Environmental impact assessment: Retrospect and prospect
Zotero / D&S Group / Top-Level Items 2019-10-09
Type
Journal Article
Author
Stephen Jay
Author
Carys Jones
Author
Paul Slinn
Author
Christopher Wood
URL
https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0195925506001338
Volume
27
Issue
4
Pages
287-300
Publication
Environmental Impact Assessment Review
ISSN
01959255
Date
5/2007
DOI
10.1016/j.eiar.2006.12.001
Accessed
2019-10-08 14:39:02
Library Catalog
Crossref
Language
en
Abstract
The widespread experience of environmental impact assessment (EIA) as an anticipatory environmental management tool has generated a considerable debate over the extent to which it is achieving its purposes. This has been measured in terms of EIA ‘effectiveness’, especially as discussion has moved away from issues of procedural implementation, to the more substantive goals of EIA and its place within broader decision-making contexts. Empirical studies have revealed the relatively weak degree of influence on planning decisions that is being exerted by EIA, which is increasingly being attributed to its rationalist beginnings. This article seeks to direct this debate towards the founding political purposes of EIA which, it is argued, provide a neglected, yet strong, basis for EIA reform. A number of illustrative suggestions are made as a result of this redirection, to enable EIA to adopt a more determinative role in decision making and to contribute to more sustainable patterns of development planning.
Short Title
Environmental impact assessment