Stages Of Environmental Impact Assessment Research Articles

The Performance of Environmental and Health Impact Assessment Implementation: A Case Study in Eastern Thailand.

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) performance has remained of interest, and over the past ten years, the evaluation technique has evolved. Thailand implemented an EIA with a health impact assessment (HIA) as an environmental health impact assessment (EHIA), which necessitated investigating and developing these instruments; however, its implementation performance has been questioned. The main goal of this study is to comparatively assess how well EIAs and EHIAs are performed in projects in an area in Thailand. Six projects in various sectors that were implemented in Eastern Thailand were studied. The 162 residents (nine local authorities and 153 villagers) closest to the project completed a survey and evaluated the performance according to three aspects (i.e., substantive, procedural, and transactive), using a rating scale and evaluation checklists. The results were presented as a percentage of the total scores and interpreted according to the five scales. The overall performance reached a satisfactory level, albeit not significantly different between cases; however, it was pointed out that the shortcomings of EHIAs and EIAs, particularly their dependability, lack of public involvement, and the need for more transparency, could be addressed through the establishment of an open access database, which would help to simplify the assessment of all stages of EIAs and EHIAs.

Environmental clearance and sustainable development: changing paradigm of environmental constitutionalism in Indian

Environmental Clearance (EC) to operate in any industry or establishment is firmly accepted across the globe. It is issued after complying with four stages of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) namely screening, scoping, public hearing and appraisal. It stipulates the precautionary conditions to operate (CTO) an industry without causing environmental hazards deploying all necessary environmental protection measures. The MoEF&CC issues EC in India, directly or through its regional authorities. In recent decisions, the Supreme Court of India has allowed post-EC to some of the MSMEs that were operating without EC on account of ignorance of the law on the part of the owner as well as the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB). The post-EC has been permitted to remove procedural irregularity by applying the ‘proportionality principle’ on account of MSME’s contribution to the national economy and livelihood to a significant size of the populace. This research paper finds post-EC anathema to the sustainable development principles.

Retrospect and prospect: Public participation in environmental impact assessment in China

With an attempt to improve transparency and public participation, EIA in China has undergone years of institutional construction and practical application. It provides an essential and significant approach for the public to be involved in the process of concretely shaping the meaning of sustainable development in China and making specific development decisions. This article therefore provides an overview of the legal regime of public participation in environmental impact assessment (EIA) in China, evaluates relevant practical experiences, identifies the pros and cons, and sheds light on the prospects for future reforms. Legal doctrinal methodologies are mainly applied in this research. It is observed that the recent EIA legislative reforms in China reflect a tendency towards enhanced public participation for projects that could have a significant environmental impact and a reduction of the unnecessary burden on developers to seek public opinion for projects that only could have a mild or little environmental impact. Regarding the development of statutory laws, the screening of projects is crucial to attaining a balance between scientific and social rationality and integrating environmental protection with economic and social development needs. It is generally commendable for projects that are less controversial to pass the EIA procedure more efficiently, while further participation opportunities are also provided to the public in cases of controversial projects. By highlighting the right to participate of the public that may be affected, the chances of NGOs to participate could be reduced. A detailed discussion is then made from a judicial perspective to provide a practical understanding on how the statutory laws are applied in concrete actual cases in China. The following key questions are answered: the extent of procedural flaws in public participation that could lead to a withdrawal of the EIA decision; the application of administrative licence rules on public participation in EIA; the prospect of public interest litigation on public participation in EIA. Notably, the public interest and minor breaches of the law have been used as reasons to refrain from withdrawing an EIA decision with procedural flaws. Nonetheless, the exceptions should be applied with caution. The strictest and most powerful provision regarding public participation at the approval stage of EIA is the administrative licence rules on the right to a hearing. However, the application of public hearings on projects with a mild environmental impact is excessive. Compared to public interest litigation, traditional judicial review based on individual procedural rights is more reliable and prudent in promoting progressive changes. The finds of this article could greatly contribute to academic discussion on public participation in EIA in China and provide valuable Chinese experiences and lessons for comparative studies.

