Environmental impact assessment (EIA) entails a multifaceted appraisement of the possible aftermath caused by a project or action on the surrounding man-made and natural environment (Wood, 2003). This systematic process requires the involvement of all interested stakeholders in the process and the public, in order to achieve a widespread consent on the planned project and mitigation strategies proposed [European Commission (EC), 2014].
EIA was firstly presented in the United States (US) in 1969 under the National Environmental Policy Act, in order to aid the decision making and planning processes, while in Europe was adopted in 1985 with the name of European Union Directive (85/337/EEC) on Environmental Impact Assessment or EIA Directive (ibidem). Since then it has been amended in 1997, 2003, 2009 and in 2013, although a final comment and approval from the EC is still expected [European Parliament (EP), 2013].
The EIA Directive aims to be integrative of all interested actors and to make a wide range of projects sustainable, in order to protect the environment, enhance the quality of life and reduce any friction between planners, developers and local communities [European Union (EU), 2009]. It is a process constituted by different stages from screening to evaluating and monitoring the impacts of the project implemented (Wood, 2003).
Referring to practical cases, this paper analyses all stages of the EIA Directive; furthermore it explores whether public participation is considered in each phase of the assessment and it explains why the public is involved only at certain stages of the EIA.
The stages of the EIA process include screening, scoping, impact prediction, evaluation and mitigation, decision-making and, finally, monitoring t...
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...cy making. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 30, 19-27;
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The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA is the result of a 1970 executive order by President Richard Nixon for the purpose of protecting the environment of the United States through regulation on business and citizens. Public opinion on the Environmental Protection Agency has been divided fairly evenly across the population of the United States as of recently, as compared to the widespread public concern of the 50’s and 60’s that led to the agency’s creation. Recently the agency has come under scrutiny for its contributions of millions of dollars in grants to researchers in order to hide the potential trade off of its actions in order to further the agency’s agenda. The EPA’s ever-expanding regulation could end up harming more than it actually
The environment and the health of the surrounding population go hand in hand. The Environmental Protection Agency takes on this ever so important mission of protecting them both. The mission statement of the EPA states, “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Small Business Programs is to support the protection of human health and the environment by advocating and advancing the business, regulatory, and environmental compliance concerns of small and socio-economically disadvantaged businesses, and minority academic institutions (US Enviromental Protection Agency, 2010).” The impact of its mission can be defined clearly as it examines the impact of contamination in the air, the water, and the land on human health.
Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) which was passed in 1993, and came into effect in February 1994, has been a significant addition to environmental legislature. It has recognized that people within Ontario have a common goal to protect our natural environment and feel that this needs to be represented as a right to a clean environment. It thus calls upon the provincial government to have the primary responsibility in protecting, conserving, and restoring the natural environment (ECO, 2010). It also sees the need for public participation in order to hold the government accountable for its decisions. Thus the main objectives of the EBR are ensuring environmental protection, the enhancing of governmental accountability, and the facilitation of public participation in environmental decision-making. The EBR, however, still has room for improvement. This essay will be looking at the three main objectives of the EBR in order to review; what has worked, what hasn’t worked, and how it can be improved.
