor, with 71% graded as ‘unsatisfactory’. In general, descriptive areas of the EIA reports fared better, while the performance of the more analytical areas was ‘poor’. Key areas of weakness include - the identification of impacts; prediction and assessment of impact magnitude; as well as identifying alternatives and mitigation measures. Overall results suggest that currently EIA report content is insufficient to inform decision-making towards sustainable tourism development in the Okavango Delta. It is recommended that areas of weakness can be addressed by providing clear strategic direction; developing a central data management system; setting norms and standards for tourism development as well as building capacity and awareness of key stakeholders. This will ensure that EIA remains a tool of choice for decision making and avoid becoming a mere ‘red-tape’/administrative process aimed at securing development approvals.

Study on The Quality of Environmental Impact Assessment Documents Evaluated by EIA Assessment Commission of South Sumatra Province for Preventing Environmental Degradation

The quality Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA) document does not absolutely guarantee effectiveness of EIA implementation, but it can be the main basis in environmental management and monitoring. So it is very necessary to evaluate the quality of the EIA Document. This research aims to evaluate the quality of the EIA document assessed by the South Sumatra Province EIA Assessment Commission and appraise the compliance of the person in charge of the business and/or activity in implementing the EIA Document. The research method used is descriptive qualitative. The sample is taken using total sampling technique (12 EIA Documents that have been assessed between 2018-2020 and already have an Environmental Feasibility). The result of the consistency test showed that 42% is very good, 50 % is good and 8% is bad. All the EIA Documents own very good necessity aspect. The results of the relevance test showed that 58% is very good and 42% is good. Based on the follow-up test of the EIA document, there are 16.7% of the evaluated documents implemented since 2019 and 8% of the documents have been implemented since 2020, but has not complied with the fulfillment of the obligations contained in the Environmental Permit.

An approach to determine the quality of EIA reports of hydropower plants using analytic network process and fuzzy logic toolbox

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a precautionary and interlinked environmental regulation tool utilized by relevant authorities. Presently, there is no singular global set of EIA quality criteria to review the performances of the EIA reports on hydropower plants. In this paper, a new approach has been undertaken to create a well-organized objective type framework for a simple, fast, and comprehensive evaluation of the quality of a subjective type EIA report on a hydropower plant. In authors' previous research, for a quantitative performance evaluation of EIA reports, Fuzzy Logic Toolbox was used where nine attributes of an EIA report were selected as inputs, and the method was found to be effective. In this research, a detailed description of the rules for selecting the quality parameters for the attributes with different criteria are described with the objective type framework. With the help of Analytic Network Process (ANP), the importance score of each of the nine interrelated attributes is calculated, and these importance scores are used as the limits for the attributes (inputs) in Fuzzy Logic Toolbox. Considering the quality criteria and using “If-Then” expert rules, the final qualities of the attributes from a hydropower plant EIA report are determined, and by putting the final qualities of the attributes in the Fuzzy Logic Toolbox, a final score indicating the overall quality of the report is obtained. The novel objective type framework and Fuzzy Logic Toolbox together can assist in reviewing the quality of a subjective EIA report in a faster, more comprehensive, and quantitative way.

A review of environmental, social and health impact assessment (Eshia) practice in Nigeria: a panacea for sustainable development and decision making

