Community Benefits and UK Offshore Wind Farms: Evolving Convergence in a Divergent Practice

The Offshore Wind sector is a major, dynamic, and rapidly evolving renewable energy industry. This is particularly so in Europe, and especially in the UK. Associated with the growth of the industry has been a growth of interest in community benefits as voluntary measures provided by a developer to the host community. However, in many cases, and for some of the large North Sea distant offshore wind farms, the benefits packages have been disparate and pro rata much smaller than for the well-established onshore wind farm industry. However, there are signs of change. This paper explores the issues of community benefits for the UK offshore sector and evolving practice, as reflected in a macro study of the adoption of community benefits approaches across the industry. This is followed by a more in-depth micro- approach, which explores approaches that have been adopted in three case studies of recent OWF projects — Aberdeen, Beatrice and the Hornsea Array. Whilst there is still much divergence in practice, there are also examples of some convergence, and the development of a more replicable practice. Particularly notable is the adoption of annual community benefits funds, as the key element of community benefits schemes/agreements between developers, local authorities and local communities.

SEA, Urban Plans and Solid Waste Management in Kenya: Participation and Learning for Sustainable Cities

This paper examines the role of participation and learning in Kenyan strategic environmental assessments (SEAs) of urban plans that include a solid waste management (SWM) component. Two SEA cases were studied using 40 semi-structured interviews and two focus groups. Data are analysed qualitatively employing NVivo software. Participation is assessed using ideal conditions of learning derived from Transformative Learning Theory, and operationalised for this study. Strengths of SEA participation are freedom from coercion and equal opportunity to participate. Notable weaknesses include inaccessibility of SEA documents, inadequate participant funding, and lack of feedback and transparency about the SEA findings. Participants exhibited numerous learning outcomes and associated social actions on urban SWM including waste sorting, recycling and composting (instrumental learning), sharing values and community collaborations on cleanup and recycling (communicative learning), and altering conventional viewpoints from ‘waste for disposal’ to ‘waste as a resource’ (transformative learning), including for livelihood opportunities.

Multi-criteria Analysis for Rapid Strategic Environmental Assessment in Tourism Planning

Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) is a group of analytical approaches allowing us to compare criteria or alternatives when making complex decisions. It can be applied in Strategic Environmental Assessment for supporting the integration of environmental, social and economic aspects into the development of strategies, policies, plan and programme making. This paper reports on an application of analytical hierarchy process (AHP) as one of MCA approaches to assess Gilan Tourism Development Plan in Iran. Here, the Global Sustainable Tourism criteria were weighted by AHP on the basis of experts’ opinions. The extent to which development options for Gilan Tourism Development Plan were likely to be sustainable was assessed using a list of weighted criteria. The evaluation of the findings suggests that the plan has not met all the sub-criteria of sustainable tourism.

Understanding Added Value in Integrated Transport Planning: Exploring the Framework of Intelligence, Design and Choice

Transport infrastructure projects have become more integrated in nature. An important driver of the ambition to approach space in a more integrated manner is the idea that doing so will generate added value. However, in transport infrastructure planning practice, the argument to adopt integrated planning approaches seems to be mainly rhetorical in nature. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the discussion about the notion of added value through integrated planning by developing an analytical evaluation framework. In order to do so, we go back to one of the founding fathers of decision-making sciences and present a conceptual synthesis. We explore this synthesis by conducting a literature review and an illustrative expert session. We conclude with the analytical evaluation framework and elaborate on implications in practice.

Of Smoke and Mirrors: (Mis)Communicating EIA Results of Solar Energy Projects in South Africa

Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and renewable energy developments are key instruments to achieving sustainable development goals. Additionally, environmental impact assessment reports (EIARs) are vital in communicating the findings of proposed developments to all stakeholders. Yet, the quality of EIARs does not always comply with criteria in a satisfactory manner, thereby compromising sustainability. The quality of 25 solar energy EIARs in South Africa was reviewed with an adapted Lee–Colley Review Package. Based on this review, 68% of EIARs were found to be satisfactorily conducted, whereas 80% of the overall scores were regarded as borderline quality grades. Interestingly, complex assessment tasks — determining impact significance, alternatives, mitigation measures and the communication of findings — were executed unsatisfactorily. The poor communication of environmental impacts to stakeholders is not only an obstacle for EIA processes but also for sustainable development mechanisms as a whole.

Conflicting Demands on the Natural Resources in Northern Sweden: A Participatory Scenario Development Study

Globalisation strongly influences social, environmental and economic resources, especially in those territories characterised by a historical dependency on a single industry, as in the case of mining. Our study aimed to envision possible future development paths for the mining city of Gällivare, in Northern Sweden, using a participatory approach. Four different transformative narratives were developed depicting a wide range of choices along an ideal anthropocentric-wild gradient. Through applying complementary methodologies for social-ecological system assessment (e.g., Q-methodology, ARDI approach), the expected social, economic and environmental impacts of the scenarios were explored. Results highlight the conflicting demands on natural resources in Northern Sweden and provides a deeper understanding of different perceptions and potential societal acceptance of each scenario from local and nonlocal stakeholder. This paper contributes to local discussions on future development in the area as well as to methodological advancements by providing a framework for the creation of a participative decision-making arena in similar transformative contexts.

EIA Practices in the Natural Gas Extraction Sector in Tanzania: Does Local Community Contribution Matter?

Community participation is an important element for implementation of various development projects including Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes. However, involvement of the local community in contributing to the EIA processes is minimal. This paper sought to explore local community contribution in the EIA practices in the natural gas extraction sector in Tanzania. Household survey, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and document review were employed in this study. Findings revealed that the majority of respondents have inadequate understanding of the EIA process and therefore undermine its significance, their role and contribution towards the exercise. Procedures for engaging the community were also lacking according to standard measure practices. Various factors emanating from policy implementers, EIA consultants and the community were attributed to low participation. Views and opinions of participants were not considered during implementation of the gas exploration and extraction project which left communities dissatisfied with implementers and practitioners. Therefore, implementation of the EIA policy in regard to procedures should be emphasised to ensure adherence for smooth and effective community participation in the EIA processes. This will guarantee respect for community contribution and mainstreaming of suggestions in the implementation of natural gas exploration and extraction projects to avoid adverse effects and reduce on mitigation consequences.

Evaluating Policy and Legal Frameworks of Urban Green Infrastructure Development in Ethiopia

Policy monitoring and evaluation are important elements of the policy cycle, this help to initiate policy-makers to assess the proper implementation and adjust it as appropriate. This paper aims to evaluate the existing policy, strategies, and institutional arrangement on the development of urban green infrastructure in the three study areas; namely Hawassa, Wolayita Sodo, and Bodity town. Analyzing policy documents, key informant interview, and questionnaire survey were used to collect the required data. Descriptive statistics and policy analysis were also used to analyze the collected data from different sources. The study revealed that different strategies and standards were developed by the federal government, but it is not practically exercised at the regional and local level. The majority of government officials and experts agreed that existing policies and strategies related to UGI is not properly implemented. On the other hand, lack of policy and strategies are the major limitation in the development and management of UGI. Almost majority of the respondents confirmed that weak institutional arrangement has contributed to the poor implementation of UGI development. Lack of attention and awareness, the weak institutional arrangement is the main responsible factors for the absence of proper policy and poor implementation of strategies concerning UGI. Thus, actions needed for all the development of proper policies and strategies to improve UGI development.