Making a case for social impact assessment in urban development : social impacts and legal disputes in Queensland, Australia

Urban land use planning and policy decisions are often contested, with the multiple stakeholders (business, developers, residents, policymakers and the wider community) frequently holding opposing viewpoints about the issues and best solution. In recent years, however, the participatory process of social impact assessment (SIA) has received significant attention as a way to mitigate conflict, facilitating negotiation and conflict resolution. This paper examines how social impacts have informed development appeals in Australia, focussing on ten cases from the Queensland Planning and Environment Court (QPEC). Half are appeals from community members (typically neighbours) wanting to oppose approvals and half from organisations appealing against City Councils’ decisions to deny their development applications. While legal challenges do not necessarily reflect attitudes and practices, they provide a means to begin to assess how social impacts (although not often explicitly defined as such) inform development related disputes. Based on the nature and outcomes of 10 QPEC cases, we argue that many legal cases could have been avoided if SIA had been undertaken appropriately. First, the issues in each case are clearly social, incorporating impacts on amenity, the character of an area, the needs of different social groups, perceptions of risk and a range of other social issues. Second, the outcomes and recommendations from each case, such as negotiating agreements, modifying plans and accommodating community concerns would have been equally served thorough SIA. Our argument is that engagement at an early stage, utilising SIA, could have likely achieved the same result in a less adversarial and much less expensive and time-consuming environment than a legal case.

Environmental impact assessment of agrochemicals for fish production - a review paper

The environmental impact of agro-chemicals for fish production was extensively reviewed. The positive contribution of agro- chemicals and the devastating effect on aquaculture was x-rayed to alert users to this obvious environmental problem. Lime and fertilizers are commonly used in fish farming to increase pH of pond soil and water and to increase alkalinity and hardness, reduce humic acid content and to initiate primary and secondary productivity. Devastating effect of lime on environment is likely to be minimal. In the case of fertilizers, over utilization of this agro-chemical could impair water quality as phytoplankton bloom become excessive which consequently raises BOD. The use of Therapeutants in aquaculture was discovered to be more popular in Europe and North America than in the tropics (Africa). Commonly used therapeutants include antibiotics and antimicrobials. For fish pathology chemicals like formalin, potassium permanganate, Dipterex and malachite green are widely in use. Effluent from farms where these chemicals are commonly in use can distort the aquatic ecosystem. The changes in water quality, aquatic community structure and productivity caused by intensive aquaculture are typical of the impacts of pollution from a wide variety of sources like sewage, agricultural run-off and effluent discharges from industry

Ex-ante assessment of integrated aquaculture-agriculture adoption and impact in Southern Malawi

There are increasing requirements for impact assessment by development partners in order to increase the accountability and effectiveness of research and development projects. Impact assessment research has been dominated by conventional economic methods. This context challenges agricultural research organizations to develop and apply alternative impact assessment methods incorporating economic, social, and environmental impact components. In this study, we use the Tradeoff Analysis for Multi-Dimensional Impact Assessment (TOA-MD) model to evaluate the impact of integrated aquaculture-agriculture (IAA) adoption in Malawi. The study demonstrated that with a minimal data set, the TOA-MD model can be applied to predict and assess the adoption rates of new technologies and practices as well as their economic and non-economic impacts.

Impact assessment of Farakka barrage on environmental issues at Bheramara Upazila, Bangladesh

Different problems have been created on the downstream territory, especially on Bheramara on the bank of mighty river Padma. The study is preferred to assess the impacts on river flow of Ganges water, and on fisheries, agriculture, irrigation, groundwater, livelihood, and biodiversity because of Farakka Barrage. Information were collected from various respondents among which 42% is farmer, 12% is fisherman, 36% is businessman and 10% is service holder. It is evident from this study that 65% of crops production were directly affected by Farakka Barrage, in which 34% crops were damaged due to scarcity of water, lowering the ground water level, less access to rainwater, etc. and 66% crops were invent for increasing char land, increasing soil fertility for the use of agrochemicals. Irrigation has been adversely affected because of 35% insufficient flow of water and 65% lowering the ground water level.

Plankton indicators and ocean observing systems: support to the marine ecosystem state assessment

Ecological indicators are used extensively as tools to manage environmental resources. In the oceans, indicators of plankton can be measured using a variety of observing systems including: mooring stations, ships, autonomous floats and ocean colour remote sensing. Given the broad range of temporal and spatial sampling resolutions of these different observing systems, as well as discrepancies in measurements obtained from different sensors, the estimation and interpretation of plankton indicators can present significant challenges. To provide support to the assessment of the state of the marine ecosystem, we propose a suite of plankton indicators and subsequently classify them in an ecological framework that characterizes key attributes of the ecosystem. We present two case studies dealing with plankton indicators of biomass, size structure and phenology, estimated using the most spatially extensive and longest in situ and remote-sensing observations. Discussion of these studies illustrates how some of the challenges in estimating and interpreting plankton indicators may be addressed by using for example relative measurement thresholds, interpolation procedures and delineation of biogeochemical provinces. We demonstrate that one of the benefits attained, when analyzing a suite of plankton indicators classified in an ecological framework, is the elucidation of non-trivial changes in composition, structure and functioning of the marine ecosystem.

