This study argues that the basis of all environmental justice variations is the consideration of fairness, equity and justice in the environmental processes that resolve environmental problems. A Procedural Environmental Justice Model (PEJM) has been developed for the purpose of evaluating the procedural environmental justice content of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) legislation in South Africa and Zambia. EIA as a tool for mitigating adverse environmental impacts arising from development activities aims at identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the bio-physical, social, and other relevant effects of development proposals prior to major decisions being taken. This makes it an apt case study for evaluating how procedural environmental justice works. The PEJM developed in this thesis is important because it can be used as a mechanism for evaluating how procedural environmental justice works in practice. Apart from developing the PEJM, this research provides an in- depth evaluation of procedural environmental justice and proceeds, in a novel manner, to focus on South Africa and Zambia. The concept of environmental justice originates from the civil liberties campaigns of the 1960s and the more recent Environmental Justice Movement in the United States. It was historically concerned with widespread distributive inequalities which manifested as discrimination mainly on the basis of race and economic status in environmental matters. In more recent years, environmental justice concerns have become more profound owing to the diversity and gravity of global environmental problems such as global warming and climate change, natural resources depletion and widespread air and water pollution. The effects of these global environmental problems have been predicted to affect inhabitants of developing countries more than those of the developed ones, thereby emphasising procedural environmental justice concerns.This research shows that in the present day environmental parlance, environmental justice should be increasingly used to connote inclusiveness in addressing global, national and grassroots environmental problems. There has been a distinct tendency to move beyond the traditional description of environmental justice as being distributive, or primarily concerned with the allocation of environmental advantages and disadvantages. This is due to the realisation that distributive environmental justice aspects are inadequate in addressing historical and present day environmental challenges. This research emphasises that environmental justice incorporates procedural, corrective and social aspects of justice. The promotion of inclusive participation or procedural environmental justice transcends all conceptions of the concept. Therefore, in order to promote environmental justice, environmental legislation must focus on procedural features that incorporate effective public participation mechanisms.

Diante dos compromissos mundiais para redução das emissões atmosféricas, a energia eólica se consolida como uma das principais alternativas à crescente demanda energética. Quando comparada a outras fontes de energia, considera-se que a fonte eólica induz menores perturbações no meio ambiente. Porém, empreendimentos eólicos podem causar impactos significativos, principalmente se instalados em áreas sensíveis e concentrados espacialmente. Assim, tendo em vista o cenário de intenso crescimento do setor eólico, o objetivo principal desta pesquisa foi avaliar a efetividade do sistema de Avaliação de Impacto Ambiental (AIA) aplicado a projetos de geração de energia eólica. Foi utilizado como objeto de estudo o sistema de licenciamento ambiental do estado do Ceará, estado pioneiro no setor eólico e ainda em destaque no cenário nacional. Buscou-se, portanto, identificar evidências de conformidade do sistema de AIA adotado no estado com as boas práticas e princípios internacionais da AIA, assim como eventuais deficiências que possam influenciar o processo decisório. Para tanto, foi avaliada a qualidade das informações apresentadas nos Estudos de Impacto Ambiental (EIA) perante às boas práticas de AIA, diretrizes da literatura científica e elementos contextuais, de modo a avaliar seu potencial de contribuir para a tomada de decisão com vistas à prevenção de impactos socioambientais significativos. Foi escopo deste trabalho a análise de documentos do processo de licenciamento de 3 projetos e a avaliação da qualidade de 31 EIAs, com base em uma lista de verificação elaborada no âmbito da presente pesquisa e no método Environmental Statement Review Package. Com a finalidade de delinear os aspectos relevantes a serem abordados no âmbito da AIA, foi identificado o estado da arte dos potenciais impactos ambientais causados por empreendimentos eólicos e as informações importantes para a correta previsão, caracterização e mitigação dos potenciais impactos dessa tipologia de projeto. