Improving the effectiveness of project assessment - Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment - page 354

mandatory monitoring. This chapter has identified an agenda for other possible changes,
including cumulative impacts, public participation, socio-economic impacts, IEA and
EID. Some of these will be easier to achieve than others, and there will no doubt be other
emerging issues and developments in a dynamic area, and systems and procedures will
continue to evolve in response to the environmental agenda and to our managerial and
methodological capabilities.
There is an urgent need to “close the loop”, to learn from experience. While the
practice of mandatory monitoring is still patchy, there is some notable progress in the
development of environmental management and auditing systems. Assessment can be
aided by the recent development of environmental auditing for existing organizations, be
they private-sector firms or local authorities. The information from such auditing could
provide a significant change in the quality and quantity of baseline data for EIA.
As EIA activity spreads, more groups will become involved. Capacity building and
training is vital both in the EIA process, which may have some commonality across
countries, and in procedures that may be more closely tailored to particular national
contexts. EIA practitioners also need to develop their substantive knowledge of the wider
environment and to improve both their technical and participatory approaches in the EIA
process.
Notes
1. This term was originally coined for a slightly different context by Turner (1995).
2. To help small firms in particular the UK Government introduced a new initiative in 2003.
A new British Standard—BS 8555 (Guide to the implementation of an
environmental management system including environmental
performance evaluation)—has been developed to assist organisations,
in particular small and medium sized enterprises, to implement on
environmental management system and subsequently achieve EMAS
registration. The standard includes guidance on how to develop
indicators, so right from the start it is possible to know whether
environmental impacts have been successfully reduced.
For further information, see DEFRA (2003), An Introductory Guide
to EMAS, London: DEFRA.
References
Abmad, B. 2004. Integrating health into impact assessment: challenges and opportunities. Impact
Assessment and Project Appraisal 22 (1), 2-4.
Bailey, P. et al. 1996. Methods of integrated environmental assessment: research directions for the
European Union. Stockholm: Stockholm Environmental Institute.
Balram, S., S.Dragicevic, T.Meredith 2003. Achieving effectiveness in stakeholder participation
using the GlS-based Collaborative Spatial Delphi methodology. Journal of Environmental
Assessment Policy and Management 5 (3), 365-94.