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Participatory ex-ante impact assessment for interactive research and development in agriculture and food systems Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2024-03-20 Lisa Blix Germundsson, Elisavet Papadopoulou, Håkan Jönsson, Ivanche Dimitrievski, Jan Moudrý, Martin Melin
Drawing upon literature from both impact assessment of development projects and agricultural research, the aim of this article is to analyse the pilot testing of a new multi-dimensional assessment ...
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Spa(tia) – a diffusion-oriented method of territorial impact assessment Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2024-03-12 Mikołaj Herbst, Agnieszka Pechcińska, Jan Hagemejer, Patrycja Artymowska
In this paper we consider the options for policymakers in performing territorial impact assessment (TIA) of various policies. Hybrid methods combining stakeholder involvement with systematic statis...
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Using an Artificial intelligence chatbot to critically review the scientific literature on the use of Artificial intelligence in Environmental impact assessment Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2024-03-05 Alan Bond, Dirk Cilliers, Francois Retief, Reece Alberts, Claudine Roos, Jurie Moolman
There is considerable uncertainty about the role that Artificial Intelligence (AI) might play in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), including into research. AI large language model (LLM) chatbo...
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Good governance quality in Namibia’s environmental impact assessment process Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2024-03-01 Dietlinde N. Nakwaya-Jacobus, Martin Hipondoka, Simon Angombe, Lindsay C. Stringer, Andrew J. Dougill
EIA is a well-known environmental governance tool. In the country of implementation. EIA in Namibia started in the 1980s, voluntarily, till independence, when legislations were developed. Since its...
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Evaluation of Environmental Impact Assessment legislation in Pakistan Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2024-02-23 Mehreen Khan, M. N. Chaudhry
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was introduced in Pakistan in 1997 with the enactment of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act followed by EIA regulations in 2000 both of which remained i...
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AI will change EA practice – but are we ready for it? A call for discussion based on developments in collecting and processing biodiversity data Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2024-02-16 Robin Sandfort, Birthe Uhlhorn, Gesa Geißler, Ivar Lyhne, Alexandra Jiricka-Pürrer
The opportunities and potential of advanced digitalisation involving the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Environmental Assessment (EA) are often mentioned across international studie...
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Greenhouse gas emissions in Danish environmental assessments: a critical review Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2024-02-07 Kasper Smetana Christensen, Sebastian Moeslund Wael, Laura Hillingsø Munk, Ivar Lyhne, Lone Kørnøv
Climate change is a key focus in society, and environmental assessments (EAs) are seen as key instruments to inform decision-makers about climate consequences of plans and projects. Previous resear...
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A game theoretic decision-making approach to reduce mine closure risks throughout the mine-life cycle Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2024-02-07 Benjamin C. Collins, Mustafa Kumral
To align a post-mining site to the wants and needs of local communities and stakeholders, mine closure needs to consider criteria which may be difficult to value using conventional cost–benefit ana...
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Health impact assessment of a proposed coal-fired power plant in Turkiye Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2024-02-07 Nilay Etiler, Ayse Yikici, Onur Akgul, Lauri Myllyvirta, Dilek Uz
This paper presents the development process and key findings of the first-ever health impact assessment (HIA) conducted on the proposed Alpu coal-fired power plant (ACPP) in Eskisehir, Turkiye. The...
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Tools for Indigenous-led impact assessment: insights from five case studies Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2024-02-07 Jeffrey Nishima-Miller, Kevin S. Hanna, Jocelyn Stacey, Donna Senese, William Nikolakis
Indigenous-led impact assessment (ILIA) is a project review process designed and conducted with meaningful input and an adequate degree of control by Indigenous peoples. Using a case-based approach...
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A highly informative and enjoyable introduction to road ecology: “A Clouded Leopard in the Middle of the Road: New Thinking about Roads, People, and Wildlife” Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2024-02-07 Valérie Bolduc, Jochen A.G. Jaeger
Published in Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (Vol. 42, No. 1, 2024)
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Editorial Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2024-02-07 Urmila Jha-Thakur
Published in Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (Vol. 42, No. 1, 2024)
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Consideration of risks to people and the environment related to accidents on natural gas transmission pipelines in LUP and SEA processes in Poland Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2024-02-07 Maria Teresa Markiewicz
This study concerned the integration of gas pipeline safety issue into the LUP (Land Use Planning) and SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment) processes in Poland. It focused on the early stage of...