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam qualidade insatisfatória dos EIAs, com deficiências significativas em todas as etapas, especialmente na avaliação dos impactos e análise de alternativas locacionais e tecnológicas, e ausência de informações importantes para caracterização da vulnerabilidade do meio ambiente. Foram observadas iniciativas pontuais para alteração do conteúdo mínimo exigido aos EIAs, porém, não se observou indícios de que o órgão ambiental esteja considerando atuar proativamente para promover a melhoria da qualidade dos EIAs. Em linhas gerais, o presente estudo indica que se considerados apenas os EIAs, as decisões estão sendo tomadas com base em informações insuficientes e inadequadas e, portanto, que o sistema de AIA não tem se mostrado efetivo para prevenção de impactos significativos. / In order to meet the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets established during the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, the energy generation using wind sources was greatly encouraged to fulfill the rising energy demand. While wind energy may lead to lower damage to the environment when compared to other energy sources, wind farms still have potential for significant impact. With this in mind and considering the scenario of intense expansion of wind energy generation, the main objective of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system assigned to wind energy projects. The state of Ceara was the object of study, since it was the pioneer in the wind energy generation and still is relevant in the national context. This research aimed to identify evidences of the EIA system compliance with good practice and international principles of EIA, and possible shortcomings that could influence the decision-making process. Therefore, the quality of the information presented in Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was evaluated in light of AIA best practice, scientific literature and contextual factors. Thus, the objective was to evaluate the potential of EIS to contribute to decision making in order to prevent social and environmental impacts significant. 31 EIS and the licensing process of 3 projects was scope of this research. The EIS\' quality was evaluated through a checklist developed during this project and the method Environmental Statement Review Package. In order to define the relevant aspects that must be addressed during EIA, the potential environmental impacts caused by wind energy projects were identified in literature. The results of the research indicate poor quality of EIS, with significant deficiencies at all phases, especially in the evaluation of impacts and analysis of locational and technological alternatives, and the lack of important information to characterize the vulnerability of the environment. Some occasional measures to improve the minimum content required for EIS was observed. However, the results didn\'t indicate that the environmental agency is willing to act proactively to improve EIS quality. In general, the present work indicates that if the decision-making process is based only in the EIS content, decisions have been made with insufficient and inadequate information. Therefore, the EIA system seems to be not effective to prevent significant environmental and social impacts.

EIA's contribution to increased environmental awareness is a posited means by which EIA's contribution to a substantive level of environmental protection can be measured. However, little research has been done to evaluate and properly contextualise this increased environmental awareness in members of the public who participate in EIA and its associated processes of public participation. Utilising a Foucauldian understanding of power and governmentality, this research has shown how this process of becoming environmentally aware takes place within a broader application of governmental power and it is within this context which the success (or otherwise) of steering towards a greater environmental awareness must be evaluated. The biopolitical intentions EIA has for managing environmental life in general draws strict boundaries of expertise and authority in governing the environment, and as products of this formation of governmental power the public become subjects of expert direction. In opposition to this, the public produced a rural environment and local community as defined and governed by forms of experiential knowledge, which although pertaining to a truth-oriented mentality of rule, exerted a similar biopolitical control over the environment and immutable form of authority and expertise within it. It is contended that for EIA to penetrate bounded environments and disrupt their totalising environmentalities, the tool must extend the meaning of uncertainty to explicitly recognise the conflict that exists between actors and their respective environments. In this way, EIA can contribute to a form of self-reflexive and -critical environmental citizenship deemed necessary for a thorough investigation into the political dimensions of the environment and its associated substantive measures of enhancement and protection. Employing a realist governmentality approach to the case-study of the 2016 public inquiry in shale energy proposals in Lancashire, this research generated discourse analyses of key policy documents and public contributions to the inquiry in addition to a 'lived experience' of the inquiry as a participatory space through participant observation. The key findings were that at the policy level, the participating member of the public is produced as both a trustee and an expert, heightening the potential for conflict. Further to this, the experiences of the public inquiry added to this potential by seeking to impose on the participant an individualised, silent identity which was directly contradicted by the public during 'non-technical' sessions who sought to participate actively and collectively. Within their contributions the public produced further internal conflicts, with aspects of this discourse relying on existing institutionalised forms of knowledge and expertise to respond to environmental problems, while in others asserting that localised and personal experiences were necessary. EIA as a technique of government can have a leading role in defining the environment in both a physical, surrounding sense and as a mentality. To do so and challenge essentialised and concrete ideas regarding the environment avoiding the acts of exclusion that underpin them becoming normalised the thesis builds on the analysis to make a proposition for a more effective agonistic EIA process.

