In this article I have analyzed the world legislation that regulates the environmental impact assessment but also the attributions of the public authorities related to this topic. By researching the results obtained during the implementation of the legislation in this field, we can deduce that the existence of the legal framework does not fully guarantee the successful execution of a procedure, and in this case the implementation of environmental impact assessment. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a process that identifies, assesses and mitigates the environmental impacts of a proposed project. This article examines the challenges faced in carrying out EIAs, the similarities and differences between EIAs in different countries, and the evolution of EIA effectiveness over time. Although, the legislation of the Republic of Moldova regulates this process, in practice very few projects, whether public or private, are subject to environmental impact assessment. At the end of the article I have proposed some solutions to improve the performance of this large procedure.

Yes / This paper addresses the regulation of energy resource projects on indigenous lands in the Canadian Arctic and the role of environmental impact assessment in these projects, specifically those involving hydraulic fracturing. Taking an environmental point of view, this paper argues that in the absence of specific territorial legislation applying to shale gas development in Nunavut and the onshore portion of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in Northwest Territories the federal regulator, the National Energy Board, has a key role in promoting transparency, public participation, safety and sustainable use of natural resources. As part of its environmental protection responsibilities, the Board, inter alia, ensures that an environmental impact assessment is conducted before any proposed hydraulic fracturing activities commence on indigenous lands, which in some cases include an extensive public consultation. In 2013 the Board adopted rigorous guidelines for all onshore oil and gas projects involving hydraulic fracturing which address many of the concerns raised over shale gas development, including surface and groundwater contamination; impact on air quality; induced seismicity and reluctance of industry to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. Although these guidelines are non-binding on the Board, their adoption means that it will be challenging for the operators to obtain an authorisation from the Board should they fail to conduct an environmental impact assessment. This paper argues that these guidelines exceed the best practices widely adopted by the Canadian shale gas industry. It concludes that because the guidelines address a number of concerns raised by the public they could potentially be used as the minimum standards for hydraulic fracturing operations in other regions outside Arctic Canada.

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Across the globe, both developed and developing countries strive to continuously increase economic growth. Many strategies have been developed to guide these countries towards achieving growth and development in a sustainable manner. For many of these countries, cites have become the hubs with regards to the various socio-economic activities taking place within countries. This has in turn subjected cities to tremendous growth. The increased growth of cities has been characterized by radial expansion, wherein development spreads out from the city center to the fringes. The radial expansion of cities has not always been under control or properly managed by government or the private sector as well as the relevant role playing stakeholders. Many socio-economic and environmental challenges have been associated with the rapid urban development that spreads into urban fringes. This dissertation focuses on assessing the sustainability of urban fringes and their developments. It presents a conceptual framework that tackles multiple urban fringe challenges and their various causes as well as the possible solutions thereof. It also focuses on empirically assessing the sustainability of the Cato Ridge urban fringe development in eThekwini Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal Province. The study discovers that the challenges of urban fringe development are economic, social and environmental. It concludes with recommendations for addressing policies of urban fringe developments in order to ensure sustainability. / M.T.R.P. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.