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Landscape, EIA and decision-making. A case study of the Vistula Spit Canal, Poland Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2024-02-07 Aleksandra Sas-Bojarska, Iwona Orzechowska-Szajda, Krystian Puzdrakiewicz, Magdalena Kiejzik-Głowińska
Although landscapes are often considered public goods, they frequently receive inadequate attention in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), particularly in Poland. This neglect often leads to v...
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New York State’s Bail Elimination Act of 2019: a retrospective mental health impact assessment Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-11-26 Leah G. Pope, Daniel J. Pohl, Amy Ehntholt, Tehya Boswell, Elizabeth Ford, Merrill Rotter, Michael T. Compton
Pretrial detention is associated with negative health and mental health outcomes but new policies that limit its use rarely cite the impact that such changes could have on individual or family-leve...
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Walking the talk: a mixed-methods study investigating current opportunities for promoting health impact assessment practice Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-11-26 Audrey J. Simon, Adithya Pradyumna, Astrid M. Knoblauch, Mirko S. Winkler
Although Health Impact Assessment (HIA) has been gaining momentum over the past decade, it is still a relatively small field of practice. Here we explore whether possible opportunities to promote t...
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Influence factors on the quality of regulatory impact analysis in Brazil Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-11-26 Flavio Saab, Suylan de Almeida Midlej e Silva
Regulatory impact analysis – RIA – emerged as one of the tools that can provide the regulator with greater capacity to understand the impacts of his/her decisions. Its use promotes increased rigor ...
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SEA and EIA: uncertain boundaries in Spain Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-10-25 Álvaro Enríquez-de-Salamanca
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) of projects and strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of policies, plans and programmes allow environmental aspects to be incorporated into decision-making....
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A framework of stakeholder analysis for public participation in EIA process: a case study of Thailand Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-09-21 Kanang Kantamaturapoj, Chaunjit Chanchitpricha, Parinee Hongsuwan, Pannipa Suebsing, Suwicha Thaweesuk, Suwit Wibulpolprasert
This study aims to 1) investigate current stakeholder analysis in Thai Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports, 2) explore the opinions of key informants regarding the elements of stakeholder...
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Editorial Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-09-05 Urmila Jha-Thakur
Published in Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (Vol. 41, No. 5, 2023)
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Pathways for improving the consideration of ecological connectivity in environmental assessment: lessons from five case studies Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-08-29 Charla Patterson, Aurora Torres, Mihai Coroi, Katherine Cumming, Matthew Hanson, Bram F. Noble, Gary M. Tabor, Jo Treweek, Carlos Iglesias-Merchan, Jochen A. G. Jaeger
ABSTRACT Case studies can highlight opportunities for mainstreaming connectivity into environmental assessment (EA) and reveal relevant conditions for success or failure. We examined five cases from Canada, Spain, Sweden, and the UK to address three questions: (1) What are major challenges? (2) What are relevant opportunities and lessons learnt? (3) What research directions should be promoted? We identified
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Ecological connectivity in environmental impact assessments: modelling alternative highway bypass scenarios Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-08-20 Darrel Tiang Chin Fung, Rodney van der Ree, Nic McCaffrey, Christopher Gibbins, Alex M. Lechner
ABSTRACT Road building is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity globally. This study addressed common challenges for spatially explicit ecological assessments of linear infrastructure EIAs, by first providing an overview of existing approaches and then applying a connectivity model with scenario analysis of alternative road alignments for a road bypass in Beaufort, Australia. The application
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A review of the quality of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) reports in Botswana Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-08-10 Gorata Kingsley Matome, Kutlwano Mulale
ABSTRACT Botswana recently introduced strategic environmental assessment (SEA) into her national environmental management framework and the SEA approach used in is anchored on the South African approach which is reported defective where it originates. Furthermore, there is a dearth of literature on the performance of SEA in Botswana. In response, this paper studies the quality of SEAs of three of Botswana’s
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Advancing the consideration of ecological connectivity in environmental assessment – Part 2 of the special issue Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-08-07 Aurora Torres, Charla Patterson, Jochen A.G. Jaeger
Published in Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (Vol. 41, No. 5, 2023)