<p>When the local authorities establish a plan for land use planning, they have to judge if the influence on the environment could be of such a grade that they have to make a special Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), following national laws and EU-directives. The laws for the process in Sweden is set by the Swedish Parliament, with advisory given by the central government authority, the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, Boverket. For EU, the laws is set by the European Parliament and the Council. The laws and directions for this process have been changed for Sweden in recent years, and the aim of this study was to compare the contents of three different Environmental Impact Assess¬ments to see if there has been any change in appearances and content in later years, as well as to see if different municipalities and authors have effect on the EIAs. According to different studies some of the EIA done are without insufficient focus on main environmental issues in the EIA, or even that some information is missing. In some studies there are arguments that the EIA should be a document that should be possible to read alone. These aspects has also been studied in the material.</p><p>The result is partly described in a matrix where different criteria is compared between the three EIAs to spot differences easily. There is also a part where the content and structure of the three EIAs is compared in text. The result of the study was that there are big differences in structure, while their content has more in common. In one of the three Environ¬mental Impact Assessments much facts are only put in other documents. The conclusion of the study is that there is a need for implementing a common way of presenting the content of an EIA. There is a risk that facts are overlooked that are not presented in the EIA document. There is also a risk that the local authorities has too big interest in implementing the plan and that they make the EIA with a biased look. As a case study an EIA was done. In the case study, the experience of the study is used to make this EIA as complete as possible, with regards to the criteria from the analysis matrix. Also, it was written in a report structure to test this model. The case study is added as Appendix 4.</p>

Monitoring is an important tool for gaining insight into an organisation’s environmental performance and for learning about the environmental condition and the effectiveness of environmental management measures. Development of environmental monitoring has generally relied on research aiming at improving monitoring methodology, technique or practice within a particular management tool. Little empirical research has taken into account the organisation’s reality where several management tools are used in parallel. This thesis analyses the practice of environmental monitoring in public authorities with the aim of identifying barriers and possibilities for environmental monitoring as an instrument for improving environmental performance, using the Swedish Rail Administration as a case organisation. The study identified two different types of environmental monitoring: environmental performance measurement (EPM) and activity monitoring, both important for achieving environmental improvements. EPM involves gathering and evaluating data to determine whether the organisation is meeting the criteria for environmental performance set by the management of the organisation. EPM can further be used for judging the success and failure of environmental objectives and strategies. Activity monitoring provides each project of the organisation with information to minimise the negative effects on the natural environment or human health and to ensure that the organisation’s operations conform with regulations. Problems encountered comprised a variety of little co-ordinated monitoring activities, poor utilization of the monitoring results as well as limited internal feedback on monitoring results. Some of the problems identified seem to be an effect of the management transition from a traditional ‘command and control’ system to a self-administered organisation managed by economic incentives and voluntary management systems. This thesis suggests several improvements to make monitoring more efficient. Primarily, the monitoring systems must have a clear structure and be adapted to its specific function. The EPE system would benefit from being integrated with the organisation’s central performance measurement, presenting progress towards organisational strategic objectives as well as operational objectives. The system for activity monitoring must not only focus on inputs and outputs to the system but must also include the environmental condition of the system. In order to improve communication and learning, monitoring data within both EPE and activity monitoring must be better transmitted and utilised within the structure of the permanent organisation. Experience from all monitoring activities that now is scattered and inaccessible to the individuals of the organisation could beneficially be stored within a well-structured organisational ‘memory‘. Such a system would facilitate an iterative management process where the monitoring results and the knowledge gained are used for making future plans and projects more adaptive, thereby improving the environmental performance of the organisation. / QC 20100729

