Public Participation in Environmental Governance in India and Indonesia

2018 ◽  
pp. 448-476
Author(s):  
Nupur Chowdhury ◽  
Arie Afriansyah
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Judicial Intervention

This chapter examines public participation in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in India and Indonesia. It argues that despite the top-down approach of adoption of EIA, it has undergone a process of intense indigenization in most jurisdictions, influenced significantly by public mobilization and judicial intervention in those jurisdictions. Again, India and Indonesia being densely populated developing countries remarkable similarities are found in them with respect to the manner in which the EIA process has emerged in these legal regimes. It puts forth the claim that the contestation and mediation in regard to fundamental ideas about the nature and process of economic development and public involvement in environmental governance in the two jurisdictions have stark resemblance.

Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessments Between Spain and Portugal

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (02) ◽  
pp. 1550022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Vicente ◽  
Teresa Fidélis ◽  
Gonzalo Méndez
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Considerable Increase ◽  
Significant Development ◽  
The Public ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessments ◽  
The Impact

Since 2000, the Transboundary Environmental Impact Assessment (TEIA) process in the Iberian context has undergone significant development due to new circumstances that came into play at the bilateral and European levels: (i) the adoption of a collaborative TEIA Protocol between Spain and Portugal in 2008; and (ii) the increasing number of cross-border projects supported by European Union funds. Despite these developments, the impact of this bilateral regulation on public participation, the cornerstone of any Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), has not yet been fully examined. Drawing from specific literature focusing on the involvement of the public as the basis of effective improvement of the TEIA, this paper critically analyses if the lates transboundary provision has encouraged public participation in this context. Although the analysis of the TEIA enforcement revealed a considerable increase in the number of consultations between the neighbouring states compared to the previous situation, public involvement has not increased. Based on these findings, this paper presents a set of recommendations to more effectively involve the public in transboundary consultations.

scholarly journals Beyond Public Particpation: The disjuncture between South Africa's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Law and Sustainable Development

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 105
Author(s):  
T Murombo
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
The Public ◽  
Legal Provisions

One of the key strategies for achieving sustainable development is the use of the process of evaluating the potential environmental impacts of development activities. The procedure of environmental impact assessment (EIA) implements the principle of integration which lies at the core of the concept of sustainable development by providing a process through which potential social, economic and environmental impacts of activities are scrutinised and planned for. Sustainable development may not be achieved without sustained and legally mandated efforts to ensure that development planning is participatory. The processes of public participation play a crucial role in ensuring the integration of the socio-economic impacts of a project into the environmental decision-making processes. Public participation is not the only process, nor does the process always ensure the achievement of sustainable development. Nevertheless, decisions that engage the public have the propensity to lead to sustainable development. The public participation provisions in South Africa’s EIA regulations promulgated under the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 show a disjuncture between the idea of public participation and the notion of sustainable development. The provisions do not create a framework for informed participation and leave a wide discretion to environmental assessment practitioners (EAPs) regarding the form which participation should assume. In order for environmental law, specifically EIA laws, to be effective as tools to promote sustainable development the laws must, among other things, provide for effective public participation. The judiciary must also aid in the process by giving content to the legal provisions on public participation in the EIA process.

Does the Current State of Environmental Impact Assessment in Armenia Pose a Challenge for the Future?

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (02) ◽  
pp. 1950004
Author(s):  
Sophya Geghamyan ◽  
Katarina Pavlickova
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Assessment System ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Current State

Many post-Soviet countries are still improving their Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) systems, and Armenia is no exception. In recent years, approximation to and harmonisation with the laws of the European Union has seen Armenia increasingly adopt and apply EU regulations and directives, and this process was supported by adoption of the new law on EIA and Expertise in 2014. The main objectives of this study are to review and analyse the current state of the Armenian EIA system and to assess its legal framework. We applied a method divided into two parts: review and analysis of the legislative aspects of the EIA system in Armenia and the circulation of a survey-questionnaire to EIA experts to establish current practices. The findings of this research provided positive and negative factors which can both be used to improve the assessment system in Armenia. While the most significant EIA strength combines the existence of a systematic law and public involvement in this process, the law has weaknesses in its monitoring, informative and quality control provisions. Moreover, public participation has many weaknesses in practice, including the definition of stakeholders and the lack of guidelines and manuals which challenges expert action. Finally, this paper has explored the major positives and negatives of the Armenian EIA system in practice, and we consider that this should help other Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries define and combat the challenges of their EIA systems.

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

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (01) ◽  
pp. 1450002
Author(s):  
WAI MING TO ◽  
ANDY W. L. CHUNG
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Public Acceptance ◽  
Hong Kong Sar ◽  
The Web

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.

EIA Processes in the Radioactive Waste Management in Slovakia: Eight Years of Experience

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Salzer ◽  
Eva Sencˇa´kova´
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Slovak Republic ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Nuclear Facilities ◽  
Legal Provisions

Environmental Impact Assessment Act has been in force in the Slovak Republic since 1994. Evaluation of potential environmental impact of nuclear facilities/activities was enforced in the cases of newly sited constructions containing nuclear facilities much earlier: the civil construction legislation required the preparation of initial safety report with the same purposes. The cardinal change constituted by the EIA Act was the legal requirement of the public involvement in the assessment process, such as participation of municipalities, civil initiatives or public hearings. Another aspect was the most complex evaluation of impact, i.e. not only inside the nuclear safety framework but including, for instance, also non-nuclear, social, and economical aspects. All nuclear activities judged by the environmental impact assessment processes in the last eight years have been related to radioactive waste and spent fuel management facilities or activities and to the decommissioning of nuclear power plants. The particular cases are briefly described and the positive and negative implications from particular environmental impact assessment processes are discussed and generalized. Special attention is given to the use of EIA approaches in the strategy decision-making processes on various levels. There are the main difficulties and drawbacks in application of the EIA legal provisions in Slovakia at the present time.

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