Summaries in English and Afrikaans / Titles in English and Afrikaans / Text in Afrikaans / Die Suid-Afrikaanse omgewingsreg kry sy grondslag in velerlei statute, waarvan die Wet op Omgewingsbewaring van 1989 die belangrikste is. Die staat is tans besig om hierdie wet en die Geintegreerde Omgewingsbestuursbeleid in lyn te bring met die - Grondwet van die Republiek van Suid-Afrika van 1996. Dit word onder meer gedoen deur regulasies wat ingevolge die Wet op Omgewingsbewaring afgekondig is, die Witskrif op 'n Omgewingsbeleid vir Suid-Afrika, die Witskrif oor Bewaring en Volhoubare Gebruik van Suid-Afrika se Biologiese Diversiteit, ensovoorts. Hierdie beleidsaanpassing beoog om ontwikkeling op 'n volhoubare wyse te laat geskied, wat ook rekening hou met die ekonomiese werklikhede van Suid-Afrika, soos verwoord in die Heropbou en Ontwikkelingsprogram. Voordeel kan daaruit getrek word deur te kyk na die pad wat volhoubare ontwikkeling in lndie, as 'n ontwikkelende land, gevolg het / South African environmental law derives its foundation from various statutes, of which the Environment Conservation Act of 1989 is the most important. The state is currently in the process of bringing this Act and the Integrated Environmental Management Policy in line with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996. This is done by, inter a/ia, the regulations which have been promulgated in terms of the Environment Conservation Act, the White Paper on an Environmental Policy for South Africa, the White Paper on Conservation and Sustainable Use of the Biological Diversity of South Africa, et cetera. This adaptation in policy is directed towards sustainable development, which will also take into account the economic realities of South Africa as set out in the Reconstruction and Development Programme. Benefit may be derived from observing the path of sustainable development in India as a developing country. / Law / LL.M.

<p>The reason for performing an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is to incorporate environmental concern in different kinds of plans and projects. The purpose of such an assessment is to identify and describe direct, indirect and cumulative environmental impacts.</p><p>Geographical Information System (GIS) is a tool that can be used to combine spatial extension of both sensitive areas and different environmental impacts in a quick and easy way. Because of that, descriptions of environmental impacts and motivation of different standpoints on a specific issue can be more correct and easier to make if GIS is used as a tool.</p><p>Hence, GIS can contribute to improve the quality of Environmental Impact Assessments. If the benefits of using GIS are to out weight the costs, geographical information of satisfactory detail, actuality and accuracy need to be available at reasonable prices.</p><p>In this paper, case studies are carried out for three different geographical analyses to investigate the use of GIS as a tool in EIA. From these case studies, more general conclusions about the benefits and limitations of using GIS for Environmental Impact Assessments are also drawn. The criteria, after which benefits and limitations of GIS have been estimated, are data availability, time consumption for performing the analyses and how the results from the performed analyses can make impact assessments easier, motivate different standpoints and increase the comprehensiveness of the EIA-report.</p><p>The three different GIS-analyses includes calculation of pollution load in a catchment area, estimation of the visual impact from planned buildings and generation of alternative locations for underwater pipes. These analyses have been applied on one ongoing EIA for a freight terminal and one ongoing EIA for an underwater wastewater transmission pipe. The analyses in these case studies have been undertaken with ArcGIS software using the extensions “Spatial Analyst” and “3D Analyst”.</p><p>It is shown in this study that due to uncertainty in available model values and the time consuming data manipulation, it is unlikely that calculations of pollution loads with GIS will be used to any larger extent in EIA. To carry out visual assessments with help of GIS to estimate visual impacts is on the other hand assumed to be useful in EIA-work. Both to assess impacts and to estimate how changes in building design can alter those impacts. To use GIS to produce alternative locations for underwater pipes is also considered valuable in EIA-work, even though there is a considerable lack of data to predict the environmental class of marine areas and the connections between available data and real environmental values are weak. However, the risk of damaging vulnerable and high valued marine areas should decrease when applying this type of analyse.</p> / <p>Miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar (MKB) genomförs för att möjliggöra att hänsyn om miljön tas vid olika typer av exploateringsprojekt och exploateringsplaner. Syftet med en miljökonsekvensbeskrivning är att identifiera och beskriva direkta, indirekta och kumulativa miljöeffekter.</p><p>Geografiska informationssystem (GIS) är ett verktyg som kan användas för att snabbt och enkelt kombinera rumslig utsträckning av både känsliga områden och olika miljökonsekvenser. GIS kan därför användas för att underlätta beskrivningar av miljökonsekvenser och motivera olika ställningstaganden. Därigenom kan GIS bidra till bättre grundade och mer rättvisande miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar. Men för att vinsterna av att genomföra GIS-analyser ska överstiga kostnaderna krävs att geografisk information av tillräcklig detaljeringsgrad, aktualitet och säkerhet finns att tillgå till rimliga kostnader.</p><p>Syftet med denna studie har varit att genom fallstudier undersöka om tre olika GIS-analyser kan användas som verktyg i miljöbedömningar med idag tillgänglig data, samt att utifrån fallstudierna dra mer allmänna slutsatser om vinster och begränsningar av att använda GIS i miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar. De kriterier som har använts för att bedöma vinster och begränsningar är tidsåtgång för analyserna, tillgång på data samt hur analyserna kan vara ett stöd i MKB-arbetet genom att underlätta beskrivningar av konsekvenser, motivera ställningstaganden som görs och öka rapportens begriplighet.</p><p>De tre genomförda GIS-analyserna innefattar beräkning av föroreningsbelastning inom ett avrinningsområde, bedömning av byggnaders landskapspåverkan genom synlighetsanalys samt generering av förslag till alternativ ledningsdragning för en undervattensledning. Dessa analyser har tillämpats på en pågående MKB för en detaljplan för en partihall och en pågående MKB för en avloppsvattenledning under vatten. Analyserna i fallstudierna har genomförts i programmet ArcGIS med tilläggen ”Spatial Analyst” och ”3D Analyst”.</p><p>Studien visar att det på grund av osäkerheter i tillgängliga schablonvärden och tidsåtgång för databehandling är osannolikt att beräkning av föroreningsmängd inom ett avrinningsområde med GIS kommer att användas till någon större utsträckning i MKB. Att med GIS genomföra synlighetsanalyser för att utvärdera landskapspåverkan bedöms däremot kunna användas i MKB, både för att bedöma påverkan och för att utvärdera hur en förändring i en byggnads utformning kan förändra den påverkan. Även att med GIS generera förslag till alternativa ledningsdragningar under vatten bedöms kunna fylla en funktion i MKB trots att tillgången på data för att kunna beskriva olika marina områdens naturvärden är klart bristfällig och kopplingen mellan tillgängliga data och verkliga naturvärden är osäker. Denna typ av analys bör ändå minska risken att värdefulla och skyddsvärda marina områden skadas vid lednignsdragning.</p>

