Contemporary Issues in Environmental Impact Assessment

20 Pages Posted: 28 Dec 2021

See all articles by Brian Preston

Brian Preston

Land and Environment Court of New South Wales; The University of Sydney - Faculty of Law; Western Sydney University, School of Law

Date Written: October 24, 2021

Abstract

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) developed in the latter half of the twentieth century as a response to growing concern about the impacts of human development on the environment and a recognition of the inadequacy of existing approaches to environmental management. Once an uncertain and new area, it is now ubiquitous in the approval process for projects across the world. It is trite law to say that the impacts of proposed activities should be considered in the process to determine whether the proposed activities should be permitted. However, environmental impact assessment is often understood broadly and leaves many issues unresolved. What is an impact of development? How far removed (how indirect) can the impacts be that an EIA can consider? What about the cumulative impacts of similar projects? When can these be taken into account? This paper identifies three contemporary issues in EIA, assessed in the context of climate change: the scope of EIA, cumulative impacts and temporal problems.

Note: This article was first published by Thomson Reuters in the Environmental and Planning Law Journal and should be cited as Brian J Preston, Contemporary Issues in Environmental Impact Assessment, (2021) 37 EPLJ 423.

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Keywords: Environmental impact assessment, planning and development

JEL Classification: K32

Suggested Citation

Preston, Brian, Contemporary Issues in Environmental Impact Assessment (October 24, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3949086

Brian Preston (Contact Author)

Land and Environment Court of New South Wales ( email )

225 Macquarie Street
Sydney NSW, 2000
Australia

The University of Sydney - Faculty of Law ( email )

New Law Building, F10
The University of Sydney
Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia

Western Sydney University, School of Law ( email )

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Penrith, NSW 2751
Australia

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