The power of protest in the EIA proceedings. Influence of local community on environmental decisions regarding intensive livestock operations - Example of Poland

Planned intensive livestock operations (ILOs) are often the subject of protests from the local communities due to the possible negative impacts. Active participation of local people occurs at an early stage of investment process, i.e. environmental impact assessment (EIA). The aim of this paper is to reveal the strength of influence from the protesting residents on the environmental proceedings for intensive livestock operations, the knowledge that local people bring to the proceedings and whether - finally - environmental conditions are established, giving the green light to the investment. The results showed that the EIA in Poland mainly endorses technocratic rationality and does not include comprehensive assessment of social impact (SIA). Yet, owing to the opposition from the local inhabitants, who bring into the EIA procedure, concerning ILOs, their value-based and experiential knowledge, local authorities often refuse to establish the environmental conditions for the potential investors. In practice the opposition from the inhabitants leads to the broadening of the scope of SIA in the framework of EIA. This means, however, that the environmental procedures get more complex and controversial from the legal point of view. Ultimately, the majority of the analysed instances of ILO projects, against which the local inhabitants protested, got blocked at the procedural stage of EIA.

Design and use of crowdsourcing geographic data collection system during the monitoring phase of Environmental Impact Assessment reports

<p>When the whole earth is considered as a geographic place, it is clearly seen that the physical and social processes in the Earth’s crust have a direct or indirect connection with geography. In this century named information era, it is vital to find new solutions to people’s problems by getting different results from gathering, providing, and querying information.</p>
 
 <p>Geographic information systems are frequently used in the preparation and implementation stages of environmental impact assessment (EIA) projects. However, the failure to use spatial data effectively during the monitoring phase, which is the final step of the assessment process, causes the inability to determine whether the activities undertaken in the report are implemented. This situation causes EIA reports and activities to be questioned or even not accepted by the public.</p>
 
 <p>By inter-organizational data sharing, geographical data needs can be met and duplicate data productions can be avoided.  However, the problem of updating the geographical data provided always comes out as the real problem.  At this point, there are approaches that are defined as Crowdsourcing which refers the way of solving the problems of the institutions by utilizing the knowledge and experience outsourced. The most important institutional concern regarding crowdsourcing and geographical data extraction reveals itself as data consistency and accuracy.</p>
 
 <p>With the system developed within the scope of this study, the status of EIA projects in implementation with the development of the project will be effectively controlled with the participation of the administration and the public. A crowdsourcing-based system has been prepared and introduced to ensure the participation of the public. With this study, the development of the project and the problems experienced during the monitoring phase can be controlled. Thus, it will be ensured that any negative situation that could be experienced will be prevented or minimized in a way that will not harm the environment.  </p>

Land take and the effectiveness of project screening in Environmental Impact Assessment: Findings from an empirical study

Land take is emerging as a global environmental concern, and is particularly critical in intensively developed and land-scarce regions. This paper seeks to understand the effectiveness of the screening stage of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in addressing land take. Screening is the stage where a decision is made as to whether an EIA is required for a project. In many jurisdictions, screening results in three pathways: full EIA directly, preliminary EIA only, or preliminary EIA followed by full EIA. We compared the land take of 217 projects triggering the different pathways in a study region in Italy over a 15-year time interval. Land take was quantified by overlaying the footprint of the projects with a land cover map.The results show that while more attention was given to projects with larger land take impacts overall, the cumulative land take from smaller projects not triggering full EIA was considerable (40% of overall land take). The case-by-case examination conducted through the preliminary EIA was found to work better for some project types (ski areas and small urban development), than for others (quarries). Our findings lead us to advocate improvements in current screening procedures to ensure that the land take impacts are quantified and made explicit in preliminary EIA reports. Our evidence-based approach to determining land take in EIA provides a compelling basis for understanding ways to improve EIA policies, guidance and practice.

Comparative Study of the Environmental Impact Assessment System in the State of Kuwait with International Best Practice using Gap Analysis Approach

This study addresses the issue of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)in the State of Kuwait, which has become inherent in many development projects. Numerous international and local institutions require assessment of environmental impacts prior to final approval of project implementation. In addition, item number (1) of Law No. 16 of 1996 amended provisions of Law No. 21 of 1995 issued by the General Authority for Environment stipulates the need for an environmental impact assessment, which became incumbent on everyone before the implementation and operation of any facility, whether industrial or recreational. The study aims to evaluate the methodology of the Kuwaiti Environmental Impact Assessment system, with regards to its stages and mechanism of follow-up procedures. And to compare it with the components, methods, criteria and policies of the current best global practices implemented by the World Bank and environmental impact assessment systems in Bahrain, Sultanate of Oman and Egypt. The study aims also to identify deficiencies and policy draw backs of EIA system in Kuwait, and to propose procedures that improve the application of environmental impact assessment methodologies. To achieve the objectives of the study an analysis of the data gathered from reports, scientific assessments, as well as from private consultancy offices was performed. The use of Gap approach enabled the researchers to identify the various gaps and limitations in the current practices and application of EIA procedures in the State of Kuwait. The EIA procedures and policies of the World Bank were the basic references of the study. The findings of the analysis show that: there is a gap between the environmental policies in Kuwait and how thoroughly these policies are applied in the field. This gap led to an imbalance in the practice of environmental impact assessment procedures. Public participation was weak in the stages (Scoping and Review) of environmental impact assessment. Participation is considered an effective part of the environmental assessment planning processes. The study proposed several recommendations for improving the EIA system in the State of Kuwait including: preparation of new procedural guidelines that will provide the basis to be applied by the General Authority for Environment during the audit of the environmental impact assessment reports, up-grading of the consultancy offices and encourage the active participation of the public in the stages of environmental impact assessment planning processes.

