Making Environmental Impact Assessment Convincible to Developing Countries

Abstract Only a very few developing countries have formally institutionalised EIA practices. This paper claims that the reasons for this slow rate for adopting formal EIA principles and practices are no longer those discussed in earlier literature which include the absence of an enabling environment. Rather, developing countries require a system which is capable of demonstrating that environmental impact analyses are not difficult to undertake and that, had they been undertaken, some adverse effects of new projects could have been averted. For this purpose, the concept of an EIA study is introduced. It provides a method of evaluation whose application is not inevitably political. The scope, time and content of the study could be determined exclusively by a single researcher or an environmental agency with little or no political influence. Such studies can then be used to provide an objective assessment of the winners and losers from projects. Their results can be used as concrete evidence in developing countries regarding the merits of EIAs. EIA studies are differentiated from ex post evaluation of projects in the paper.