Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management

Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) is a powerful set of technical and analytical instruments for analyzing environmental impacts, and has found application in supporting Decision-Making Processes (DMPs) over the last two decades. However, there is no interrelated application of ERA in Strategic Decision-Making (SDM) processes, and no systematic research on the approaches and methods of ERA to support the processes of SDM. In this paper, a new approach and methodological system of ERA for SDM process is set up, and then applied to the Principal Coastal Functional Zoning (PCFZ) in Xiamen Bay, China, as a case study to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach and its methodology. The results show that the approach and methodology of ERA for SDM could integrate ERA into the entire SDM process, and thereby support the PCFZ directly. Furthermore, this approach avoids or mitigates against dire environmental risk that are sometimes introduced by the SDM processes.

Japan suffers many sediment-related disasters due to intense rainfall and other geographical and meteorological features. This paper aims to clarify the potential role and challenges of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as a hazard management tool of sediment-related disaster, through surveys of the regulatory framework and analyses of case studies of wind farm projects. Based on the analysis, this paper mainly obtains the following conclusions:

(1) One of the important roles of the EIA is to identify potential hazards of sediment-related disaster, because a large proportion of the projects involve potential hazards in terms of the siting, nevertheless, few of EIAs evaluate the hazards;

(2) Long-term monitoring is a needed and essential role for EIA because, while re-vegetation would be carried out as a hazard mitigation on average for half the area with land change, in some cases re-vegetation has not been successful in 5 years since the implementation;

(3) Improvements in the EIA system are required in order to be able to integrate the various features of hazardous information, including non-legally binding hazardous areas and local knowledge, into a common consideration for robust hazard management.

This paper reviews recent literature on flood research in Bangladesh, focusing on the nation's vulnerability to climate change and its ability to adapt. This review reveals that the literature on community-based vulnerability and adaptation, and their processes and assessments in response to hazards under climate change regimes are inadequate, apart from a recent focus on assessment of the vulnerability of rural communities, their ability to adapt their farming methods, or the economic consequences of failure to adapt in response to extreme flood events, e.g. Younus (2012a,b); Younus and Harvey (2013, 2014). This paper argues that an integrated assessment of rural vulnerability and community-based adaptation is needed in order to ensure sustainable changes in response to future climate change regimes in Bangladesh.

The impact of flood events in the UK has drawn attention to limitations associated with traditional flood defence regimes. In recognition of this there has been a significant level of advocacy for a systems based approach which assumes a greater role for spatial planning. This paper considers the extent to which strategic assessment contributes toward the consideration of flooding within spatial planning. The paper draws on four cases from England and Scotland. Specific attention is given to the nature of flood management approaches considered in assessment and the recommendations presented. The research indicates that assessment practice is dominated by probabilistic calculations of flood risk and typically replicates national policy and guidance on flood management. It is argued that there exists potential for assessment to foster more nuanced and tailored consideration of flood management by including multiple perspectives, such as management of the whole system, risk and vulnerability, resilience and adaptation.

Natural disasters have the potential to trigger technological accidents with the accompanying release of contaminating substances in the environment. Such incidents are expected to increase as the effects of climate change become more pronounced in an increasingly urbanized landscape. The Flash Environmental Assessment Tool (FEAT) has been developed at the request of the Joint Environment Unit (JEU) of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in order to allow disaster responders, including assessment and coordination teams, to identify and prioritize locations with an evident risk of technological accidents and corresponding chemical releases. The evaluations from use of FEAT in disaster response, simulations, trainings and for hazard mapping provide evidence that the tool is considered useful, easy to use, and widely applicable both in disaster preparedness and response in developing countries, As such, FEAT can be first step in embarking on an inclusive disaster risk reduction programme, and should be followed by identified priority actions such as conduction of detailed risk assessments at the local level, creation of industrial hazard maps, regulation and enforcement of land-use in the vicinity of industrial facilities, and training disaster managers and adjacent communities on chemical accident response.

Emergency plans are exempt from undergoing Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). However, the measures they include to minimise the effects of disasters can have environmental impacts. The study underlying this paper assessed UK emergency plans for their possible environmental impacts, identified which types of plan would not fulfil the criteria necessary to require SEA and which ones would but are then exempt. Further consideration of the likely practical involvement of environmental authorities in the plan-making process of regulated processes and in emergency responses provided a view on whether the SEA exemption results in environmental impacts not being minimised. This work has highlighted that the implementation of emergency plans is as important as the plans themselves in terms of providing scope for the protection of the environment for the management of spatially generic disasters. Site-specific disaster management tends to include detailed environmental protection measures through regulatory processes.

This paper aims to clarify the potential benefits and challenges of integrating environmental assessment (EA) and disaster management considerations, and current research gaps. In this context, the discussion is provided from three perspectives: (1) the consideration of disaster risk in EA; (2) the development of accelerated EA for post-disaster situations; and (3) the integration of EA into pre-disaster response and recovery planning. For this, a Japanese JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science)/UK ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) financed UK-Japan project on the integration of environmental assessment (EA) and disaster management was conducted in 2012. It was concluded that whilst EA can be beneficial for disaster management, there are a number of potential pitfalls and an evident lack of research in the area.

The tsunami which devastated Japan in 2011 highlighted the consequences of natural disasters on an area considered to be "best prepared" for such an event. Learning from the direct environmental, social and economic impacts and temporally and spatially displaced indirect global impacts, is important. When seeking to identify and mitigate the impact of proposed developments the process is carried out from two distinct perspectives: "before" and "after" implementation with environmental impact assessment and environmental management the main "instruments" on either side. Drawing on examples from financial institutions and disaster response agencies, this paper explores the theory that coupling the two "instruments" can aid disaster risk reduction and management. It concludes that there is no simple answer and that further research is needed to inform practice.