Since becoming editor-in-chief in 2009 Thomas Fischer has overseen the publication of 22 issues of the Journal of Environmental and Policy Management. This wide-ranging and thought-provoking volume presents a selection of papers from this period. A number of these papers discuss the topics of the journal's special issues. The others offer various international and comparative perspectives on the development and implementation of environmental assessment (EA) and strategic environmental assessment (SEA). By drawing on the expertise of a number of global experts, this comprehensive volume considers the challenges, successes and progress of EA/SEA policy and management since 2009. This volume is perfect for students and researchers interested in environmental policy and its implementation and management.

Due to rapid economic growth and enhancing employment opportunities, manufacturing and infrastructural projects play a vital role, especially in developing nations. Even though voluminous literature is available on environmental impact assessment (EIA), guidelines on conducting good quality assessments are lacking. It may be recognized that good EIA reports can only facilitate government decision making with sustainability considerations. The book is the result of the review of more than 150 EIA reports and the analysis of shortcomings observed by the author. It will serve to bridge the gap in the limited understanding of EIA concepts by practitioners and practical aspects by fresh graduates. The book describes the output and salient features of a good quality EIA report and case studies to facilitate professionals preparing and appraising these reports. It will be of immense use to environment ministries, EIA practitioners, EIA appraisal authorities, project proponents, academics, and NGOs, especially in the emerging economies.

This comprehensive Handbook shows how Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), an important decision support tool for strategies, policies, plans and programmes, is applied globally. It reflects on SEA practices and the advancements made over the past three decades in the development of SEA.

This handbook brings together technical expertise, conceptual background, applications, and societal aspects of Industry 4.0: the evolution of automation and data exchange in fabrication technologies, materials processing, and device manufacturing at both experimental and theoretical model scales. The book assembles all the aspects of Industry 4.0, starting from the emergence of the concept to the consequences of its progression. Drawing on expert contributors from around the world, the volume details the technologies that sparked the fourth revolution and illustrates their characteristics, potential, and methods of use in the industrial and societal domains. In addition, important topics such as ethics, privacy and security are considered in a reality where all data is shared and saved remotely. The collection of contribution serve a very broad audience working in the fields of science and engineering, chemical engineering, materials science, nanotechnology, energy, environment, green chemistry, sustainability, electrical and electronic engineering, solid-state physics, surface science, aerosol technology, chemistry, colloid science, device engineering, and computer technology. This handbook ideal reference libraries in universities and industrial institutions, government and independent institutes, individual research groups and scientists.

This authoritative handbook surveys the full breadth and depth of SEA, bringing together a range of international perspectives and insights on the theoretical, methodological and institutional dimensions and practical issues of the field. It then subjects this conventional wisdom to a critical reappraisal, looks at the vast lessons of experience and offers new ideas and interpretations as to where the field is going. The volume is organized into six major sections, beginning with an introduction and overview of the development of the field and a framework for evaluating SEA good practice. Part I comprises a review of SEA frameworks in leading countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA), the European Union and developing regions (Africa, Asia, Latin America and Newly Independent States). Part II reviews SEA practice in several major sectors (energy, minerals, transport, water, development assistance and coastal zone management). Part III addresses the linkages between SEA and other comparable tools such as spatial planning and environmental management. Part IV probes key cross-cutting issues in SEA, including how to address cumulative and trans-boundary effects. Part V identifies ways and means of SEA process and capacity development, focusing on how to improve and upgrade the theory and practice of the field. Part VI examines the shift from conventional SEA towards more integrative approaches, drawing on experience and examples from a number of countries. Published with IAIA

