Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management

The aim of environmental impact assessment (EIA) is to ensure effective environmental management outcomes for development projects. Some argue it has failed to achieve this, because environmental management activities are not properly planned in the EIA process. The extent of this problem is largely unknown, due to a lack of empirical evidence.

This paper presents the results of research investigating environmental management planning within EIA in the state of Queensland, Australia. The study examined environmental management commitments within 285 environmental impact statements (EISs).

The majority of the EISs contained environmental monitoring and mitigation commitments and more than half identified corrective actions. This suggests that EIA facilitated environmental management within some developments. Nevertheless, many environmental management activities were not addressed in EISs, even when specifically requested.

Trends in environmental management planning over time revealed dramatic improvements. These appeared to have resulted from an increase in government requirements for, and the provision of guidelines to assist, environmental management planning. These findings suggest improved environmental management must be facilitated by government agencies, rather than relying upon industry innovation.

The use of two scales within an environmental impact assessment study of the impacts on the Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardina Linnaeus) is described. The differences in information content and assessment ability are evaluated. One scale is based on the register of observations along the study corridor of the highway (the "object" approach), and the second on a broad regional landscape ecological analysis assessing the entire Lynx population and the viability for survival of the individual populations that are potentially affected by the highway (the "context" approach). Other data quality and type variations and its influence in the evaluation are also analysed.

This paper examines the incentives and disincentives for disputants in waste management conflicts to participate in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes such as negotiation, facilitation and mediation. Twenty-four cases in which ADR was applied to a waste management conflict in Ontario or Massachusetts are studied, using telephone interviews with 123 ADR participants as the principal source of data. The paper identifies and ranks the importance of incentives and disincentives that influence a disputant's decision whether to participate in ADR, compares these factors to those addressed in the literature, and identifies the sub-factors by which they are in turn influenced. It examines whether these key factors have different effects on different types of parties, and concludes with recommendations for strengthening the incentives of disputants to enter into ADR processes.

How environmental-related trade disputes are handled within the WTO have become the subject of increasingly intense debate amongst environmentalists. This paper considers whether the process used in dispute settlement is appropriate for environmental-related cases, given their complex nature. The paper looks at the adequacy of the current approach in terms of the extent to which dispute decisions can be seen to meet the main WTO objectives of maximisation of economic welfare — a concept that requires recognition of social and environmental costs and values. The author suggests an alternative approach, using a comprehensive data analysis framework, and shows that such an approach is not in evidence currently. While such an approach is considered as a conceptually ideal method for analysis, a number of practical limitations to its implementation are noted.

The Philippines faces an opposition to genetic engineering in agriculture led by a coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). There is an ongoing public debate which is mainly focused on transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) rice and its potential contribution to future food security in Asia.

The present research project evaluated perception patterns among the main participants in the Philippine debate on transgenic rice and the political importance attributed to these participants.

For this purpose, a survey of 65 respondents representing the relevant institutions involved in the public debate was conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire.

The results suggest that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other public interest groups are generally not in favour while scientists are generally in favour of transgenic rice. A majority of the political decision makers has very high expectations with regard to the potential of genetic engineering for solving problems in the Philippine rice economy. However, their attitude with regard to risks and benefits of Bt rice is ambivalent.

The Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution has led to the setting up of international protocols to reduce emissions of oxides of sulphur and nitrogen, ammonia, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Policy makers have made use of optimised abatement strategies derived by integrated assessment models (IAMs) which cost-effectively reduce acidification, eutrophication and tropospheric ozone. IAMs use information on costs of potential emission abatement options in individual countries. This paper explores the implications of limiting the abatement options in IAMs to those with moderate marginal costs. Three methods of applying this constraint to the optimisation are described. All methods indicate a loss of cost-effectiveness, this being most severe when marginal costs are constrained and environmental constraints are not compromised. However, when the overall investment level is capped and the strategy re-optimised taking into account marginal cost limitation whilst allowing violation of the original environmental targets, the loss of cost-effectiveness is less severe. For all three methods, significant changes occur in patterns of country expenditures and environmental protection, which tends to decrease significantly in those areas most difficult to protect. However, the re-optimisation method does provide the opportunity for "compensating" improvements to be achieved in other areas which are easier to protect. The choice of marginal cost limits strongly affects the extent and nature of these changes, as does the nature of the original optimised strategy.