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Moving to next generation community-based environmental assessment Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-08-04 Rajib Biswal, A. John Sinclair, Harry Spaling
ABSTRACT Undertaking environmental assessments for small, rural development projects has proven to be both vexing and essential. Our research considers one approach to assessing such projects, community-based environmental assessment (CBEA). The purpose of our work was to gauge current CBEA practice and consider next generation approaches in the face of challenges such as lack of adequate capacity
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Influential Indigenous voices? Evaluating cultural impact assessment effectiveness in Aotearoa New Zealand Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-07-02 Dyanna Jolly, Michelle Thompson-Fawcett
ABSTRACT In Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori have prepared their own impact assessments for three decades. Yet, there has been no evaluation of effectiveness. Asking practitioners and experts to reflect on their experiences with Cultural Impact Assessment (CIA), we addressed the question ‘how far do CIA go to deliver outcomes Māori define as positive’? Interweaving Indigenous lived experiences with Indigenous
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Editorial Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-06-26 Dr. Urmila Jha-Thakur
Published in Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (Vol. 41, No. 4, 2023)
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Who is involved in environmental and social impact assessment public participation? Observations on urban and rural practices in Malawi Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-06-09 Juwo Juwish Lwesya Sibale, Thomas Bernward Fischer
ABSTRACT In this paper, the authors reflect on public participation (PP) in environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes in Malawi, where EIA is implemented as Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA). Who is invited and who is actively contributing to PP meetings is explored. In this context, 12 ESIAs are examined, six from rural and six from urban areas. While PP principles ask for a
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Including climate change in airport EIAs Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-05-20 Martin Birley
ABSTRACT Projects and their Environmental Impact Assessments should take account of global cumulative impacts such as those associated with Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The emissions induce the climate emergency which is a major determinant of public health and much else. This opinion paper identifies some challenges and improvements that could be made in current policy, procedure, and methods for mitigating
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Impact assessment publishing – observations and reflections after 7 years of being editor of impact assessment and project appraisal Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-05-02 Thomas B. Fischer
Published in Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (Vol. 41, No. 3, 2023)
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Don’t Shoot the Messenger – Reflections on streamlining and simplification of Environmental Assessment in the Netherlands Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-05-02 Jos Arts, Hans de Vries
ABSTRACT The Netherlands’ Environmental Assessment (EA) system has continuously been discussed with calls for streamlining and simplifying. This paper aims to provide an overview and to examine these discussions, including their more fundamental background. To this end, we discuss the origins of the Dutch EA-system, its practice, the critique, the regulator’s reaction by changing institutional arrangements
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Is there any EIA simplification?: reflections on procedural aspects of the Polish system Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-04-13 Anna Haładyj, Katarzyna Tokarczyk-Dorociak, Łukasz Szkudlarek
ABSTRACT This letter looks at whether important changes introduced to the Polish EIA Act over the last decade (with regard to scoping, cooperation, the rights of the public concerned and non-governmental organisations) have led to simplified EIA as well as to simplified development consent processes. In addition, current draft modifications (the EIA Amendment Draft 2022) are also reviewed with regard
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Simplification of environmental and other impact assessments – results from an international online survey Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-04-06 Thomas B Fischer, Alberto Fonseca, Gesa Geißler, Urmila Jha-Thakur, Francois Retief, Reece Alberts, Alexandra Jiricka-Pürrer
ABSTRACT Results from an international online survey on simplification efforts in environmental assessment (EA) and other types of impact assessments (IAs) are presented. The survey, which was conducted between July and October 2022, captured responses from 45 participants who reported on developments in a total of 26 EA/IA systems. Whilst in about three quarters of these systems simplification efforts
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Strategic environmental assessment’s role in formulating environmentally sound development plans in Botswana Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-03-27 Gorata Matome
ABSTRACT Examining SEA effectiveness is a complex yet critical component of any well-functioning SEA system. This article reflects on SEA’s substantive effectiveness and examines the influence of SEA on development planning for environmental sustainability and the challenges of integrating SEA with decisional processes in Botswana. The paper is set within the context of three government plan-SEAs.