Local participation is always beneficial for sustainable action and environmental problems resulting from urban implementation due to the failure of social and institutional change necessary for a successful transformation of rural life to urban life ahead of the rapid movement of the population. Despite good legal practice and comprehensive guidelines, evidence suggests that Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or more broadly Environmental, Social and Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA) have not yet been found satisfactory in Nigeria, as the current system amounts to duplication of efforts and cost. However, ESHIA has been developed and integrated to help manage project activities, facilities, and operations sustainably, so that both economic and ecological profits are accrued (sustainable development) or ensure that any development project does not result in excessive deterioration of and/or the irreversible adverse effect on any component of the environment – a recite for sustainable development. A literature review was done by using a variety of search engines including Research Gate, Google Scholar, Academia, Mendeley, SSRN search strategy to retrieve research publications, “grey literature” and expert working group reports. The thrust of this study is to evaluate the potential benefits of ESHIA as a tool for sustainable environmental development. The evaluation and implementation of EIA are one of the strengths of these tools. Indeed, EIA is the first and foremost management tool employed to help mitigate adverse, potential, and associated impacts of proposed major developments in our environment. EIA is a regulatory requirement that is efficiently used to improve performance, project design, enhancing decision-making, and facilitating policy programs in a sustainable environment. An evaluation of the EIA systems reveals several weaknesses of the EIA system. These include the inadequate capacity of EIA approval authorities, deficiencies in screening and scoping, poor EIA quality, insufficient public participation, and weak monitoring and erratic government policies. Overall, most EIA study rarely meets the objectives of being a project planning tool to contribute to achieving sustainable development and mitigate the impact of the development project. The study recommends some directions for the future to ensure that entire content of the EIA are religiously implemented, review the existing EIA act, increase the expertise of EIA consultants, create a liaison office with an international organisation and with sister agency, ESHIA must enjoy Improved budgetary provision, time latitude, spatial contexts and methodological improvements for outcome measures to achieve results that are relevant to sustainable development by improving project design, enhancing decision making and facilitating policy programs.

Decision factors and benchmarks of EIA report quality for Japan’s cooperation projects

The quality of environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports is fundamental to making good decisions, but the low quality of EIA reports is a constraint in developing countries. Previous studies pointed out many factors influencing report quality based on professional perspectives. However, the decision factors of report quality are not well known. The purposes of this study are to identify the decision factors and benchmarks of the overall quality of EIA reports for Japan’s cooperation projects and to verify the effects of the decision factors on report quality. The study reviewed the quality of 160 reports from 2001 to 2016 and examined potential factors influencing the overall quality of reports using statistical tests, cluster analysis, decision tree analysis, and covariance structure analysis. The study identified the alternatives and public involvement as the decision factors among potential factors, and their linkage affected the quality of reports. The study concluded that the just satisfactory grade of alternatives and public involvement at scoping and draft reporting stages were the benchmarks for satisfactory EIA reports. Further verification through comparative studies and case studies is needed to confirm how two processes have an effect on the quality of reports.

Role of Quality Management System in Improving the Quality of EIA

The quality of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) very much depends on the efficiency of the management system of the EIA consultant organizations. As per statutory requirements, EIA Consultant Organisations must have an accreditation for carrying out the EIA study in India from the National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET) which is a nodal organization under the Quality Council of India (QCI) as per Gazette Notification dated March 3, 2016. The Quality Management System (QMS) is an integral part of the accreditation process, hence the study provides an analysis of the effectiveness of QMS for Accredited EIA Consultant Organisations (ACOs) in reality. The relationship between QMS and EIA reports is analysed from NABET database for various accredited consultant organizations across the country. The study revealed that the quality management system has a significant impact on the EIA reports. The major factors affecting EIA quality are lack of implementation of a quality system, inadequate knowledge of the system and lack of data interpretation. A regular review of QMS by NABET helps maintain the quality at every step of EIA. It suggests that there is a scope for developing a strategic framework to reach excellence in EIA reports through developing a strategic management system for the betterment of society and environment.

