Many countries in the world have endorsed the need to conduct EIA before a project is undertaken. In some cases, it would be an offence under the law if such course of action is not followed. The question now is, there had been very few instances in which the mitigation measures proposed by the EIA document were followed and actually implemented. Instead, EIA was often seen as a tool to get through the decision process, beyond that no one cares whether the environment is being taken care of or not.
Forest & Bird » Climate Change
Environmental Impact Assessment - Is it really necessary?
(4 posts)-
Posted 2 years ago #
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Just because the officails responsible for environmental enforcement don't do their job, doesn't mean that EIA's aren't a useful tool. We just need to get better at holding these regulators accountable.
Imagine if we didn't conduct these assessments?
Which actually was the case until very recently for all our offshore develoments. They came to NZ and said please change the law - our standards are better than tyours and we want to be held accountable to our EIAs!!!
Posted 2 years ago # -
You've got the point. But to do a good EIA is not cheap as it involes a whole gang of experts: ecologist, meteorologist, engineers, geologist, marine biologist, health personnel.... you name it, i.e. depending on the type of project. It can get really costly. But in the end, all you get is some politicians who, for some reason or other, decide to ignore the EIA findings (and recommendation) and take the path that is totally not in the interest of the environment.
Also, there is the issue on quality of EIA report, i.e how scientific does it have to be? In most developing countries, basic data are very poorly collected or non-existent. And to prepare an EIA report under such circumstance would mean having to make a lot of generalisations and assumptions which would inevitably work against any scientific realms. This is especially so when EIAs were normally conducted based on very few actual measurements over a period of a few months only.Posted 2 years ago # -
I have to agree with Kirstie. Yes the system is not achieving the intended environmental outcomes. But the system fails in the auditing and follow up from regulatory agencies. They are not being diligent or taking due care to ensure the environment is properly protected.
And that is where I think groups like Forest and Bird have a hugely important role: to bear witness and make the reality apparent to all. As long as bad operators can carry on without detection, they will carry on.
Phil
Posted 2 years ago #
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