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT IN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN HONG KONG SAR, CHINA USING WEB 2.0: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Web 2.0 has transformed the way people obtain, understand, analyse and respond to information from a broad range of sources. Users spend several hours a day to access the Web, browse their favourite sites and respond to invitations from friends and other people to participate in discussions that affect their social and business lives as well as their environmental conditions. In this regard, knowing how to promote public participation and engagement in the early stages of environmental impact assessment (EIA) as well as how to gain public acceptance in the consultation phase of an EIA using the Web is important. This study describes how Hong Kong government departments employ the Web to disseminate information and proposes methods for public engagement using Web 2.0 technologies.

W국외 모니터링 사례를 통한 해상풍력발전의 환경적 영향 고찰

해상풍력발전 단지를 개발함에 있어 전력수급과 경제성 논리에만 초점이 맞춰짐으로써 여러 가지 환경적 문제들이 발생하고 있으며, 이에 따른 지역사회의 갈등이 유발되고 있는 실정이다. 특히 최근에 국내 해역의 풍황과 해황 조건 등을 중심으로 해상풍력에 대한 입지와 개발량에 대한 연구가 이루어져 왔으나, 해양환경 및 해양생태계에 미치는 영향에 대한 연구는 매우 부족하다. 유럽의 해상풍력발전 선진국에서는 개발 사업에 뒤따르는 환경 모니터링이 활발히 진행되고 있는 데 비해, 국내에서는 해상풍력을 설치하고 운영할 때에 발생할 수 있는 환경적 영향에 관한 모니터링 자료가 전무하다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 국외 해상풍력의 모니터링 사례 및 참고문헌의 사례를 분석함으로써 공사 시와 운영시의 환경적 영향과 국내 해역에 적합한 환경영향평가 단계에서의 가이드라인을 제시하였다. 이에 따라 궁극적으로는 해상풍력개발에 따른 환경영향을 최소화하고 환경영향평가의 행정절차에 소요되는 협의기간을 단축시키는 데에 목적이 있다.

Towards a Culturally Sustainable Environmental Impact Assessment: The Protection of Ainu Cultural Heritage in the Saru River Cultural Impact Assessment, Japan

AbstractCulturally sustainable environmental impact assessment (EIA) requires consideration of the impact of development on local people's cultural activities, including holding ceremonies, collecting resources, and learning skills, which are fundamental essences of Indigenous rights. While culturally sustainable EIA has become a common practice when a development project involves an Indigenous community, it is still argued that Indigenous cultural heritage is not adequately protected. This is due to the fact that Indigenous people do not always keep power in the post‐approval stage of EIA, or the lack of practical measures to minimise the impact of development projects on Indigenous cultural heritage and to enhance the possibility of reaching a consensus among stakeholders. The Cultural Impact Assessment of the Saru River Region in Japan was the first investigation of a site to preserve an ethnic minority culture, with regard to a dam construction. In the second phase of the assessment project, research staff members, some of whom are of Ainu ethnicity, suggested alternative ceremony sites and conducted experimental transplants to protect the local cultural activities. The long‐term investigation by research staff, in fact, influenced the direction of the dam construction. The developer agreed not to proceed with the construction until measures were taken to minimise the impact on cultural activities that would satisfy residents in the construction area. While still early to conclude that Indigenous participation in this assessment project has been successful, Indigenous participation has clearly enhanced the possibility of reaching a consensus. The project should be considered with other published EIA reports, in demonstrating a return from investing in EIA with Indigenous participation, with a practical means for realising Indigenous rights.

Choice experiments in environmental impact assessment: the case of the Toro 3 hydroelectric project and the Recreo Verde tourist center in Costa Rica

Choice experiments, a stated preference valuation method, are proposed as a tool to assign monetary values to environmental externalities during the ex ante stages of environmental impact assessment. This case study looks at the impacts of the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity's Toro 3 hydroelectric project and its impacts on the Recreo Verde tourism center in San Carlos, Costa Rica. Compared to other valuation methods (e.g., travel cost and contingent valuation), choice experiments can create hypothetical but realistic scenarios for consumers and generate restoration alternatives for the affected good. Although they have limitations that must be taken into account in environmental impact assessment, incorporating economic parameters (especially resource constraints and tradeoffs) can substantially enrich the assessment process.

