Showing papers in "Environmental Impact Assessment Review in 2010"

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present data found in the scientific and grey literature about concentrations of lead (Pb), polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated dioxins and furans as well as poly brominated doxins and derivatives (PCDD/Fs and PBDD/Fs) monitored in various environmental compartments in China and India, two countries where informal WEEE recycling plays an important economic role.

TL;DR: The benefits of public participation are often taken for granted, and partly for this reason the underlying rationale for greater public participation is sometimes poorly articulated, making it more difficult to determine how to pursue it effectively as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a framework for evaluating sustainability assessment methods by separately analyzing their normative, systemic and procedural dimensions as suggested by Wiek and Binder [Wiek, A, Binder, C. 2007].

TL;DR: In this paper, a diagnostic risk assessment of health issues potentially elicited by e-waste related mixtures of toxicants is presented, where Endocrine disruption and neurotoxicity are specifically considered as main health burden issues relevant to perpetuation through life cycle and across generations.

TL;DR: In this article, the social acceptability of building infrastructure as a part of environmental policy is defined as institutionally determined, and elaborated in three cases: renewable energy implementation, waste infrastructure, and space-water management.

TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that raising awareness about the political character of impact assessment instruments, in itself, is a vital step in advancing effectiveness evaluation theory and that learning derived from analysing the meaning and implications of plural interpretations of effectiveness represents the most constructive strategy for advancing impact assessment and policy integration theory.

TL;DR: The role of science in policy and decision-making has been an issue of intensive debate over the past decade as mentioned in this paper and the concept of knowledge brokerage has been developing in this context contemplating issues of communication, interaction, sharing of knowledge, contribution to common understandings, as well as to effective and efficient action.

TL;DR: In this article, the quality of European Directive based strategic environmental assessment (SEA) reports of English spatial plan core strategies was reviewed, and shortcomings and problems were identified with the evaluation of options and impacts, the consideration of substantive aspects, such as health, as well as the formulation of final recommendations and monitoring.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a conceptual framework to promote transparency in cumulative impact assessment (CIA) through the explicit definition of impacts, actions and scales within an assessment, which requires improved legislative guidance on the actions to include in assessments, and advice on the appropriate baselines against which to assess impacts.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the impact of environmental inequalities in the practice of impact assessment, including through social impact assessment (SIA), and explore the implications for conflict within decision making processes.

TL;DR: In this article, an evaluation of EIA in Colombia, using the model and the control mechanisms proposed and applied in other countries by Christopher Wood and Ortolano, is presented.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a methodology for the assessment of the visual impact that can be used to measure and report the level of impact caused by several renewable technologies (wind farms, solar photovoltaic plants or solar thermal ones), both at the local and regional scales.

TL;DR: In this paper, a screening life cycle assessment was performed to describe the potential environmental impacts of two product systems; printed on paper and tablet e-paper newspapers, and the most significant phase of the life cycle for both product systems was the production of substrate or platform.

TL;DR: In this paper, a system for weighted environmental impact assessment of rural activities (APOIA-NovoRural) is presented to provide integrated farm sustainability assessment according to quantitative environmental standards and defined socioeconomic benchmarks.

TL;DR: In this paper, a holistic approach (systems analysis) is applied to operationalise the sustainable development concept and an integrated approach (composite indicator construction) is adopted for the measurement of SD.

TL;DR: The results showed the scoring framework used in RIAM could be modified according to the problem situation at hand, which enhances its application potential, and the ratings given by RIAM tended to be smaller compared to intuitive judgement implying that the RIAM method may be somewhat conservative in character.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the impact of urbanization and infrastructure developments on natural habitats and threaten biodiversity, and propose tools and measures that can be adapted to assess and rem...

TL;DR: Comparison between the individual and group assessment of the same EIS demonstrates that the group assessment is more critical than the individual assessment, and the current practice of EIA competent authorities assessing the quality of EIS with individuals could be revised.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used two case studies of Operational Programmes drawing on EU structural funds and found that both cases demonstrated some substantive effectiveness, but only one was transactively effective, suggesting that a true measure of effectiveness might be the extent to which SEA can change expectations.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined how conflict is addressed by Social Impact Assessment (SIA) and whether there is potential to develop it for more proactive assessment of conflicts (pre-conflict or while things develop).

TL;DR: In this article, the effectiveness of the license scheme is examined by means of an economic model and it is shown that the license can work effectively only if disposers of E-waste have a responsibility to sell Ewaste to license holders.

TL;DR: In this paper, an extensive survey with e-mail distributed questionnaires was carried out to reveal information from governmental agencies, local self-governments, and developers to find out how frequently in Estonia the projects implemented without EIA have caused significant environmental effects and to measure the relative frequency of EIAs that have no influence on decision.

TL;DR: Results of an evaluation of eight SEAs from Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom regarding the consideration of health find that while all SEAs cover important physical and natural aspects that are related to health, social and behavioural aspects are considered to a much smaller extent.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the role that compensation is given at present in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) practice in Spain, and for some of its conceptual and regulatory roots, and concluded that the practice of ecological compensation in EIA in Spain is much lower than it could be expected in a theoretical sustainability context committed to avoid net losses in the environment resource base, mainly due to an EIA practice focused on onsite mitigation that allows these net losses.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated in which planning types SEA are common practice, and where can deficits be identified, and to what extent differences occur between spatial and sectoral planning with respect to carrying out SEA.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluated how applicable European Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data are to assessing the environmental impacts of the life cycle of Brazilian triple superphosphate (TSP).

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that successful collaborative planning generates specific demands on the production of policy-relevant knowledge, which SEA may help to meet, and they conclude that SEA seems to be perhaps not formally intended to facilitate collaborative governance processes, but that it can do so when the users translate its principles in accordance to the general principles of successful collaborative governance and joint fact finding.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss how the legitimacy of the impact assessment process is a key issue in conflict mediation in environmental impact assessment and compare two EIA cases in hydro-power generation plans made for the Ii River, Finland in different decades, and evaluate how impact assessment in these cases has contributed to the creation, mediation and resolution of conflicts.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the interlinkages between recent developments in conflict management and impact assessment procedures in the context of urban planning in Finland and discuss the development of impact assessment practices and the status of conflict mediation in Finnish land use planning, where the case of Korteniitty infill development plan in Jyvaskyla is used to demonstrate how the Finnish planning system operates in conflict situations.

TL;DR: The role played by the Brazilian Audit Tribunal (Tribunal de Contas da Uniao) in external auditing of environmental management in Brazil, highlighting the findings of an operational audit conducted in 2007 of the federal environmental licensing process is described in this paper.