Impact Assessment And Sustainable Development

'Impact assessment of various types is now a widely used policy tool. This volume helpfully brings together conceptual discussions and case-studies to illustrate how impact assessment can be used to address issues of sustainability. It should be of considerable interest both to academic researchers and to practitioners concerned with the implementation of policies to support sustainable development.' - John Weiss, University of Bradford, UK The translation of the principle of sustainable development into policy and practice, and the evaluation of the outcomes of these strategic interventions, are some of the most pressing challenges facing policymakers in Europe and beyond. By exploring the conceptual and methodological issues relating to the evaluation of sustainable development, and analysing European practice and experience, the sixteen chapters in this volume provide a coherent and integrated contribution to our understanding of these issues. This volume will be of interest to researchers, policy analysts and practitioners in the area of impact assessment and sustainable development.

This publication offers a general introduction to sustainability impact assessment, which is an approach for exploring the combined economic, environmental and social impacts of a range of proposed policies, programmes, strategies and action plans.

Reviews the state of the art in conducting sustainability assessments, including the range of methodologies and tools available.

Firmly places impact assessment in the broader context of environmental planning, developing a much-needed integrative approach. The topics covered include: decision making and dispute resolution; the role of environmental law; public policy, administration and publication participation; the nature of planning; impact assessment methodology; the application of impact assessment to frontier developments; linear facilities and waste mana

Reporting on recent developments in the field of impact assessment, this volume critically analyzes such key areas of assessment as technology, demography, economy, risk, ecology, health, development and climate. Each area is related back to impact assessment as an overall process.

A comprehensive resource to sustainability and its application to the environmental, industrial, agricultural and food security sectors Sustainability fills a gap in the literature in order to provide an important guide to the fundamental knowledge and practical applications of sustainability in a wide variety of areas. The authors – noted experts who represent a number of sustainability fields – bring together in one comprehensive volume the broad range of topics including basic concepts, impact assessment, environmental and the socio-economic aspects of sustainability. In addition, the book covers applications of sustainability in environmental, industrial, agricultural and food security, as well as carbon cycle and infrastructural aspects. Sustainability addresses the challenges the global community is facing due to population growth, depletion of non-renewable resources of energy, environmental degradation, poverty, excessive generation of wastes and more. Throughout the book the authors discuss the economics, ecological, social, technological and systems perspectives of sustainability. This important resource: • Explores the fundamentals as well as the key concepts of sustainability; • Covers basic concepts, impact assessment, environmental and socio-economic aspects, applications of sustainability in environmental, industrial, agricultural and food security, carbon cycle and infrastructural aspects; • Argues the essentiality of sustainability in ensuring the propitious future of earth systems; and • Authored by experts from a range of various fields related to sustainability. Written for researchers and scientists, students and academics, Sustainability: Fundamentals and Applications is a comprehensive book that covers the basic knowledge of the topic combined with practical applications.

. . . this book makes an interesting and worthwhile contribution to the ever-expanding body of literature on sustainable development and therefore is to be recommended. Karen Scott, Journal of Environmental Law . . . this is an essential text for the study of sustainability and institutional change, an invaluable professional development text for the practitioner, and a text to ponder slowly in all its complexities for an academic study of sustainability. Kate Crowley, Australian Journal of Environmental Management Does the road to sustainable development run through institutional reform or, better yet, institutional learning? In this well-argued book, Robin Connor and Stephen Dovers draw on a range of case studies to demonstrate the critical role that institutions play in determining the course of human environment relations. Oran R. Young, University of California, Santa Barbara, US Connor and Dovers correctly argue that achieving sustainability is a long-term process. In this context, they analyze broad institutional innovations toward sustainability to date from Europe to New Zealand, from sustainability councils to property rights to suggest how the historical process might be improved and accelerated. This is among the most constructive efforts I have read. Richard B. Norgaard, University of California, Berkeley, US It is clear that the transition to ecologically sustainable patterns of development requires significant institutional change, yet we face a paradox. Although institutions are the primary means of driving reform, they are themselves a root cause of unsustainable development and a barrier to positive change. This volume moves beyond the current debate by advancing our understanding of the nature of institutional change, the features of more appropriate institutional settings, and the manner in which change can be enabled. Institutional Change for Sustainable Development presents a flexible, accessible, yet robust conceptual framework for comprehending institutional dimensions of sustainability, emphasising the complexity of institutional systems, and highlighting the interdependence between policy learning and institutional change. This framework is applied and developed through the analysis of five significant arenas of institutional and policy change: environmental policy in the EU; New Zealand s landmark Resource Management Act; strategic environmental assessment; emerging National Councils for Sustainable Development; and transformative property rights instruments. From these explorations, key principles for institutional change are identified, including the institutional accommodation of a sustainability discourse, the interdependence of normative and institutional change; reiteration and learning; integration in policy and practice; subsidiarity; and legal change. Institutional Change for Sustainable Development will be of interest to researchers, policymakers and practitioners concerned with sustainability, resource management and environmental policy.