Effectiveness of the Environmental Impact Assessment

Abstract

The common experience of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as an anticipatory instrument for environmental protection has given rise to significant controversy as to the degree to which it achieves its objectives. This was assessed in terms of the 'effectiveness' of the EIA, particularly as the discourse shifted away from procedural implementation concerns to the more specific aims of the EIA and its role in wider decision-making contexts. The relatively poor degree of control of the EIA on planning decisions, which is increasingly due to its rationalist beginnings, has been shown by empirical studies.The object of this article is to steer this debate towards the basic political aims of the EIA, which, it is argued, provide an overlooked, but solid, foundation for the reform of the EIA. As a result of this redirection, a range of illustrative suggestions are made to enable the EIA to take a more determinative role in decision-making and to contribute to more sustainable development planning trends.