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Unfolding simplification beyond drawbacks: types and reasoning for simplifying environmental assessment Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-03-22 Lone Kørnøv, Ivar Lyhne
ABSTRACT The need for simplifying Environmental Assessment (EA), and potential that simplification holds, has not only been raised by policymakers but also by scholars. Despite recent years’ focus and increased push for simplifying EA world-wide – hereunder argued because of the need for accelerating climate investments and green transition – and the fact that simplification is not a new agenda, studies
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The future of impact assessment in Austria and Germany – streamlining impact assessment to save the planet? Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-03-06 Gesa Geißler, Alexandra Jiricka-Pürrer
ABSTRACT Streamlining IA for low-carbon activities respectively to reach climate mitigation targets has become a new trend. In Austria and Germany, likewise in many other countries authorities and project developers discuss acceleration of impact assessment procedures looking particularly at public participation as one of the factors suspected to lead to prolongation of procedures. Additionally, also
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Gaining a deeper understanding of the psychology underpinning significance judgements in environmental impact assessment (EIA) Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-02-21 Francois P. Retief, Alan Bond, Angus Morrison-Saunders, Jenny Pope, Reece C. Alberts, Claudine Roos, Dirk P. Cilliers
ABSTRACT Significance judgements lie at the heart of EIA and provide the basis and justification for overall decision-making. Although the subjective nature of significance judgements is widely recognized, there has been limited research aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of its implications. This paper builds on the growing tradition of exploring learning from psychology in dealing with challenges
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Understanding impact assessment from other perspectives: what might nature have to say? Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-02-20 Annette Nykiel, Angus Morrison-Saunders
ABSTRACT What would impact assessment (IA) look like from the perspective of Nature? This paper intends to provoke a conversation about including Nature in the IA process. It is an intentional provocation to challenge the businessasusual approach driven by proponents. Using reflexivity and embedding images in the text, along with literature review from within IA and wider interdisciplinary thinking
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Transformation towards a sustainable world – the pivotal role of impact assessments Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-02-06 Thomas B. Fischer
Published in Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (Vol. 41, No. 2, 2023)
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Improving cumulative effects assessment: alternative approaches based upon an expert survey and literature review Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-02-02 Chris Joseph, Thomas I. Gunton, James Hoffele, Martha Baldwin
ABSTRACT Cumulative effects assessment has been a longstanding challenge and is perhaps the most crucial component of project-level impact assessment. Alternative approaches to advance project-level cumulative effects assessment are developed based upon the findings of a literature review and key informant interviews. Alternative approaches are organized around key themes and cover: baselines; hybridization
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EA simplification: Canadian processes and challenges Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Bram F Noble
ABSTRACT Environmental Assessment (EA) has been the subject of much debate about its role in resource development. Some have argued that EA in Canada is too complex and should be simplified to enable timely and efficient project development decisions; others have argued that the scope of EA should be expanded to tackle larger environmental and societal challenges, many of which extend well-beyond individual
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Three decades of EIA streamlining: Lessons from South Africa Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-02-06 Reece C. Alberts, Francois P. Retief, Claudine Roos, Dirk P. Cilliers
ABSTRACT Due to high development demands, environmental impact assessment (EIA) systems internationally are under increasing pressure to simplify, streamline and demonstrate efficiency. South Africa, as a country, has decades of experience in finding solutions to this challenge. Here we aim to provide a critical reflection on the different streamlining interventions implemented over time. Five key
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Weak Participation and Ideological Exemption: The Latest Stage of EIA Simplification in Brazil? Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-02-01 Alberto Fonseca
ABSTRACT Developers’ concerns over the costs and delays of environmental impact assessment (EIA) have increasingly been driving ‘simplification’ solutions and reforms. This letter critically reviews the evolution of EIA simplification in Brazil. More specifically, it (1) sets out to describe the main stages of EIA simplification in Brazil, and (2) calls for conceptually clear and evidence-based simplification
