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Elias, Olufemi --- "Environmental Impact Assessment" [2010] ELECD 599; in Fitzmaurice, Malgosia; Ong, M. David; Merkouris, Panos (eds), "Research Handbook on International Environmental Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Research Handbook on International Environmental Law

Editor(s): Fitzmaurice, Malgosia; Ong, M. David; Merkouris, Panos

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847201249

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: Environmental Impact Assessment

Author(s): Elias, Olufemi

Number of pages: 16

Extract:

11 Environmental impact assessment*
Olufemi Elias



Introduction
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) has emerged as an essential element of a preventive
approach to environmental protection and of sustainable development, and has accordingly
received considerable attention in recent years (see Wathern (ed.), 1991; Klein-Chesivoir,
1990: 517; Macrory, 1990; Robinson, 1992: 591; Stewart, 1993: 10; Yeater and
Kurukulasuriya, 1995; Okowa, 1996: 275; Petts (ed.), 1999; Gray, 2000: 83; Fitzmaurice,
2001: 280­85, Birnie and Boyle, 2002: 130­35; Knox, 2002: 291; Sands, 2003: 799­825;
Knox, 2003: 153; Cassar and Bruch, 2003: 169; Wood, 2005; Glasson et al., 2005; Craik,
2007; Bastmeijer and Koivurova, 2008; Craik, 2008). It is `a procedure for evaluating the
likely impact of a proposed activity on the environment' (Convention on Environmental
Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, 1991: Art. 1(v)),1 which, at both the domes-
tic and international levels, enables, and even requires, decision-makers to integrate environ-
mental considerations into socio-economic planning. It provides decision-makers with
information as to the possible environmental effects of a proposed activity before that activ-
ity takes place, thereby allowing for an informed decision as to whether that activity should
be allowed to proceed, whether further measures are required before such authorisation is
granted, or whether other alternatives are preferable. Contemporary EIA also seeks to ensure
that potentially affected persons are involved in the decision-making process. EIA itself is a
procedure, and of itself neither compels a particular result nor imposes substantive environ-
mental standards.
Following ...