Improvement of Biotope-Area-Ratio-Indicator and Appraisal System Applicable to Environmental Impact Assessment Projects*

Since the government of Korea (Ministry of Environment, MOE) introduced the policy applying 'Biotope-Area-Ratio-Indicator (BARI)' to huge residential land developments which Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) should be performed, MOE has come to have the necessity to apply the indicator concretely at the stage of Prior Environment Review System (PERS) and EIA in various types of large scale land development projects. This study was conducted with the aim of supporting the application of BARI and related decision making in various other types of EIA projects as well as residential development projects through remodeling the system to apply the indicator of the past. Through the analysis of the problems in applying the past BARI and experimental appraisals to 11 types of EIA projects, the results and implications as follows were drawn. First, it's possible to extend the range of applications of BARI, which has been applied to only residential land development project, to all kinds of projects with area-typed land use pattern out of environmental impact assessment target projects. Second, it's also possible to set a target value into which regional characteristics and differences among locational properties are reflected. In addition, it's come to be able to differentially apply the target value of BARI according to the condition of the existing site. Third, it's improved to be able to suggest a macroscopic target value at the stage of PERS and to set detailed target values in each detailed land use at the stage of EIA. The key point underlies inducing methodology to determine target values to secure more permeable land coverage ratio for detailed land use patterns at the stage of EIA by making it possible to calculate BARI of the present land cover condition of the EIA target projects.

Evaluation of the Federal German Act on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA Act)

The aim of this article is to provide a short synopsis of the results of the research project on “Evaluation of the Federal German EIA Act”. First of all, the analytical approach is elucidated, followed by the results of the individual stages of Environmental Impact Assessment and the general findings across all stages. Finally, recommendations are provided on the different policy options.

Incorporating biodiversity assets in spatial planning: Methodological proposal and development of a planning support system

The information on biodiversity issues that planners have at disposal often offers a very limited support, due to the lack of informative data and suitable planning support systems (PSS). This paper aims at improving the treatment of biodiversity assets in spatial planning by proposing an approach to map and assess biodiversity assets, and by implementing it into a PSS, characterised by ease of use and usefulness. Biodiversity assets were divided into six themes, two of which refer to species (animal and plant species), and the remaining four to ecosystems (forest, agriculture, aquatic and alpine ecosystems). For each theme, the relevant baseline data were collected and processed, a multicriteria evaluation scheme was set up, and value judgments provided by experts of research institutes and public administration technical offices were sought. The themes were then integrated into a composite map. Factual and value-based information generated during the analysis was organised into a PSS, represented by a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform with a customised querying interface, which allows users to access to thematic layers in a hierarchical fashion, as well as to retrieve relevant background information and reports. The PSS was tested for a specific planning task: the screening stage of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The study area is located in Trentino, an alpine region in northern Italy.

Scoping in environmental impact assessment: Balancing precaution and efficiency?

Scoping is a crucial yet under-researched stage of environmental impact assessment, in which practice falls well behind conceptual ideals. We argue that such ‘implementation deficits’ reflect dilemmas between two key rationales for scoping — environmental precaution and decision-making efficiency — and between technical and participatory conceptions of the decision-making process. We use qualitative research to understand how scoping practice in the UK reconciles these competing imperatives. Our findings suggest that practitioners mainly rationalise their approach in terms of decision-making efficiency, while justifying excluding the public from scoping on grounds of prematurity, delay and risks of causing confusion. The tendency to scope issues in rather than exclude them reflects a pervasive concern for legal challenge, rather than environmental precaution, but this reinforces standard lists of environmental considerations rather than the investigation of novel, cumulative or indirect risks.

Practitioner perspectives on the role of science in environmental impact assessment.

A large body of literature addresses the role of science in environmental impact assessment (EIA) but less attention has been given to the views of practitioners themselves. In this research a survey of 31 EIA practitioners in Western Australia was undertaken to determine their perceptions of the quality and importance of science in EIA. The survey results are compared with previous theoretical, empirical, and survey studies of the role of science in EIA. Interview questions addressed the role of science in impact prediction, monitoring activities, mitigation and management, and EIA decision-making. It was clear from the interviews that many practitioners are satisfied with the quality of science currently used in EIA, but do not believe that it is given sufficient importance in the process. The quality and importance of science in the predecision stages of EIA was rated higher than in the postdecision stages. While science was perceived to provide the basis for baseline data collection, impact prediction, and mitigation design, it was seen to be less important during decision-making and ongoing project management. Science was seen to be just one input to decision-makers along with other factors such as sociopolitical and economic considerations. While time and budget constraints were seen to limit the scientific integrity of EIA activities, pressure from the public and regulatory authorities increased it. Improving the scientific component of EIA will require consideration of all these factors, not just the technical issues.