Robust science underpinning legislation can create better outcomes for threatened species impacted by infrastructure projects

Robust science underpinning legislation can create better outcomes for threatened species impacted by infrastructure projects

Consideration of scales in offshore wind environmental impact assessments

Quality of environmental impact assessments (EIAs) has been criticized, in part due to a lack of accounting in these tools for differing spatial and temporal scales inherent in ecological data. In the United States, leases of outer continental shelf blocks for offshore wind projects and their construction and operation plans require EIAs in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and the 1978 Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act. This study evaluated consideration of spatiotemporal scales of stressors, receptors (specifically cetaceans), and effects in eight federal offshore wind energy EIAs against 26 criteria extracted from federal regulations. The criteria analysis determined that EIAs do not consistently or comprehensively address spatiotemporal scales with respect to federal requirements. Deficiencies in addressing spatiotemporal scales may result from imprecise regulations, intent to simplify encyclopedic documents, or lack of data resulting in incomplete assessments, inappropriate mitigation actions, and projects delays. Recommendations to improve compliance with federal regulations include making federal guidance binding, focusing on non-trivial impacts of species, tiering information, and incorporating outcomes of marine spatial planning.

Mining project's economic impact on local communities, as a social determinant of health: A documentary analysis of environmental impact statements

Australian mining developments cause indirect economic impacts on nearby communities leading to poor health and wellbeing of local residents. Economic instability is a recognised social determinant of health (SDoH); however, SDoHs are rarely considered adequately in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs). This research aimed to determine the extent economic impacts as a SDoH are considered in three Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) of mining projects in the New South Wales, Australia.We adopted an exploratory case study design following Yin (2012). Three cases in New South Wales, Australia, were purposively sampled as being of concern to the local community who had sought legal advice about the content of the EIS (although not necessarily for health reasons). Two were open cut mines: Watermark located in the Liverpool Plains and Warkworth Continuation in the Hunter Valley Region. The third is a comparative case – the underground Mandalong Southern Extension located in Lake Macquarie. We adapted a health-focused EIA coding framework to investigate how economic indicators as SDoH were explicitly mentioned in EISs and applied this to the three cases.Economic indicators as SDoH were rarely considered. There was a greater focus on population characteristics rather than the potential economic impacts of the mining projects on the communities. Causal association of economic determinants and health outcomes were insufficiently reported compared to best practice, and health data were not used to inform assessments. Despite two EISs – Warkworth Continuation and Watermark – associating some economic indicators to health outcomes, impacts were not adequately discussed when compared to the known literature on economic impacts of mines.Our findings show that the three EISs were inadequately utilised to determine economic impacts of mining projects on the health and wellbeing of local communities. The evidence base linking economic impacts of mines to health is underdeveloped, which compromises assessing the quality of economic coverage in EISs. EIA scoping should enable sufficient inclusion of broader determinants of health using appropriate methodology, and the economic-focused content of EISs should be subject to rigorous peer-review process to fully inform government approvals for projects. Our methods lend themselves to research in other contexts to investigate the quality of EIAs.

WHAT DOES THE ACADEMIC RESEARCH SAY ABOUT IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL LICENSING IN BRAZIL?

Abstract Scholarly papers on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in Brazil were reviewed aiming at surveying the state of research in this field. Searches in three databases identified 131 papers published between 1985 and 2015. They were classified under: case analysis (45%); analysis of the EIA system (32%), discussion about methods (15%) and evaluation of quality of EIA documents (8%). It was found that those papers: (i) deal with highly complex cases; (ii) identify several weaknesses in the EIA system, but also some achievements and improvements; (iii) address a number of weaknesses identified in other studies; and (iv) show recurrent deficiencies, as well as temporal evolution in the quality of EIA documents. Some topics often pointed as weaknesses in the national debate and the international literature were not addressed in this set of papers. This research field is at an early development stage in Brazil, but features a growing number of publications.

