The environmental impact of development projects is currently studied and mitigated from two distinct perspectives: before and after project implementation, with environmental impact assessment (EIA) and environmental management systems (EMS) being the main instruments on the respective sides. This double perspective creates a discontinuity in the way environmental impacts are analysed, an issue that has been noted by both academics and practitioners. This book gathers and presents both theoretical and actual examples to link EIA with EMS and explores ways to overcome difficulties and provide innovative solutions. Academic researchers, advanced students, EIA practitioners and EMS practitioners will find the book essential for the theoretical explorations of how the link might occur and practical examples in which to explore and critique these theories.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has become a vital management tool worldwide. EIA is a means of evaluating the likely consequences of a proposed major action which will significantly affect the environment, before that action is taken.This new edition of Wood's key text provides an authoritative, international review of environmental impact assessment, comparing systems used in the UK, USA, the Netherlands, Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand and South Africa.

It will be useful for project managers as well as students and the community sector."--BOOK JACKET

This comprehensive treatment of environmental impact assessment (EIA) provides an authoritative contemporary review of theory and practice over the past ten years. EIA is viewed as both science and art, reflecting the concern both with technical aspects of appraisal and the effects of EIA on the decision-making process. Adopted in many countries, with different degrees of enthusiasm, since its inception in the early 1970's, EIA is established as a major procedure for assessing the environmental implications of legislation, the implementation of policy and plans and the initiation of development projects. EIA is increasingly an essential part of environmental management

A revised text featuring more case studies, illuminating the role of consultants, clients, local authorities and environmental agencies in the EIA process, and procedures and conventions for assessment arising out of changes in the legal and political context since the first edition was published.

Looking at the importance of environmental impact assessements, this title includes all the latest theoretical and practical procedures of EIA, as well as including the latest changes to UK legislation.

Contents: General Introduction, EIA Methodologies Currently in Use, Backdrop for Testing the New Methodologies, INTRA A New Methodology for Selection the Most Influential Parameters for Study so as to Reduce the Costs of EIA, SMART-ALEC-A New Software Package for Studying Developmental Trends and their Environmental Impacts, CREAM A New Approach for Assessing Total Impacts and Determining Strategies for Environmentally Sustainable Developmental Planning, Summary and Conclusions.