From Poole to Fulham: A Changing Culture in UK Environmental Impact Assessment Decision Making?

This paper examines the role of environmental impact assessment (EIA) in project authorization decision making and the way in which the courts have interpreted its role. The purpose of the paper is to establish whether or not that role has changed over the period between the introduction of EIA in 1988 and 2001. From the evidence reported here, it is argued that while the procedural stages of EIA have been very much strengthened over that period, the importance of EIA as a tool to aid planning authorization decision making remains largely peripheral.

The application of Geographical Information Systems to determine environmental impact significance

This paper presents a new methodology for impact assessment—SIAM (Spatial Impact Assessment Methodology)—which is based on the assumption that the importance of environmental impacts is dependent, among other things, on the spatial distribution of the effects and of the affected environment. The information generated by the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in impact identification and prediction stages of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is used in the assessment of impact significance by the computation of a set of impact indices. For each environmental component (e.g., air pollution, water resources, biological resources), impact indices are calculated based on the spatial distribution of impacts. A case study of impact evaluation of a proposed highway in Central Portugal illustrates the application of the methodology and shows its capabilities to be adapted to the particular characteristics of a given EIA problem.

FORUM: Exploring the EIA/Environmental Management Relationship.

/ An important measure of the effectiveness of environmental impact assessment (EIA) is the extent to which it achieves its goals for environmental protection and management. To determine this requires an examination of environmental outcomes for projects that have undergone EIA. The utility of the predecision stages of EIA in influencing environmental decisions has been well documented by others. It is argued here that EIA can also play a useful role in providing for ongoing adaptive environmental management. The hypothesis of this research is that EIA does influence environmental management activities and outcomes for development projects and that this influence occurs during three stages based on the principal approval decision point-predecision, postdecision, and transitional stages. This hypothesis was tested with respect to six case studies in Western Australia (WA). The majority of management actions were proposed during the predecision stage along with the formulation of impact predictions, although significant environmental management activities were established during the other stages of the EIA process. New management actions were implemented during the postdecision stage in response to the occurrence of unexpected impacts. Adaptive management activities were initiated during the transitional stage of EIA through the setting of environmental objectives in the predecision stage that left scope for a flexible approach to be adopted for achieving these objectives. During project assessment in WA, strong emphasis is placed on the need for ongoing monitoring and management programs. The implementation of these programs was found to be central to successful achievement of project and environmental performance objectives. The case studies demonstrate that a strong relationship exists between EIA and ongoing environmental management performance in WA.KEY WORDS: Environmental impact assessment; Ongoing management; Effectiveness; Audithttp://link.springer-ny.com/link/service/journals/00267/bibs/24n3p281.html

Ranking of habitats for the assessment of ecological impact in land use planning

A simple habitat ranking method suitable for use in the early stages of land use planning is developed here. The method is designed for assessment of the biological impacts of infrastructure and urban development. The objectives are to formulate an assessment procedure, to minimise fieldwork and to avoid error due to species remaining unnoticed in the field. Ranking takes place in terms of a habitat value (HV) index calculated on the basis of the species present (vascular plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals), the threat categories to which they belong and the likelihood of their occupying specific habitats. The existence of the species in different habitats was predicted on the basis of the literature. To calculate the HV index, threat categories and preferred habitats were defined for each species, so that the species could be weighted according to their relative threat category in the region concerned. The method was tested in Finland (60–70° N), using several weights for each threat category in order to reveal the effect of differences in weighting. The results appeared to be relatively insensitive to the weights used, supporting the objectivity of the method. Herb-poor dry meadows, riparian habitats, herb-rich deciduous forests, industrial/urban habitats and cultivated areas were ranked highest in the southern regions of the country. Arctic alpine fells, riparian habitats, spruce mires and herb-rich deciduous forests were ranked highest in the northern-most region. In addition to potential species composition, the total area of a habitat and its vulnerability to the development concerned also has an influence on its ranking, and therefore separate rankings must be calculated for different types of development. The results suggest that habitat ranking of this kind could be profitable in the early stages of environmental impact assessment, because it helps one to concentrate on the most valuable habitats. It is also reasonable to assume that our method may be of help in evaluating Siberian boreal habitats by combining this method with geographical information systems.