Finally assignment 2 done
Name: Clarissa, Huay
Ching Ngoh
ID: 110108911
Environmental
politics assignment 2
Topic: What is
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and is it an effective form of
environmental governance?
Introduction
Environmental laws authorize protection of environment
(Lawrence, Wiley & Sons, p.562, 2003). ‘Environment’ defined as merely
encompassing physical and biological effects in the first place, but later, it
also encompasses the importance of cultural, health, social as well as
ecological perspectives. This essay offers extensive general picture of
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Environmental Impact Assessment emphasizes organization,
illustrates management steps, displays focus and also proposes enhancements to
the latest process. The structure of this essay involves in mandatory
steps to access environmental impacts when inaugurate industrial or municipal
projects, allowing construction of facilities and approving multiple land usage
likely to influence the surrounding communities. However, by diverse case
studies, the researchers show how EIA arise the potential problems and they
construe the reasons for them.
Vulnerability
in the EIA
Once again to briefly defined the term 'Environmental
Impact assessment', EIA means the examination, analysis and assessment of
planned activities for sake of ensure environmentally sound and sustainable
development. Therefore, EIA can be assumed as an effective planning and
management tool (Hollick, 1981; Ortolano and Sheperd, 1995; Samarakoon and
Rowan, 2008; Snell and Cowell, 2006; Wathern, 1994; Wood, 1993). In this sense,
it can be employed to determine the type, magnitude and potential influence in
the environment as a result of an activity. It also contributes in transmit
these details to the environmental decision-makers such as the developers or civil
engineers. Remarkably, the utilization and implementation of Environmental
Impact Assessment relies on the institutional framework as well as the
political context of the decision-making process (Ortolana et al., 1987).
Based on Fussel (2007), he discovered the inclusion of
vulnerability in the EIA should take into consideration in the following basic
perspectives:
·
The system identification - this can be a combination of
human environment system, a population group, an economic field, a geographic
region or a natural system. Thus, vulnerability can be applied to any system
that might cause harm.
·
The attribution - this defines the system properties which
can be endangered by exposure to a danger. The inclusion of examples are human
health, income, the cultural identity of a community, biodiversity, woods and so
on.
·
The circumstance of danger - this can be explained by a
potentially harmful impact on the system being analysed or an influence which
can negatively affect a system attribution.
·
The temporal reference - this is a matter of time when the
analysis will be implemented.
As a result of the evaluation of the EIA in Columbia,
Toro et al. (2010) finalized that recommendations were mandatory which would
assure the objectivity, content and effectiveness of the EIA for sake of
minimize the environmental depravation which would lead to the bad human health
and also the negative productivity in Columbia. As such, vulnerability in the
EIA process should be taken into consideration in the Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS), especially in the environmental description, assessments of
impacts and also the revision of the EIS by the government.
Management
steps, display focus and suggests improvements to the latest process
First of all, in term of accommodating environmental
concerns, the accommodationist position
has become the focus point for business as the environmental concern levels
have risen and clients have registered a significant degree of environmental
commitment in the marketplace (Dolce & McEachern, 2008, p.204). Occasionally,
the accommodation is both strategic and rhetorical, for an instance, in the
advertisements series under the heading ‘With Climate Change, What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Us’
advertised by Mobile, it is important to aware that this advertisement aroused
a slow response to reducing greenhouse gas emissions (The Australian 6 Sept,
1996, p.3). These ads embrace environmental concern but arguing for a slow
response in seek to identify with it, securing the position of the energy
companies as well as of high-energy industry. Besides than that, the politics
of business’s response to environmental concern and public figure green
organizations is not rigid. Different positions have developed secularization
to be more aware in environmental concern. For an example, a couple of mining
companies were formerly at the centre of rejectionism have responded in two or
more ways. On the other hand, the mining industries in developed countries have
utilized more advanced environmental management approaches (EIA) consistently
with a plan of sustainable development as outlined and recognized by the World
Business Council on Sustainable Development. Mulligan (1996, p.205) stated that
there have been a certain improvements in the brilliant approaches that mining
companies in these developed countries have employed the task of better
managing mining projects as well as the reconversion of mine sites. Mulligan
found that excellent handbooks are now invented to help the heavy task of environmental managers in the industry.
