Improving the effectiveness of project assessment - Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment - page 344

counter-productive, as frustrated and unequal participants resort to other means, including
direct action.
More effective public participation needs both the will and the methods. In Europe,
there are signs from the EU, and more widely, that the will is strengthening, as evidenced
by the following declaration from the Third Conference of European Environment
Ministers (Sofia, Bulgaria, October 1995):
We believe it is essential that, in accordance with Principle 10 of the Rio
Declaration, States should give the public the opportunity to participate at
all levels in decision-making processes relating to the environment, and
we recognize that much remains to be done in this respect. We call upon
countries in the region to ensure that they have a legal framework and
effective and appropriate mechanisms to secure public access to
environmental information, to facilitate and encourage public
participation, inter alia through environmental impact assessment
procedures, and to provide effective public access to judicial and
administrative remedies for environmental harm.
We invite countries to ensure that in relevant legislation effective
public participation as a foundation for successful environmental policies
is being introduced.
As noted in Section 2.7, public participation in EIA in the EU is still problematic even
after the 1997 EIA Directive amendments; however, there is some hope that the
transposition of the UNECE Aarhus Convention (UNECE 1998) into EIA legislation may
produce a catalyst for change (Dagg et al. 2003). The Convention has three main
elements relating to public participation: access to environmental information and its
collection and dissemination (Articles 4 and 5); public participation measures (Articles
6-8) and access to justice (Article 9). An EC Directive (CEC 2003) on public
participation is a result of the Convention; it seeks to increase the rights of public
involvement within the EIA Directive with the aim of producing better quality decisions
as a result.
New methods are needed to empower people in EIA to participate genuinely and
constructively. These could include deliberative techniques, such as focus groups, Delphi
panels and consultative committees, and appropriate resourcing, perhaps through
intervenor funding. Petts (2003) highlights some of the possibilities and problems of
deliberative participation, or communication through dialogue; she also stresses the need
for such participation to be integral to the EIA process rather than an “add-on”. Balram et
al. (2003) provide an interesting development of the Delphi approach, Collaborative
Spatial Delphi, using a GlS-based approach. There may be considerable potential for
using spatial technology in participation in EIA. There is also the potential of the rapidly
evolving Internet. As discussed in the Hong Kong case study in Section 7.3, the Internet
can be used to facilitate participation at several stages in the EIA process.