Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is one of the most important tools
employed in contemporary environmental management. Presenting the
component activities of EIA within a coherent methodological framework,
Environmental Impact Assessment: A Methodological Approach provides
students and practitioners alike with a rigorous grounding in EIA
theory, including biophysical, social, strategic and cumulative
assessment activities, and examines the crucial role, and limitations,
of the science of EIA.
Deliberately designed to be relevant world-wide, the author focuses on
the common skills and generic aspects of EIA that underpin all impact
assessment work, independent of country or jurisdiction, such as
screening and scoping, impact identification, public involvement,
prediction and monitoring, evaluation, and quality control. The variety
of approaches are identified along with their associated strengths and
weaknesses, enabling potential, new and experienced practitioners to
make informed choices and to improve their working practices through a
better understanding of EIA activity.
The ultimate aim of this book is to move from the notion of EIA as a
technical procedure towards a concept of EIA as a particular form of
problem-solving with varied methodological requirements.