When the local authorities establish a plan for land use planning, they have to judge if the influence on the environment could be of such a grade that they have to make a special Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), following national laws and EU-directives. The laws for the process in Sweden is set by the Swedish Parliament, with advisory given by the central government authority, the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, Boverket. For EU, the laws is set by the European Parliament and the Council. The laws and directions for this process have been changed for Sweden in recent years, and the aim of this study was to compare the contents of three different Environmental Impact Assess¬ments to see if there has been any change in appearances and content in later years, as well as to see if different municipalities and authors have effect on the EIAs. According to different studies some of the EIA done are without insufficient focus on main environmental issues in the EIA, or even that some information is missing. In some studies there are arguments that the EIA should be a document that should be possible to read alone. These aspects has also been studied in the material. The result is partly described in a matrix where different criteria is compared between the three EIAs to spot differences easily. There is also a part where the content and structure of the three EIAs is compared in text. The result of the study was that there are big differences in structure, while their content has more in common. In one of the three Environ¬mental Impact Assessments much facts are only put in other documents. The conclusion of the study is that there is a need for implementing a common way of presenting the content of an EIA. There is a risk that facts are overlooked that are not presented in the EIA document. There is also a risk that the local authorities has too big interest in implementing the plan and that they make the EIA with a biased look. As a case study an EIA was done. In the case study, the experience of the study is used to make this EIA as complete as possible, with regards to the criteria from the analysis matrix. Also, it was written in a report structure to test this model. The case study is added as Appendix 4.

In order to make decisions to approve filling stations, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) needs to be conducted and evaluated by the competent authority. Although numerous filling stations have been authorised for operation, the quality of the EIA reports that form the basis for decision making has never been evaluated. The evaluation of the quality of EIA reports on filling station developments by means of an adapted Lee–Colley review package formed the basis of this research. The main conclusion was that the quality of the EIA reports for filling station developments, as reviewed by the adapted review package, is generally of a poor standard. This means that a decision to approve a new filling station is generally based on just enough information to the competent authority. The main deficiencies in the EIA reports related to site description, cumulative impacts and mitigation measures, while the environment description, identification of impacts, scoping of impacts, assessment of impact significance and emphasis (impacts) in the reports were of good quality. The results from the reviewed EIA’s correspond mostly with the literature on the review of EIA reports. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

In order to make decisions to approve filling stations, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) needs to be conducted and evaluated by the competent authority. Although numerous filling stations have been authorised for operation, the quality of the EIA reports that form the basis for decision making has never been evaluated. The evaluation of the quality of EIA reports on filling station developments by means of an adapted Lee–Colley review package formed the basis of this research. The main conclusion was that the quality of the EIA reports for filling station developments, as reviewed by the adapted review package, is generally of a poor standard. This means that a decision to approve a new filling station is generally based on just enough information to the competent authority. The main deficiencies in the EIA reports related to site description, cumulative impacts and mitigation measures, while the environment description, identification of impacts, scoping of impacts, assessment of impact significance and emphasis (impacts) in the reports were of good quality. The results from the reviewed EIA’s correspond mostly with the literature on the review of EIA reports. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:01:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissCMM.pdf: 1152867 bytes, checksum: 285bcaac4403e13affd7a9ae146f523c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-10-26 / This work intented to realize a study about the situation of process of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in São Paulo State, with emphasis in the monitoring pos-EIS (Environmental Impact Statment) phase, that it is essencial for the efficiency and efficacy of EIA. The purpose was to evaluate the frequency that the monitoring is realized, which are the methods used, what the efficiency, the negative points and the difficults to execution of this system. For that, it was realized a bibliography revision about national and internacional practices of EIA, with research at libraries of Secretaria de Meio Ambiente do Estado de São Paulo (SMA), Companhia Estadual