March 2001 issue, Volume 19, Number 1
ISSN 1461-5517
Contents
From the editors, Christopher Wood and Paul Scott
Towards a new model of environmental review: preparing the US National Environmental Policy Act for new management paradigms
Steven M Ugoretz (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, USA)
Evolution of environmental impact assessment in a small developing country: a review of Lesotho case studies from 1980 to 1999
Lipolelo Mokhehle and Roseanne Diab (University of Natal, South Africa)
Function evaluation as a framework for the integration of social and environmental impact assessment
Roel Slootweg (Geoplan International, Netherlands), Frank Vanclay (Charles Sturt University, Australia) and Marlies van Schooten (Consultant, Netherlands)
Into the fog? Stakeholder input in participatory impact assessment
René A H Monnikhof and Jurian Edelenbos (Delft University of Technology, Netherlands)
Practice of environmental assessment for transport and land-use policies, plans and programmes
Thomas B Fischer (Institute of Regional Development and Structural Planning, Germany)
A simple technology for poverty-oriented project assessment
Paul Mosley (University of Sheffield, UK)
Simple technology or unnecessary complication? A critique of the 'poverty elasticity of aid' measure for project assessment
David Potts (Bradford University, UK)
Professional practice: Environmental impact assessment of traffic improvement in a highly congested urban area: the Beirut Urban Transport Project
Mutasem El-Fadel (American University of Beirut, Lebanon)
Books
Environmental Impact of Land Use in Rural Regions. The Development, Validation and Application of Model Tools for Management and Policy Analysis
by Peter E Rijtema, Piet Groenendijk and Joop G Kroes
Reviewed by Antonio Boggia
Environmental Regulation in China: Institutions, Enforcement, and Compliance by Xiaoying Ma and Leonard Ortolano
Reviewed by Gary Cox
Referees used by IAPA
New models of environmental decision-making integrate information sources with methodologies to give action plans involving traditional agencies, interest groups, and other partners. These processes provide 'functional equivalency' towards meeting obligations under Environmental Policy Acts; agencies can address many situations where they do not have direct authority over all aspects of a proposal.
Lesotho is a a small, developing country that has only recently introduced environmental legislation and policy, and because of the failure to do so earlier has experienced many environmental problems. The evolution of EIA in Lesotho is traced based on EIA reports from 17 major development projects undertaken between 1980 and 1999.
Social impact assessment and environmental impact assessment have developed as separate entities, but a full appreciation of all impacts requires a thorough understanding of all the biophysical and social changes invoked by a planned intervention. This paper presents a method for such integration using function evaluation as a conceptual framework.
In many western participatory processes the convergence and selection of the variety of stakeholder inputs often leads to results not (wholly) recognisable to participants. A spatial plan produced in De Bilt, Netherlands, illustrates the elements that determine the survival of stakeholder input in impact assessment and project appraisal in participatory public policy-making.
Strategic environmental assessment has generated considerable interest, but the extent of its application and its overall quality remains largely unidentified, and understanding of how assessments from different countries compare has been poor. This presents systematic research results for assessments of spatial/land-use and transport projects in North West England, Noord-Holland and EVRBrandenburg-Berlin.
This paper presents a framework for the assessment of distributional impact and illustrates the impact measurement tool and its method of calculation. This tool reconciles the requirements of low cost and reasonable accuracy. It focuses on those below the poverty line and recommends the guiding criterion of 'poverty-elasticity of aid expenditure'.
A response to Paul Mosley's article.
EIAs were introduced in Lebanon primarily to secure financing and assistance. This discusses an EIA for a transport project in Beirut, where traffic congestion has reached unsustainable levels, and for which World Bank financing is sought. Environmental management and monitoring are emphasized.
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