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Analysing the Environmental Impact Assessment Systems around the World

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Pölönen et al in 2011 conducted research on “The effectiveness of the Finnish EIA system”. He inspected main weaknesses and strengths of EIA as a participatory and preventive environmental management tool. According to him EIA has enhanced the legitimacy of the planning processes and tools used in environmental policy. The planning has been made more transparent through the participation of stakeholders. In the early phase of Planning, the participation has made it possible to strengthen the trust between stakeholders, and allows sound consensus in disagreement. It has also prevented appeals in the later phases of decision making. EIA also has influence on project design and also on the valuations. EIA may eliminate the most harmful …show more content…

Panigrahi and Amirapu in 2012 conducted research on “An assessment of EIA system in India”. According to the authors there is well developed regulatory EIA system established in India but coordination is vital for an effective EIA system. Interviews with the officials and consultants showed that there is weak coordination among the decision makers, SPCBs, consultants, proponents and other agencies/line departments. Proponents and consultants do not consult concerned departments and agencies during preparation of EIA reports to identify issues. The authors carried out the assessment of the EIA process and identified the following weakness in the system. • There are comprehensive guidelines, legal and legislative provisions but administrative setup is very weak. EIA is just a formality as most of the time EIA is conducted after start of construction. • Coordination among the consultants and planners are very weak. • Involvement of stakeholders into ToR process during scoping is inadequate which results in a thin coverage of socio-economic and environmental issues in the EIA reports. • The quality of EIA reports are very poor and not up to the mark. The reason identified is the lack of experts and professionals. There are many weaknesses identified in the reports such as it hardly discusses the limitations and assumptions carried out by consultants. •

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