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A saliency mapping approach to understanding the visual impact of wind and solar infrastructure in amenity landscapes Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-02-01 Mehrnoosh Mohammadi, Yan Chen, H. M. Tuihedur Rahman, Kate Sherren
ABSTRACT Shifts from fossil fuels toward renewable energy (RE) introduce profound changes to landscapes, including visual impacts that are often investigated during environmental and social impact assessment. Moreover, RE transitions are among many visual changes happening in rural areas that are increasingly serving amenity functions and becoming destinations for wide ranges of users. This diversity
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Simplification of environmental assessment – the case of Sweden Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-01-27 Charlotta Faith-Ell
ABSTRACT This letter gives an overview of the discourse regarding simplification and streamlining of Environmental Assessment (EA) in Sweden. The topic of simplification has been discussed since the introduction of EIA in 1988 in Sweden. Three main themes can be identified in the discourse: i) to reduce the number of EAs; ii) clarification of key elements and aspects; and iii) shortening of the administrative
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Environmental assessment simplification in Spain: streamlining or weakening procedures? Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-01-24 Ainhoa González, Iñigo Sobrini
ABSTRACT The Spanish government has made concerted efforts to simplify environmental assessment processes. In the case of the ‘simplified’ Strategic Environmental Assessment approach, this has been done with the objective of streamlining processes and resources, so that plans and programmes, or their modifications, that are considered to potentially have insignificant or negligible environmental effects
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Simplification and potential replacement of EA in the UK – is it fit for purpose? Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2023-01-10 Thomas B Fischer
ABSTRACT This contribution is part of a compilation of letters on ‘Environmental Assessment (EA)/Impact Assessment (IA) simplification’ in the journal ‘Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal’. In it, the author discusses current efforts of the UK government to simplify and potentially replace EA. First, an overview of the development of EA over time is provided since it became mandatory (Environmental
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Editorial Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2022-12-26 Thomas B. Fischer
Published in Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (Vol. 41, No. 1, 2023)
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Brexit, COVID-19 and climate change: mapping the impact of the ‘triple challenge’ on health and well-being in wales Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2022-12-28 Liz Green, Kathryn Ashton, Sumina Azam, Timo Clemens, Mark Bellis
ABSTRACT Brexit, COVID-19 and climate change pose challenges of national and global importance. They continue to have impacts across the economy, society, health, and the environment, all of which are determinants of health and well-being. Between 2018 and 2021, Public Health Wales undertook three Health Impact Assessments (HIA) in relation to the impact of the challenges in Wales. Based on these,
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Contextual challenges for implementing strategic environmental assessment in the Global South: insights from a case study in Mexico Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2022-12-17 Marco Gutierrez, Cristina Hernandez-Santin, Sarah A. Bekessy, Ascelin Gordon
ABSTRACT An increasing number of countries are implementing strategic environmental assessment (SEA) to support the development of environmentally sustainable policies, plans and programs. However, some Global South countries are yet to legislate for SEA and research is needed to understand the contextual challenges to implementing SEA effectively in these jurisdictions. Here, we examine Mexico’s first
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Indigenous experiences of impact assessment and development projects: lessons from the Aashukan exchange Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2022-11-30 Mark K. Watson, Te Kipa Kepa Brian Morgan, Cassio Ingles de Sousa, Marc Dunn, Emmanuel B. Raufflet, Cynthia Taylor, Rasmus Kløcker Larsen
ABSTRACT How can Indigenous peoples and practitioners engage Impact Assessment as a collaborative learning process that enables communities to affect and influence the design of development projects and their management systems? How to create conversations between Indigenous peoples in order to craft a message/voice in relation to developers? This article summarizes lessons learned from ‘Aashukan’
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Social license to operate applied to small hydroelectric power plants: community perspectives and reflections Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2022-11-29 Guilherme Prado Alves, Maria Rita Raimundo E Almeida, Daniele Ornaghi SantAnna
