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    Evaluating Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in Developing Countries
    Evaluating Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in Developing Countries
    Evaluating Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in Developing Countries
    Ebook396 pages4 hours

    Evaluating Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in Developing Countries

    By Salim Momtaz and Zobaidul Kabir

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    About this ebook

    Evaluating Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in Developing Countries, Second Edition, outlines an evaluation framework that supports environmental professionals, researchers and academics in evaluating the effectiveness of impact assessment within limited budgets, promotes standardization across the field, and helps determine if Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is achieving its intended goal of sustainable development. Using Bangladesh as a case study, the book discusses key processes, highlights the need for an integrated, holistic approach, outlines the current institutional framework, and discusses environmental impact, social impact, community participation, and the implementation of mitigation measures.

    This new edition provides a fully updated picture of both recent changes and ongoing development in process, such as the growth in social wellbeing, community participation and enhanced auditing. Finally, the challenges still facing EIA and SIA evaluation are addressed as robustly as possible.

    • Outlines the latest updates on how EIA and SIA outcome assessment systems are being incorporated
    • Highlights the surge in growth of community participation in EIA and gives valuable insights into the methods and techniques being used to successfully harness this phenomenon
    • Provides updated case studies that demonstrate how the evaluation framework has been applied, revealing the challenges, changes, failures and successes that have taken place on these projects since the first edition
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherElsevier Science
    Release dateJul 17, 2018
    ISBN9780128150474
    Evaluating Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in Developing Countries
    Author

    Salim Momtaz

    Dr. Salim Momtaz is an Associate Professor, School of Environmental and Life Sciences at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He teaches in the area of Sustainable Resource Management. He received his BSc and MSc degrees in Geography from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He obtained a PhD in Sustainable Development from the University of London under a Commonwealth Scholarship. Salim migrated to Australia in 1994. From 1995 to 1998 he taught Geography at Central Queensland University, Australia. He joined the University of Newcastle in 1999 where he has been teaching since. He had a stint in the US as a Visiting Professor at Georgetown University, Washington DC. He received Rotary International Ambassadorial Fellowship to teach and conduct research in Bangladesh. Salim’s current research interests include climate change adaptation, environmental governance and social impact assessment. Salim led the team that conducted one of the first social impact assessment studies in Australia ‘Independent Social Impact Assessment, RSERC, Rockhampton, 1998’. Salim published six books and many articles in international journals. He was a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee, Netherlands Government Research Organization, between 2007 and 2010 and is currently on the panel of international reviewers with the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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      Book preview

      Evaluating Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in Developing Countries - Salim Momtaz

      Management

      Chapter 1

      Introduction

      Abstract

      The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the book to the reader.

      Keywords

      Environmental impact assessment; Social impact assessment; Integrated holistic approach; Integrated holistic framework; Framework of effective EIA system

      Environmental impact assessment (EIA) has its origin in the passage of National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA’69) in the United States. It emerged from the realization that many projects funded by the government in the United States did not pay adequate attention to their environmental impacts in the development and implementation phase and as a result caused major environmental problems. Cost-benefit analysis and other environmental safeguards in place at the time were not adequate for the protection of the environment. This awakening of public conscience regarding environment was occurring in the backdrop of the publication of Rachel Carson’s book titled Silent Spring (1962), the initial activities of the Club of Rome (Meadows et al. 1972) and the first wave of environmental movement in the West throughout the 1960s. NEPA’69 starts with the statement

      The purposes of this Act are: To declare a national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment; to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man; to enrich the understanding of the ecological systems and natural resources important to the Nation; and to establish a Council on Environmental Quality.

      NEPA’69 (1969, Sec. 2 [42 USC § 4321], p. 1)

      Section 102 clearly spells out the requirement of EIA,

      The Congress authorizes and directs that, to the fullest extent possible: (1) the policies, regulations, and public laws of the United States shall be interpreted and administered in accordance with the policies set forth in this Act, and (2) all agencies of the Federal Government shall—(C) include in every recommendation or report on proposals for legislation and other major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment, a detailed statement by the responsible official on:

      (i)the environmental impact of the proposed action,

      (ii)any adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented,

      (iii)alternatives to the proposed action,

      (iv)the relationship between local short-term uses of man’s environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity, and

      (v)any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources which would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented.

      NEPA’69 (1969, pp. 2–3)

      NEPA’69 took effect from January 1970 and provided the basis for similar legislations around the world in the 1970s and 1980s (https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-national-environmental-policy-act).

      Developed countries (e.g., include Canada, European countries, Australia, and New Zealand) were quick to accept the concept of EIA and provided legal mandate and/or administrative ruling in favour of EIA. Canada had its first EIA legislation in 1992 ‘Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, S.C. 1992, c. 37 (CEAA).’ The Act was repealed in 2012 and rewritten by the Harper Government. The new EIA law came into effect as the ‘Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (S.C. 2012, c. 19, s. 52).’ (http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-15.21/index.html) (Justice Laws Website, 1992). The European Environmental Impact Assessment Directives came into effect in 1985. The latest amendment came into effect in 2014 by DIRECTIVE 2014/52/EU (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eia/eia-legalcontext.htm).

      For the developing world, the Asian countries like Indonesia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore, and Hong Kong were at the forefront of EIA adoption. Eventually, other Asian countries joined the club of EIA in the 1990s. African and Latin American countries followed suit. Today, most countries on earth have some form of EIA in place. EIA as a preventative environmental management tool has now been well recognised by the governments of the developed and the developing nations and is well embedded in the planning process.

      Bangladesh is a latecomer in the EIA arena at least in a formal way. Some form of EIA was in place and used in 1985 in the planning of the Jamuna River Multipurpose Bridge project (the biggest bridge construction in Bangladesh) where the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank as the funding organisations helped to conduct EIA of the proposed project. There were also some environmental laws (Pollution Control Act) for environmental protection. In 1992, the first EIA guidelines for the water sector were published. However, it was not until 1995 that the country passed its first EIA legislation titled Environmental Conservation Act (ECA’95) (DOE, 1995) to be followed by Environmental Conservation Rules 1997 (ECR’97) (DOE, 1997). For the first time in the history of Bangladesh, ECA’95 legally required all development projects to systematically consider in advance their environmental consequences. The Rules (ECR’97) further clarified the provisions of the Act and were intended to facilitate the enforcement of ECR’95.

      The objective of this book is to evaluate the effectiveness of EIA system using Bangladesh as a case study. The book has used a new comprehensive approach coined by the authors as ‘integrated holistic framework.’ The holistic approach adopted in the analysis of EIA system in this book looks into all aspects of the EIA procedure, including: legislative and administrative status; implementation of EIA, that is, conduct of EIA and social impact assessment (SIA), the quality of environmental and social impact statements (EISs) and public participation; and post-EIS follow-up, that is, implementation of mitigation and monitoring measures. This evaluation study is different to the reviews conducted elsewhere in developed and developing countries that basically looked into one aspect (EIA legislation and administration) or the other (EIS quality) of an EIA system to determine its effectiveness. EIA follow-up is still the weakest link in the EIA system especially in developing countries. A new approach is particularly important for developing countries as they have now gained considerable experiences in EIA practice which is now due for a major review. In this second edition, a wider global context is provided in each chapter with a particular focus on NEPA 1969 and examples from the United

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