scholarly journals COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN THE ANALYSIS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT AS A GUARANTEE DEMOCRATIC MECHANISM OF ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (25) ◽  
pp. 69-91
Author(s):  
Romeu Thomé ◽  
José Cláudio Junqueira Ribeiro
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Standards ◽  
Popular Participation ◽  
Democratic Principle ◽  
Participation Mechanisms ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right

This paper aims to analyze the mechanisms of popular participation in environmental impact assessment as a result of the application of the democratic principle in environmental field. It is found that, in Brazil, despite already covered by the environmental standards in force, popular participation is limited to specific times of the licensing procedure, weakening its role of supporting decision-making by the Government and hindering the adoption of measures socially and environmentally fair. One of the premises of a Democratic and Environmental rule of law is that citizens have the right (and duty) of actively participate in making decisions that may affect the environmental balance. Therefore, it is necessary the improvement and expansion of participation mechanisms in the analysis procedures of environmental impact assessment.

Mitigation and Adaptation through Environmental Impact Assessment Litigation: Rethinking the Prospect of Climate Change Litigation in China

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Xiangbai He
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Regulatory Effects ◽  
The Government ◽  
Legal Barriers

Abstract There are two general pathways towards climate change litigation in China: tort-based litigation to hold carbon emitters accountable in civil law, and administrative litigation against the government to demand better climate regulation. While the first pathway is gaining momentum among Chinese scholars, this article argues that legal barriers to applying tort-based rules to climate change should be fairly acknowledged. The article argues that China's legal framework for environmental impact assessment (EIA) provides more openness and flexibility for the resolution of climate change disputes. Therefore, EIA-based climate lawsuits, which challenge environmental authorities for not adequately taking climate change factors into account in decision-making processes, encounter relatively fewer legal barriers, require less radical legal or institutional reform, and have greater potential to maintain existing legal orders. The regulatory effects produced by EIA-based litigation suggest that the scholarship on climate change litigation in China should take such litigation seriously because it could influence both governments and emitters in undertaking more proactive efforts. This China-based study, with a special focus on judicial practice in the largest developing country, will shine a light on China's contribution to transnational climate litigation.

scholarly journals ‘Environmental Impact Assessment’ in Drylands: Late Knowledge Penetration or a Deliberate Ignorance for Megaprojects?

World ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 374-378
Author(s):  
Farshad Amiraslani
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Delayed Action ◽  
The Way

Despite the paramount role of drylands in supporting people’s livelihoods and rendering ecosystem services, legislation on Environmental Impact Assessment has been introduced belatedly after several decades. By exemplifying Iran, the author proposes two main reasons for such a delayed action. First, drylands are misleadingly considered as barren lands where biodiversity is relatively low. In one classification, deserts are even categorized along with rocks. Second, the author emphasizes that drylands have been subjected to unprecedented changes due to the expansion of infrastructure and urbanization that started in the 1970s. These growing pressures have been beyond the ecological resilience of drylands and have not been monitored, assessed, and modified correctly. Further scrutiny regarding EIA undertakings in drylands and the way they can be improved is now needed.

Health determinants in Canadian northern environmental impact assessment

Polar Record ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 315-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackie Bronson ◽  
Bram F. Noble
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Health Determinants ◽  
Limited Attention

The need to address the human health implications of northern development is well founded, and the role of health determinants in environmental impact assessment is increasingly recognised; however, there is limited understanding of the nature of health determinants and current practices in northern project assessment and decision making. This paper reports on a study of the nature and use of health determinants in Canadian northern environmental impact assessment, and discusses the key challenges to, and opportunities for, improved practice. Four themes emerged from this study. First, the consideration of health is limited to physical environments and the physical determinants of health, with limited attention to broader social and cultural health determinants. Second, when health is considered in northern project impact assessments such considerations rarely carry forward to post-project approval monitoring of health determinants and evaluation of health impact management programmes. Third, while there is general consensus that health determinants should be an integral part of northern impact assessment, there exist different expectations of the role of health determinants in project evaluation and decision making due in large part to different understandings and interpretations of health. Finally, a broader conceptualisation of health and health determinants in northern environmental impact assessment is required; one that takes into consideration northern cultures and knowledge systems, and is adaptive to local context, geography and life cycles.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT TEACHING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SÃO PAULO: EVOLVING APPROACHES TO DIFFERENT NEEDS

2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (03) ◽  
pp. 245-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUIS E. SÁNCHEZ
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Assessment Practice ◽  
Graduate Course ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
The University

This paper documents the experience of teaching environmental impact assessment (EIA) to undergraduate students at Escola Politécnica, an engineering school in Brazil, where EIA was first introduced as a graduate course in 1990, evolving to be taught as an undergraduate course. Learning objectives, course contents and teaching approaches are described. The courses have always sought to prevent a "legal trap" in teaching EIA, i.e. shaping the contents and the approach upon the applicable legal requirements, as it is assumed that, ultimately, EIA is not practiced because of laws, but because society calls for environmentally and socially responsible decision-making. Given the limited literature on EIA education, the paper also hopes to stimulate further reflection and debate on the role of teaching in enhancing environmental assessment practice and in improving its effectiveness and disseminating best practices.

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