Environmental and Social Impact Assessment

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) are typically undertaken in advance of projects that transform social or spatial settings. Originally regulatory tools to determine whether a project should be approved or not and/or under what conditions, they have transformed to become part of the way projects identify and manage their social and environmental impacts/risks so as to ensure they obtain a social licence to operate and grow. Still used by government regulatory agencies, they are also used by lenders to assess social, environmental and human rights risks prior to approving project financing. And they can be used by communities and NGOs prior to giving free, prior and informed consent. Research in this topic area considers how to improve the effectiveness of: the ex ante prediction of impacts, the mitigation and monitoring of impacts, community engagement processes, livelihood restoration, project-induced resettlement, and the assessment of cumulative impacts.

People

• Frank Vanclay (coordinator)
• Christina Prell
• Dimitris Ballas
• Frans Sijtsma
• Gunnar Mallon
• Jos Arts
• Peter Groote
• Stephen Adaawen
• Terry van Dijk
• Yongjun Zhao