Environmental Assessment And Human Health

This text shows why we need to develop an integrated approach to health and environmental impact assessment of development projects, and how this might be achieved. Case studies and examples are provided

This book gives a comprehensive overview of the concepts, theory, techniques and applications of Health Impact Assessment to aid all those preparing projects or carrying out assessments. It draws on examples and thinking from many different disciplines and many parts of the world. This is the first easily accessible book, which reviews the whole field. It is likely to become the standard reference for HIA and the first place that anyone seeking to learn about the subject will turn.

This handbook for practitioners in environmental and public health, environmental management, toxicology and ecotoxicology has been prepared by an international group of experts from both developing and developed countries and covers a wide range of topics in both environmental impact assessment and environmental health impact assessment.

This handbook for practitioners in environmental and public health, environmental management, toxicology and ecotoxicology has been prepared by an international group of experts from both developing and developed countries and covers a wide range of topics in both environmental impact assessment and environmental health impact assessment.

Factoring health and related costs into decision making is essential to confronting the nation's health problems and enhancing public well-being. Some policies and programs historically not recognized as relating to health are believed or known to have important health consequences. For example, public health has been linked to an array of policies that determine the quality and location of housing, availability of public transportation, land use and street connectivity, agricultural practices and the availability of various types of food, and development and location of businesses and industry. Improving Health in the United States: The Role of Health Impact Assessment offers guidance to officials in the public and private sectors on conducting HIAs to evaluate public health consequences of proposed decisions-such as those to build a major roadway, plan a city's growth, or develop national agricultural policies-and suggests actions that could minimize adverse health impacts and optimize beneficial ones. Several approaches could be used to incorporate aspects of health into decision making, but HIA holds particular promise because of its applicability to a broad array of programs, consideration of both adverse and beneficial health effects, ability to consider and incorporate various types of evidence, and engagement of communities and stakeholders in a deliberative process. The report notes that HIA should not be assumed to be the best approach to every health policy question but rather should be seen as part of a spectrum of public health and policy-oriented approaches. The report presents a six-step framework for conducting HIA of proposed policies, programs, plans, and projects at federal, state, tribal, and local levels, including within the private sector. In addition, the report identifies several challenges to the successful use of HIA, such as balancing the need to provide timely information with the realities of varying data quality, producing quantitative estimates of health effects, and engaging stakeholders.

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is primarily concerned with the future consequences of plans, proposals and policies on the health of communities. It is a rapidly growing complement to Environmental Impact Assessment, increasingly mandated by national and international requirements. Guidelines have been produced by many national and international organizations and it is being introduced in a number of undergraduate or postgraduate university curricula. However, there has been until now no broad-based, introductory text of international scope to the subject, suitable for both these courses and for professional training. The purpose of this book is to fill this gap and to introduce the subject of Health Impact Assessment using plain language, in both general and specific contexts and with reference to both market and less developed economies. As a result, the reader should be able to describe what HIA can and cannot achieve, identify the components of a successful HIA and participate in an assessment as a member of a team. Examples are provided from a number of planning and development sectors, including extractive industry, water resource management, and housing. The reader, whether student or professional, need not be a health specialist, although prior knowledge of some public or environmental health would be an advantage.

This paper draws on Canadian and international experience in the field of environmental assessment (EA) to review key perspectives and approaches for including health considerations as an integral part of the environmental assessment process. It reviews the benefits of including health in EA; the international policy context, current practices, requirements, principles and guidelines regarding the inclusion of health concerns in EA; procedural elements common to inclusion of health in EA, such as project screening, identifying EA issues to be considered, assessing potential health effects, public consultation, determining significance or importance of those effects, and implementing mitigation measures; and key priorities and needs for improving health impact assessment. The appendix includes a summary of European Union environmental health principles.