Progressing quality control in environmental impact assessment beyond legislative compliance: An evaluation of the IEMA EIA Quality Mark certification scheme

The effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) systems is contingent on a number of control mechanisms: procedural; judicial; evaluative; public and government agency; professional; and development aid agency. If we assume that procedural and judicial controls are guaranteed in developed EIA systems, then progressing effectiveness towards an acceptable level depends on improving the performance of other control mechanisms over time. These other control mechanisms are either absent, or are typically centrally controlled, requiring public finances; this we argue is an unpopular model in times of greater Government austerity. Here we evaluate a market-based mechanism for improving the performance of evaluative and professional control mechanisms, the UK Institute of Environmental Management and Assessments' EIA Quality Mark. We do this by defining dimensions of effectiveness for the purposes of our evaluation, and by identifying international examples of the approaches taken to delivering the other control measures to validate the approach taken in the EIA Quality Mark. We then evaluate the EIA Quality Mark, when used in combination with legal procedures and an active judiciary, against the effectiveness dimensions and use time-series analysis of registrant data to examine its ability to progress practice. We conclude that the EIA Quality Mark has merit as a model for a market-based mechanism, and may prove a more financially palatable approach for delivering effective EIA in mature systems in countries that lack centralised agency oversight. It may, therefore, be of particular interest to some Member States of the European Union for ensuring forthcoming certification requirements stemming from recent amendments to the EIA Directive.

Evaluating the Adequacy and Quality of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Reports in Punjab, Pakistan

This paper evaluated the quality of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports submitted to EPA Punjab, Pakistan during 2005–2013 (2005 is the period when the practice became more common) prepared by different consultants and investigated whether the information provided in the report is adequate for ultimate decision making by using a comprehensive checklist. Data was collected through interviews, EPA library and Punjab public library. The results are presented in graphical form after the detailed review of randomly selected 100 EIA reports submitted to EPA Punjab during the study period. The selected EIA reports were prepared for new development projects, expansion/extension projects, rehabilitation projects and also for funding projects by donor agencies i.e. World Bank and ADB. The study revealed that the reports prepared for international funding agencies contained adequate data whereas the assessment report prepared by the consultants for local development project were lacking in substantial primary data and adequate evidences, showing lack of commitment towards sustainable development and environment protection.

Evaluation of the Quality of Environmental Impact Assessment Reports Using Lee and Colley Package in Niger Republic

Until recently, absence or lack of adequate regulations and expertise in environmental studies’ field, projects executed in Niger were mainly based on technical and economic aspects; leading to unsatisfactory results with negative consequences on the environment. But, since the adoption of the Framework Law on Environmental management and Environmental Code by the Nigeriens authorities in December 1998; taking into account of environmental issues have become a requirement in all social and economic activities. Thus, Niger as other countries is using Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as one of the Environmental management tools. The EIA process is reliant on the information presented in the Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The aim of this paper is to investigate the quality of EIA using Lee and Colley package. The results show slight achievement of EIA, furthermore we also identified factors affecting the EIA in Niger.

Environmental impact assessment of transport infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka: Way forward

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) was established to manage impacts on environment due to development projects and to enhance its quality where possible. However recent incidents concerning several projects have aroused the question, “Are we utilising EIA effectively?” Therefore this study was conducted to find possible methods of improving the quality and effectiveness of EIA. Literature regarding EIA process in both Sri Lankan context and international context was reviewed together with several past EIA reports related to Civil Engineering infrastructure projects to identify possible improvements. Identified problems can be categorised in to two; problems in established EIA framework, methodologies adopted in impact assessment. Main problems identified in the framework are the lack of, broad frameworks of environmental, social protection; accountability of EIA process; public participation and proper post monitoring system. The problems identified in the assessment process are the lack of incorporating cumulative effects and sustainability concepts. To address these issues, legislature should be improved and they should focus on allocating proper weight to the EIA findings in the decision process. Analysing impacts should focus more on concepts of environmental resources and limitations rather than narrow impacts of the project. Further in impact assessment the product of magnitude of the impact and the duration of impact should be taken into account rather than just focusing on the magnitude. In addition to the project based EIA process, Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) can be practised to overcome the weaknesses of the reactive nature of EIA and to direct development in the right direction. Keywords: Environmental impact assessment, Effectiveness, Assessment methodology