ABSTRACT Social License to Operate (SLO) is a way to ensure community acceptance for entrepreneurial operations. This study describes and discusses the perspectives from communities, and external agents involved in SLO acquisitions and maintenance for a Small Hydroelectric Power Plant (SHP). Then, we reflect upon SLO applications for fair socio-environmental management. We used a case study for the
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25 years of SEA: personal reflections on recent progress, current status and future prospects Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2022-11-18 Barry Sadler, Rob Verheem
ABSTRACT 2021 marked the 25th anniversary of the publication of our report ‘SEA – status, challenges and future directions‘. This report was part of an international study of the effectiveness of environmental assessment by a consortium of countries and organisations. In recognition of the anniversary, the NCEA has placed a digital version of the report, making it widely available through the internet
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Advancing the consideration of ecological connectivity in environmental assessment: Synthesis and next steps forward Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2022-11-09 Aurora Torres, Charla Patterson, Jochen A. G. Jaeger
Published in Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (Vol. 40, No. 6, 2022)
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Lack of consideration of ecological connectivity in Canadian environmental impact assessment: Current practice and need for improvement Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2022-11-09 Charla Patterson, Felipe Casasanta Mostaço, Jochen A.G. Jaeger
ABSTRACT This study seeks to understand the extent to which ecological connectivity has been considered in EIA in Canada. Several factors that may influence the consideration of connectivity were analyzed in an evaluation of 14 environmental impact statements (EIS) obtained from the Canadian Impact Assessment Registry. Connectivity is largely absent from the EIA process, and even projects that attempted
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Undermining Assessment: EIA follow-up, stake-holder advisory groups, and extractive industries in Nunavut, Canada Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2022-11-07 Warren Bernauer, Glen Hostetler, Ezra Greene, Frank Tester, Rowan Harris, Laura Tanguay
ABSTRACT This paper contributes to the literature about environmental impact assessment follow-up, with case studies of stakeholder advisory groups associated with three mining projects in Nunavut, Canada. Based on an analysis of regulatory documents, we conclude that stakeholder advisory groups, as constituted and currently operating in Nunavut, are undermining aspects of the environmental assessment
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South Africa’s EIA Screening Tool: A preliminary study of how users perceive its accuracy and utility Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2022-10-31 Michael Lambrecht, Merle Sowman, Kirsten Day
ABSTRACT Recognising the value of GIS in screening environmental impacts, the South African government has introduced a web-based Screening Tool as a mandatory part of the EIA application process. The Tool draws on numerous databases to depict sensitive attributes of proposed development sites. Enforcement of the Tool has implications for how EIAs are conducted, in terms of both scope and cost. In
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Impact assessment for renewable energy development: analysis of impacts and mitigation practices for wind energy in western Canada Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2022-10-27 Camila Martins Godinho, Bram Noble, Greg Poelzer, Kevin Hanna
ABSTRACT Impact assessment can play an important role in global energy transition, delivering knowledge to identify and manage the impacts of renewable energy projects. Yet, there are enduring concerns about IA’s efficacy for renewable energy development. Based on content analysis of IA applications for wind energy development in Canada, this paper examines the environmental and social impacts typically
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Assessing habitat connectivity in environmental impact assessment: a case-study in the UK context Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2022-09-30 Laura Kor, Ben O’Hickey, Matthew Hanson, Mihai Coroi
ABSTRACT Ecological connectivity across landscapes is vital for the maintenance of biodiversity and the processes that enable life on earth. Despite this, environmental planning decisions are usually made at the scale of individual projects, failing to account for landscape-scale impacts. Incorporating habitat connectivity analysis in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) could provide an opportunity
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Distilling best practice principles for public participation in impact assessment follow-up Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IF 2.16) Pub Date : 2022-09-11 Angus Morrison-Saunders, Jos Arts, Jenny Pope, Alan Bond, Francois Retief
ABSTRACT Building upon principles for public engagement and for impact assessment (IA) follow-up, this paper distils best practice principles specific to public participation in IA follow-up. Literature review, followed by a simple survey distributed to IA follow-up and/or public engagement practitioners, helped identify key principles and related published sources. Twelve principles for public participation