A comprehensive, clearly structured and readable overview of the subject, Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment has established itself as the leading introduction to EIA worldwide. This fifth edition is a major update reflecting many significant changes in EIA procedures, process, practice and prospects over the last decade. In particular, it includes: a much more international dimension, drawing on EIA activities worldwide; an up-to-date coverage of the revised EU EIA Directive and its implementation; the associated update of contemporary UK procedures and practice; best practice on evolving methods in the EIA process; a rich array of UK and many international case studies; a new coverage of emerging EIA impact topics, including equality/deprivation; culture; resettlement; climate change; ecosystem services; and risk, resilience and cumulative impacts; an appraisal of some next steps in the EIA process, including a more effective and proportionate EIA; the impact of technological change; the changing interpretation of the project; project implementation, monitoring and adaptive management; and moves towards a more integrated impact assessment. Together, these topics act as a kind of action list for future EIA; the development of SEA legislation and practice in the UK, EU and worldwide; and a set of appendices containing key legislation and an EIS review framework. It is also makes full use of colour illustrations and chapter questions for discussion. Written by two authors with extensive research, training and consultancy experience of EIA, this book brings together the most up-to-date information from many sources. Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment 5th Edition provides a complete, and critical, introductory text that also supports further studies. Students in undergraduate and postgraduate planning programmes will find it essential as a course text, as will students of environmental management/policy, environmental sciences/studies, geography and built environment. Key stakeholders involved in assessment activities – planners, developers, community groups, pressure groups and decision-makers in government and business – will also welcome this latest edition as a very effective means of getting to grips with the many facets of this important and evolving subject that affects a widening range of development projects.

Currently the writing on the subject is limited and comprises, for the most part, guidance documents and completed assessments.

Offers solutions and best practices to respond to recurrent problems and contemporary challenges in the field Since the publication of the first edition of Environmental Impact Assessment in 2003, both the practice and theory of impact assessment have changed substantially. Not only has the field been subject to a great deal of new regulations and guidelines, it has also evolved tremendously, with a greater emphasis on strategic environmental, sustainability, and human health impact assessments. Moreover, there is a greater call for impact assessments from a global perspective. This Second Edition, now titled Impact Assessment to reflect its broader scope and the breadth of these many changes, offers students and practitioners a current guide to today's impact assessment practice. Impact Assessment begins with an introduction and then a chapter reviewing conventional approaches to the field. Next, the book is organized around recurrent problems and contemporary challenges in impact assessment process design and management, enabling readers to quickly find the material they need to solve tough problems, including: How to make impact assessments more influential, rigorous, rational, substantive, practical, democratic, collaborative, ethical, and adaptive How each problem and challenge-reducing process would operate at the regulatory and applied levels How each problem can be approached for different impact assessment types—sustainability assessment, strategic environmental assessment, project-level EIA, social impact assessment, ecological impact assessment, and health impact assessment How to link and combine impact assessment processes to operate in situations with multiple overlapping problems, challenges, and impact assessment types How to connect and combine impact assessment processes Each chapter first addresses the topic with current theory and then demonstrates how that theory is applied, presenting requirements, guidelines, and best practices. Summaries at the end of each chapter provide a handy tool for structuring the design and evaluation of impact assessment processes and documents. Readers will find analyses and new case studies that address such issues as multi-jurisdictional impact assessment, climate change, cumulative effects assessment, follow-up, capacity building, interpreting significance, and the siting of major industrial and waste facilities. Reflecting current theory and standards of practice, Impact Assessment is appropriate for both students and practitioners in the field, enabling them to confidently respond to a myriad of new challenges in the field.

This book highlights the latest advances in the science and practice of using ecosystem services to inform decisions for economic development in the context of the developing countries. The development of the ecosystem services paradigm has enhanced our understanding of natural capital as an indispensable form of capital asset along with produced and human capital. This book addresses what could be the possible pathways to mainstream natural capital assets into development policies and what is currently known about the economic values of ecosystem services. A series of innovative tools to help policy makers and planners account for natural capital and ecosystem services in sectoral and macroeconomic policies have been explored and their application at the national and regional scale has been demonstrated. Several detailed case studies are presented in which the understanding of ecosystem services values has successfully informed decisions, including examples from Chile, South Africa, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Vietnam and the Aral Sea in Central Asia. These provide the critically important insights, lessons learned and means and mechanisms for policy makers to incentivize protection and discourage degradation of ecosystems and the services they provide. Mainstreaming Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services into Development Policy is designed to help decision makers at all levels, including governments, businesses, multilevel development banks and individuals to integrate ecosystems and their services into their decision making.