In the handbook, the Ecology of Commerce (Hawken,
1993, p. 205), he suggests an eight-point approach for business:
1. Minimize absolute energy
consumption and natural resources in the North by 90 percent within the next
fifty years.
2. Offer secure and firm
employment for people in all places.
3. Be self-motivated or have
self principle.
4. Honourable market
principles
5. Be more rewarding in
future
6. Outride sustainability by
rehabilitating degraded habitats and ecosystems to their maximum biological
capacitance.
7. Rely on current wages.
8. Be fun and fascinating,
and strive for an aesthetic pleasure.
Certainly, this is a real-like challenge to business
yet Hawken employed this eight-point approach to demonstrate the practical way
in which many companies have attempted to carry out these principles. The
approaches ranges from minimizing energy consumption, redesigning to discharge
waste as well as a commercial but environmentally effective response to toxic
by-products. Paul Hawken (1999, p.206) concentrated on re-engineering
production. His purpose is to discharges waste by turning waste products into
inputs of new production, thus substantial levels of efficiency produce both
higher profitable and higher environmentally green businesses.
Case Study
of 'Environmental Business Awards'
Box
6.4
Paul Hawken, Preface to the
Ecology of Commerce (1993, p.207)
On being awarded a Council on
Economic Priorities 'Environmental Stewardship Award' :
Paul Hawken walked to the podium,
glanced at the sea of pearls and other participants, he felt speechless. Rather
than thanking everyone, he realized a thing which is no one else deserves the
reward; either his company or himself.
He explained that what they had done
was pull out the superficial problem, played a few risks, put a substantial
amount of money for what they had spoken, however, ultimately, the impact on
the environment was only a little different than if they had done nothing at
all. They done efforts like recycled toner cartridges, the sustainably
harvested timbers, the replanted trees, the soy-based inks and also donated the
flashy gifts to nonprofits, certainly these were all good and generous, but
generally they had done junk mail business, selling goods by catalogue. All the
recycling in the earth are unchangeable fact that doing business in the latest
century is a practice of energy consumption which gulps down the rich
resources. Paul proclaims that he doesn't mean to degrade the efforts done by companies
to reduce their negative impact on the environment. He feels creditable but
things should not be done by that way - dig the resources and claim the
credibility. It meant that the ecological business and sustainability were antipodal by design, not by intention.
Potential
Benefits and Challenges in Applying Regional EIA: A Case Study of Special
Investment Regions in India
Development is a constant growing
process and its influence is always destructive to environment, thus this may
cause negative impacts for human life. EIA is impactful in diverse upcoming
development projects by resolving the environmental impacts of the action. The
big scale projects like setting up of Special Investment Regions (SIR), Special
Economic Zones (SEZ) and Industrial Estates (IE) have certain impacts on the
environmental circumstance of the region. The increasing scale of the world
environmental issues was a great sign that the environmental hazard was
accelerating and it is not restricted to a certain developing projects or
region. Therefore, the EIA over projects and regional plans gained the
recognition that EIA of policies should be implemented on a strategic level.
However, Therivel (2004) claimed that Environment
Management Plan (EMP) plays an important role in EIA study wherein information
description is demanded for implementation of the same. Besides than that, for
tremendous projects, it is always hard to offer a detailed description. For an
instance, the greenbelt development is one of the abatement measures to
minimize the negative impact of environmental pollution yet it is quite hard to
mention in the EIA report, such as the type of plants to be planted, the breed
of soil, agro climatic region and so on. The most importantly, the total cost
for carry out the abatement plan is always hard to define.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the implementation of EIA is still vary
from countries to countries. In developed countries like United States and
Europe, there is a well framed EIA legislation to conduct cumulative effects
for different projects whereas in undeveloped countries there is lack of legal
EIA legislation (Wood, 2003). Likewise, in many African countries, EIA is not
even compulsory. The reason is due to in developed countries, there is vigorous
involvement of civilians, competent authority, government agencies at first and
last stages of EIA while in undeveloped countries, there is less involvement of
government agencies during first stage of EIA which lead to poor predictability
of impact. Last but not least, efforts should be done to include environmental
conservation concerns at policy and planning level so as to the environmental
factors can be taken into account in a proper way at the policy level.
(1594 words)
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