In the late 1970s, Southern California Edison Company proposed the construction of a 500 Kilovolt transmission line from Buckeye, Arizona (just west of Phoenix) to the Devers substation near Banning California. The proposed routes crossed the traditional territory of numerous Native American groups such as the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi Southern Paiutes, Cocopah, Mojave, Maricopa, O’Odham, Quechan, and Yavapai. As required by the National Environmental Policy Act, an environmental impact assessment was conducted to understand potential impacts this project could have on human and natural resources. For the first time since the passage of NEPA, Native American concerns were fully considered. This report presents the findings of the first Native American social impact assessment in the United States. This report presents contemporary Native American values that were pertinent to planning, construction, operation, and maintenance of high voltage generation and transmission facilities. The ethnographic study also considered the following aspects: (a) determine if, where, and in what manner such values were relevant to the Devers Palo Verde study area, (b) define differing levels of significance that Native Americans assigned to geographical points, zones, or issues within the subject study area exhibiting such values, (c) assign appropriate sensitivity ratings to the pertinent points, zones, or issues of significance and rank such points, zones, and issues from highest to lowest, explain what actions might constitute varying degrees, kinds of impact to those points, zones, or issues, and (e) provide recommendations for mitigation of negative impacts to those points, zones, or issues.

This project examined the potential impacts that construction of the Western Transmission System of the Allen-Warner Valley Energy System would have on the ethnographic and historic resources of the Mojave Desert area. The Western Transmission System of the Allen-Warner Valley Energy System project consisted of two 500-kilovolt transmission lines extending from Southern California Edison Company’s Eldorado Substation in southern Nevada westward across the Mojave Desert to Lugo Substation in Victorville, California. The ethnographic component of this study included the identification of culturally affiliated Native American groups and extensive field investigations which focused on ethnohistory and ethnogeography of the study area. The ethnographic study also documented Native American recommendations for mitigation by Southern California Edison Company of potential adverse impacts that the project had on Native American values and resources.