Evaluation of environmental impact assessment effectiveness in Slovakia

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) practice in Slovakia is about 20 years old. EIA was first introduced in Slovakia based on the Environment Law of 1992. The practice in EIA started developing shortly after the Law No. 127/1994 Coll. came into force. The first group of experts was certified as being EIA/strategic environmental assessment (SEA) professionally qualified persons. During 20 years, the numbers of EIA procedures were performed and number of EIA practitioners has considerably increased. Many discussions arise about EIA procedure effectiveness and quality in Slovakia. The task of this study has been to investigate EIA system applications in Slovakia and evaluate its effectiveness. In this paper, the views of professionally qualified persons are examined closely, using a questionnaire survey. Data from the questionnaires are analysed to find information relating to current EIA/SEA and EIA/SEA practice and the future for EIA. The objective of this study was to assess the potential for improving the effectiveness of EIA in Slovakia, and finally the recommendations for improvement are presented. The results of this research suggest that the use of new legislation should be extended in Slovakia in order to improve EIA effectiveness.

Environmental Impact Assessment of Transport Infrastructure Projects in Sri Lanka Way Forward

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is established for the purpose of managing impactson environment due to development projects and to enhance the environmental quality wherepossible. However recent past incidents concerning several projects have raised the question,“Are we utilising EIA effectively?” Therefore this study was conducted to find the possiblemethods of improving the quality of EIA and enhancing its usage in decision making process.Several past EIA reports in Sri Lanka related to Civil Engineering projects specially transportinfrastructure projects were studied for this purpose and compared with several recent EIAreports from other countries to identify possible improvements.Identified problems can be categorised in to two, i.e. problems in the established EIAframework and methodologies adopted in the impact assessment. Main problems identified inthe framework are the lack of broad frameworks of environmental and social protection, lackof accountability in EIA process, deficiency of public participation and the absence of properpost development monitoring system. These ambiguities are manipulated by developers asthey see the EIA process only as a rubber stamp to start their projects. Necessary legislatureshould be developed to address these issues and they should also focus on giving a properweight to the results of EIA in the decision process.The problems identified in the assessment process are the lack of incorporating cumulativeeffects of development projects and sustainability concepts. Analysing impacts should focusmore on concepts of environmental resources and limitations, rather than just focusing on thenarrow impacts of the project. In this regard concept of compensation pools which is widelyused in other countries could be used to address damages done in the development. Further inthe impact assessment the product of magnitude of the impact and the duration of impactshould be taken into account rather than just focusing on the magnitude. Further in addition tothe project based EIA process, Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) can be practicedto overcome the inherent weaknesses of the reactive nature of EIA and to direct developmentin the right direction before taking irreversible decisions.

Assessing the assessment - Quality review of EIAs/SEAs: a Dutch perspective

For some time now, the Netherlands has been an authority in reviewing the quality of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs). The European Commission proposal amending the EIA Directive imposes an obligation on Member States to introduce a system of quality review. With regard to the current discussions in Europe on this subject, this article focuses on the Dutch experience with the quality review of EIA and SEA.

Near field brine discharge modelling part 1: Analysis of commercial tools

Desalination has gained importance as an alternative water source. Brine effluent is a sub-product of desalination and can have negative effects on marine ecosystems. Numerical modelling is a prediction tool useful for the design of discharge configurations and for environmental impact assessment. The models CORMIX, VISUAL PLUMES and VISJET can be used for simulating negatively buoyant jets arising from brine discharges. A detailed analysis of the major assumptions, capabilities, limitations and reliability of these models is presented. Some important conclusions and recommendations have been elucidated.In a companion paper [1], an exhaustive validation of these commercial tools is carried out against experimental data found in the literature, focusing on brine jets discharged into both stagnant and dynamic environments. These two papers represent global research of the state of the art and the degree of reliability of existing commercial tools, using the most reliable experimental data available, and provide useful information for the technical and scientific communities. As such, they aim to improve the design and modelling of brine discharges. The conclusions outlined in the paper will improve the quality of environmental impact assessments of desalination projects and reduce the uncertainty associated with the use of numerical models.