de Saneamento Ambiental (CETESB), Departamento de Avaliação de Impacto Ambiental (DAIA) and USP, and researches on data base. It were made interviews with technicals directors of DAIA/SMA and was also elaborated a questioner, that approach some points of EIA practices in São Paulo State. This questioner was sent to professionals of area. The results evidenced that despite of monitoring pos-EIS is very impotant in the context of EIA, it is not executed in the most of the cases. Many failures are pointed out in the process, which results in the non aplication of monitoring pos-EIS. The lack of engagement with the environmental quality and the sustainability, the lack of structure in the environmental agencies, the bureaucratic and consequent slowness of the process, the little participation of community, the difficulty in getting material about the topic, and others are some of factors mentioned. If the procedure were not improved, for assure the accomplishment of terms and commitments defined, as well as the learning with mistakes and the rights of each case, a powerfull instrument of Environmental Policy would be discredited and turn on in one of numerous bureaucratic obstacles that difficult the access on natural resourses of the country, but are not efficient to assure that the improvement happens in benefit of society. / Este trabalho teve como objetivo realizar um estudo da situação do processo de Avaliação de Impacto Ambiental (AIA) no estado de São Paulo, enfatizando a fase de monitoramento pós-Estudo de Impacto Ambiental (EIA), que é essencial para a eficiência e eficácia da AIA. Pretendeu-se avaliar com que freqüência o monitoramento é realizado, quais os métodos utilizados para sua realização, qual sua eficiência, seus pontos falhos e quais as dificuldades de operacionalização deste sistema. Para tanto, foi realizada uma revisão bibliográfica sobre práticas nacionais e internacionais de AIA, com consultas às bibliotecas da Secretaria de Meio Ambiente (SMA), Companhia Estadual de Tecnologia de Saneamento Ambiental (CETESB), Departamento de Avaliação de Impacto Ambiental (DAIA) e da USP e pesquisas em banco de dados. Foram feitas entrevistas com diretores técnicos do DAIA/SMA e também foi elaborado um questionário, que aborda alguns pontos de práticas de AIA no Estado de São Paulo. Este questionário foi enviado para profissionais da área. Como resultado, foi constatado que, apesar de muito importante no contexto da AIA, o monitoramento pós-EIA não é praticado na maioria dos casos. Muitas são as falhas apontadas no processo, que acabam culminando na não aplicação do monitoramento pós-EIA. A falta de comprometimento com a qualidade ambiental e a sustentabilidade, a falta de estrutura dos órgãos ambientais, a burocratização e conseqüente lentidão do processo, a baixa participação da sociedade, a dificuldade em se conseguir material sobre o assunto, entre outros, são alguns dos fatores mencionados. Se os procedimentos não forem aperfeiçoados, de modo a garantir o cumprimento dos termos e compromissos definidos, bem como o aprendizado com os erros e acertos de cada caso, um poderoso instrumento de política ambiental poderá ficar desacreditado e converter-se em apenas mais um dos já numerosos entraves burocráticos que dificultam o acesso aos recursos naturais do país, mas não são eficazes para assegurar que seu aproveitamento se dê em benefício da sociedade.

Biodiversity considerations form an essential component of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), especially in areas with both a high biodiversity value and development pressure such as the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) in South Africa. Limited research has been conducted within the South African context on the quality of biodiversity inputs to EIA. The aim of this research was to evaluate the quality of biodiversity input to EIA in the CFR. To address this aim, a customised review package was generated to evaluate the quality of 26 Biodiversity Impact Assessment (BIA) reports in the CFR. The results were then compared with international trends of biodiversity input to EIA in order to show how prevalent such trends are within an area with high biodiversity value. This comparison showed that the quality of biodiversity input to EIA in the CFR generally concur with inadequacies identified in international EIA literature. Typically, significant weaknesses identified during the review were the lack of public participation and an insufficient evaluation of alternatives. Specialists also failed to develop adequate monitoring programmes. Furthermore, a very pertinent limitation was that, in general, assessments are conducted during inappropriate seasons and over insufficient time periods. However, some variations to the international trends are also present within the Region. For example, a particular strength was that a precautionary approach was adopted by most of the specialists to avoid negative impacts on biodiversity. In addition, specialists did not merely focus on lower levels (species and habitats) of biodiversity, but incorporated ecological processes in assessment techniques. The inadequacies identified in this dissertation pose particular challenges for biodiversity management and conservation practices. The development and implementation of mechanisms such as Best Practice Guidelines and improved biodiversity related legislation is proposed to improve biodiversity input to EIA. / M Environmental Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014