The main goal of this thesis is to analyze the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which is one of the most important horizontal tools for environmental protection. The EIA process can be described as the procedure of identification and assessment of potential significant effects of a project on the environment. The information and outputs provided by the assessment process are considered by decision makers before a decision is made. The EIA process was first mentioned in the US in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 1969. Then the EIA process was adopted in other economically developed countries. The beginning of this thesis is focused on two significant multilateral environmental agreements - The Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (the Espoo Convention) and The Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the Aarhus Convention). Then the EU legislation related to the EIA process is described (especially Council Directive 85/337/EEC - the EIA Directive). The following part analyzes the Czech legal regulation of the EIA process that is included in Act No. 100/2001 Coll. Attention is turned to historical development, particular phases of the EIA process, the transboundary...

As conferências mundiais de meio ambiente de 1972 em Estocolmo e de 1992 no Rio de Janeiro trouxeram um novo despertar para a humanidade nas questões ambientais. Por outro lado, a globalização econômica ampliou de maneira extraordinária os fluxos de produção e comércio, inaugurando uma nova era de crescimento econômico, que trouxe como consequência novas oportunidades de desenvolvimento, mas também pressões sobre os ativos ambientais. A resposta às pressões tem sido um arcabouço legal de regulação, que tem, na visão de alguns, inibido o crescimento econômico e restringido as oportunidades de mobilidade social. As críticas estão concentradas, especialmente nos procedimentos de concessão das licenças ambientais, excessivamente burocráticos, e que acarretam custos econômicos, que reduzem a competitividade dos empreendimentos, principalmente os de infra-estrutura. O presente trabalho procurou analisar, comparativamente, a aplicação desses instrumentos em diversos países, em quatro continentes, com diferentes graus de desenvolvimento, população e nível de renda. Pesquisou as formas de aplicação dos instrumentos das políticas ambientais em diversos estados do Brasil, com suas diferenças de interpretação e de formas de atuação, sob o ponto de vista dos agentes governamentais, das entidades de classe e das organizações da sociedade civil. É apresentada uma análise crítica dos procedimentos e regulamentos em vigor no Estado de São Paulo, bem como é formulada uma proposta de atuação, que objetiva valorizar os procedimentos técnicos e reduzir os burocráticos; integrar as diferentes informações produzidas por diversos órgãos governamentais, importantes para o licenciamento; aumentar a transparência; fortalecer a participação popular e modernizar estruturas de acompanhamento e monitoramento pós-licença. / The 1972 Stockholm Environmental World Conference along with its counterpart held in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro generated a wake-up call to humanity regarding environmental issues. On the other hand economic globalization leveraged production and trade flow, launching a new era of economic growth, providing new development opportunities but also concentrating pressures over environmental assets. The response to these pressures has been a framework of legal regulation which has, according to some professionals, inhibited economic growth and restrained opportunities for social advancement. Current critics are focused mostly in excessively bureaucratic environmental permit procedures which carry on economic costs reducing a projects competitive advantage, mainly in infrastructure. The following work attempts to examine comparatively the application of these instruments in several countries, in four Continents, with different levels of development, population and income. Research was made on the various applications of the environmental policies instruments in several States of Brazil, with its differences in interpretation and decision making process, under the viewpoint of governmental officers, class entities and organizations within society. A critical analysis of the current procedures and regulations in the State of São Paulo is presented along with an engaging proposition that seeks to exalt technical procedures and reduce bureaucratic ones, integrate the diverse but relevant information generated by a number of governmental agencies, increase transparency, strengthen the participation of common people and modernize the follow up apparatus employed in monitoring activity after the permits are submitted.