A methodology for the assessment of local-scale changes in marine environmental benefits and its application

Local-scale planning decisions are required by the existing Environmental Impact Assessment process to take account of the implications of a development on a range of environmental and social factors, and could therefore be supported by an ecosystem services approach. However, empirical assessments at a local scale within the marine environment have focused on only a single or limited set of services. This paper tests the applicability of the ecosystem services approach to environmental impact appraisal by considering how the identification and quantification of a comprehensive suite of benefits provided at a local scale might proceed in practice. A methodology for conducting an Environmental Benefits Assessment (EBA) is proposed, the underlying framework for which follows the recent literature by placing the emphasis on ecosystem benefits, as opposed to services. The EBA methodology also proposes metrics that can be quantified at local scale, and is tested using a case study of a hypothetical tidal barrage development in the Taw Torridge estuary in North Devon, UK. By suggesting some practical steps for assessing environmental benefits, this study aims to stimulate discussion and so advance the development of methods for implementing ecosystem service approaches at a local scale.

A primer for the Environmental Impact Assessment of mining at seafloor massive sulfide deposits

Seafloor massive sulfides (SMS) contain commercially viable quantities of high grade ores, making them attractive prospect sites for marine mining. SMS deposits may also contain hydrothermal vent ecosystems populated by high conservation value vent-endemic species. Responsible environmental management of these resources is best achieved by the adoption of a precautionary approach. Part of this precautionary approach involves the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of exploration and exploitative activities at SMS deposits. The VentBase 2012 workshop provided a forum for stakeholders and scientists to discuss issues surrounding SMS exploration and exploitation. This forum recognised the requirement for a primer which would relate concepts underpinning EIA at SMS deposits. The purpose of this primer is to inform policy makers about EIA at SMS deposits in order to aid management decisions. The primer offers a basic introduction to SMS deposits and their associated ecology, and the basic requirements for EIA at SMS deposits; including initial data and information scoping, environmental survey, and ecological risk assessment. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

VentBase:Developing a consensus among stakeholders in the deep-sea regarding environmental impact assessment for deep-sea mining-A workshop report

Mining seafloor massive sulfides for metals is an emergent industry faced with environmental management challenges. These revolve largely around limits to our current understanding of biological variability in marine systems, a challenge common to all marine environmental management. VentBase was established as a forum where academic, commercial, governmental, and non-governmental stakeholders can develop a consensus regarding the management of exploitative activities in the deep-sea. Participants advocate a precautionary approach with the incorporation of lessons learned from coastal studies. This workshop report from VentBase encourages the standardization of sampling methodologies for deep-sea environmental impact assessment. VentBase stresses the need for the collation of spatial data and importance of datasets amenable to robust statistical analyses. VentBase supports the identification of set-asides to prevent the local extirpation of vent-endemic communities and for the post-extraction recolonization of mine sites. © 2013.

Environmental impact assessment: looking at sediments in Nootka Sound for traces of pulp mill effluent

Senior thesis written for Oceanography 445

Application of geographic information system and modelling in health impact assessment for urban road mobility in Vietnam

Transport is an essential sector in modern societies. It connects economic sectors and industries. Next to its contribution to economic development and social interconnection, it also causes adverse impacts on the environment and results in health hazards. Transport is a major source of ground air pollution, especially in urban areas, and therefore contributing to the health problems, such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancer, and physical injuries. This thesis presents the results of a health risk assessment that quantifies the mortality and the diseases associated with particulate matter pollution resulting from urban road transport in Hai Phong City, Vietnam. The focus is on the integration of modelling and GIS approaches in the exposure analysis to increase the accuracy of the assessment and to produce timely and consistent assessment results. The modelling was done to estimate traffic conditions and concentrations of particulate matters based on geo-references data. A simplified health risk assessment was also done for Ha Noi based on monitoring data that allows a comparison of the results between the two cases. The results of the case studies show that health risk assessment based on modelling data can provide a much more detail results and allows assessing health impacts of different mobility development options at micro level. The use of modeling and GIS as a common platform for the integration of different assessments (environmental, health, socio-economic, etc.) provides various strengths, especially in capitalising on the available data stored in different units and forms and allows handling large amount of data. The use of models and GIS in a health risk assessment, from a decision making point of view, can reduce the processing/waiting time while providing a view at different scales: from micro scale (sections of a city) to a macro scale. It also helps visualising the links between air quality and health outcomes which is useful discussing different development options. However, a number of improvements can be made to further advance the integration. An improved integration programme of the data will facilitate the application of integrated models in policy-making. Data on mobility survey, environmental monitoring and measuring must be standardised and legalised. Various traffic models, together with emission and dispersion models, should be tested and more attention should be given to their uncertainty and sensitivity

The first five years of the EU Impact Assessment system: a risk economics perspective on gaps between rationale and practice

In 2003 the European Commission started using Impact Assessment (IA) as the main empirical basis for its major policy proposals. The aim was to systematically assess ex ante the economic, social and environmental impacts of EU policy proposals. In parallel, research proliferated in search for theoretical grounds for IAs and in an attempt to evaluate empirically the performance of the first sets of IAs produced by the European Commission. This paper combines conceptual and evaluative studies carried out in the first five years of EU IAs. It concludes that the great discrepancy between rationale and practice calls for a different theoretical focus and a higher emphasis on evaluating empirically crucial risk economics aspects of IAs, such as the value of statistical life, price of carbon, the integration of macroeconomic modelling and scenario analysis.