An evaluabiltiy assessment will determine whether WIBO can be evaluated, whether WIBO stakeholders will have an interest in the findings and whether an evaluation will improve WIBO’s performance (Rossi, 2004, p. 136). Our goal will be to make WIBO’s program theory explicit (Rossi, 2004, p. 146). Furthermore, we will assist WIBO in creating SMART objectives. Acceess to
Yet, despite a lack of access to multicultural environmental education in formal settings, adults are also changing the way the environment is conceptualized, and the way problems are identified and solved from their cultural subjectivity. For Hill (2003), environmental adult education encompasses activist projects, community building, solidarity, resistance and marshalling networks of knowledge. Environmental adult education positively contributes to environmental justice communication through citizen mobilization, popular activism, and direct actions that are essential for democracy, healthy people, and ecological systems. This education helps minority communities address the confluence greed, white privilege and class advantage as apparatuses that can be measured in environmental
Non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) have played a significant role in establishing grassroots methods of environmental protection while incorporating citizen involvement. The most prevalent types of NGO’s in the United States are ones that rally public opinion and advocate legislative and/or social change. Among these are the various Public Interest Groups (PIRG’s), the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund, and Greenpeace. Public education and involvement are seminal components to the success of these organizations. Hence, the application of NGO’s to other issues might prove successful in advocating and implementing change while bettering the community that they inhabit. Such is the case with the relatively newly established watershed management associations in New Jersey. These organizations employ grassroots tactics to increase community education and establish stronger environmental protection. Thus I assert that inter-municipal (and inter-state as we will see later) watershed management, through the use of non-governmental organization, has the ability to have a profound impact on how natural resources are managed and subsequently on how an area is developed. This is extremely valuable to a state like New Jersey, where uncoordinated development has led to a sprawling landscape causing fragmentation of natural features and severe depletion of water quality. Furthermore, in the large bureaucratic system of development that dominates New Jersey, this NGO method of watershed management is a qualitative and creative way to promote democracy, public education, and public participation.
Certain plans and programs which are likely to impact significantly on the environment, the overall purpose of the statement is: "to provide a high level of environmental protection and to contribute to the integration of environmental considerations. into the preparation and adoption of plans and programs with a view to promoting sustainable development by ensuring that the terms and conditions. The provisions of this environmental assessment will be conducted in accordance with certain plans and programs are likely to have a significant impact on the
Theorin, B. (1999, January 14). Report on the environment, security and foreign policy (Hughes procedure) - Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defence Policy - A4-0005/1999. European Parliament. Retrieved March 28, 2011, from http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A4-1999-0005+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
Prenzel, Paula V., and Frank Vanclay. 2014. "How social impact assessment can contribute to conflict management." Environmental Impact Assessment Review no. 45 (0):30-37. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2013.11.003.
As a result of increasing public concern and awareness of the ecological problems, the “politicization” of environmental agenda impacted on creation of number of international and regional resolutions to be involved into daily politics of states. The EU ratified the UN treaties on the environmental protection and adopted its own regulations to comply with them and consequently create its own environmental policies. In other words, the main aim of the EU is to become a global leader in advancing this field. Thus, in the 1980s there was an increasing wave of environmentalism, with inclusion of “green” parties to the empowered European Parliament (Hey 2005, 22), along with increased interest in completion of the single market agenda in Europe (Yesilada and Wood 2010, 43). Thus, enhancing similar environmental standards, increased public access to the agenda-setting process in the EU institutions, and international political trends were the main reasons for environmental direction of the EU politics.
The development of environmental regimes involves a five-fold process. The first process is the agenda setting and issue definition stage, which identifies and brings attention to an issue to the international community. Secon...
Environmental scanning is the process of gathering information about events and their relationships within an organization's internal and external environments. The basic purpose of environmental scanning is to help management determine the future direction of the organization (Barnat, 2004). For a business to succeed, it is important to study the business environment of the firm that consists external and internal influences that affect the firm’s decisions and performance (Grant, 2010). Environmental scanning includes the assessment of Macro and Micro environmental analysis.
Davoudi’s (2012) environmental management typology discusses eight distinct meanings of environment that are incorporated into the planning system of today. The new discourse that is involved with environmental management has meant that the environment is being seen in different ways. And as a result, the meanings attached to the environment have changed substantially over time (Davoudi, 2012). Davoudi (2012) discusses that environmental management is restricted by the limited definitions of the environment, and the onset of climate change and the discourse surrounding it has meant that perceptions of environment have been shaped (Davoudi, 2012). The first definition that is offered is local amenity, which explains that the environment has aesthetic and recreational values associated with it. The next is environment as heritage landscape, which sees the environment as he...
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Samarai M.A. Qudah L.M. 2007. Planning Sustainable Mega Projects in UAE. World Housing Congress. Pg 1 – 20.