Democratisation versus engagement? Social and economic impact assessment and community participation in the coal mining industry of the Bowen Basin, Australia

A review of economic impact assessment (EcIA), social impact assessment (SIA), and community participation practice in the rapidly growing coal industry of Australia's Bowen Basin suggests significant shortcomings in scope and reporting with neither EcIA nor SIA giving adequate attention to the measurement and distribution of negative impacts. This review also demonstrates a tendency to separate community participation from the conduct of impact assessment, partly in response to a perceived need to engage in relationship building with impacted communities through the entire life of mining operations. However, this separation also has significant implications for the quality of impact assessment studies and is suggestive of an approach to engagement that is more focused on expectation and image management than on participation in decision-making.

[1]  Ciaran S O'Faircheallaigh,et al.  Making Social Impact Assessment Count: A Negotiation-based Approach for Indigenous Peoples , 1999 .

[2]  John Rolfe,et al.  Economic and social impacts of the Coppabella Mine on the Nebo Shire and the Mackay region , 2003 .

[3]  Peter H. Fricke,et al.  Guidelines and principles for social impact assessment , 1995 .

[4]  Allan Dale,et al.  Strategic perspectives analysis: A procedure for participatory and political social impact assessment , 1994 .

[5]  Stewart Lockie,et al.  SIA in review: setting the agenda for impact assessment in the 21st century , 2001 .

[6]  Salim Momtaz,et al.  Meaning and the construction of social impacts: water infrastructure development in Australia's Gladstone/Calliope region , 1999 .

[7]  Ecologically Sustainable Development in a ‘Quarry’ Economy: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back , 2006 .

[8]  Susan A. Joyce,et al.  Social Impact Assessment in the Mining Industry: Current Situation and Future Directions , 2002 .

[9]  Mandy Elliott,et al.  Environmental Impact Assessment in Australia: Theory and Practice , 1998 .

[10]  N. Rossouw,et al.  The importance of theory in shaping social impact monitoring: lessons from the Berg River Dam, South Africa , 2007 .

[11]  Meinhard Doelle,et al.  Time for a new approach to public participation in EA: Promoting cooperation and consensus for sustainability , 2006 .

[12]  Frank Vanclay,et al.  International Principles For Social Impact Assessment , 2003 .

[13]  Allan Dale,et al.  SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN QUEENSLAND: WHY PRACTICE LAGS BEHIND LEGISLATIVE OPPORTUNITY , 1997 .

[14]  Christopher Wood,et al.  Public participation in environmental impact assessment—implementing the Aarhus Convention , 2005 .

[15]  John Rolfe,et al.  Lessons from the Social and Economic Impacts of the Mining Boom in the Bowen Basin 2004-2006 , 2007 .

[16]  L. Kruger,et al.  Getting to Know Ourselves and Our Places Through Participation in Civic Social Assessment , 2000 .

[17]  Donna Craig,et al.  Social impact assessment: Politically oriented approaches and applications , 1990 .

[18]  Douglas Crookes,et al.  Environmental economic valuation and its application in environmental assessment: an evaluation of the status quo with reference to South Africa , 2002 .

[19]  S. Daniels,et al.  Collaborative learning: Improving public deliberation in ecosystem-based management , 1996 .

[20]  S. Lockie.  Deliberation and Actor-Networks: The “Practical” Implications of Social Theory for the Assessment of Large Dams and Other Interventions , 2007 .

[21]  Luca Del Furia,et al.  The effectiveness of provisions and quality of practices concerning public participation in EIA in Italy , 2000 .

[22]  T. Webler,et al.  Public Participation in Impact Assess-ment: A Social Learning Perspective , 1995 .