Is public participation mandatory in EIA?

Public involvement is a fundamental principle of the EIA process. At a minimum, public involvement must provide an opportunity for those directly affected by a proposal to express their views regarding the proposal and its environmental and social impacts.

What is the role of public in EIA?

Public involvement is a fundamental principle of the EIA process. The purpose of public involvement is to: inform the stakeholders about the proposal and its likely effects; canvass their inputs, views and concerns; and take account of the information and views of the public in the EIA and decision making.

What is public consultation in EIA?

“Public Consultation” refers to the process by which the concerns of local affected persons and others who have plausible stake in the environmental impact of the project or activity are ascertained with a view to taking into account all the material concerns in the project or activity design as appropriate.

What are the disadvantages of public participation?

While there are numerous advantages associated with public participation in planning and decision-making processes, there are also disadvantages (MfE 1999; PWCNT 2002). Public participation can be time-consuming and sometimes expensive. To do it effectively, organisations have to build capacity and train staff.

What is the difference between public consultation and public participation?

In general, public participation is another term that is used for public consultation (and stakeholder engagement). Broadly, both these terms refer to a process of involving the public (stakeholders) in providing their views and feedback on a proposal to consider in the decision-making.

What are advantage of public participation in EIA?

Improved understanding of client expectations and user group needs • Improved agency understanding of conservation issues • Improved agency understanding of the role and contribution of the community • Greater continuity in knowledge • Ability to build community support for a project and to improve stakeholder …

What are the benefits of public participation?

The general benefits of public participation in environmental issues are: educating the public and making them aware of environmental issues, using the knowledge and experience of stakeholders to improve plans and policies, more public understanding and supporting, more openness (transparency in decision-making), less …

How is public participation conducted in EIA?

There are three occasions in the course of the EIA procedure where the public can actively participate by submitting statements: (i) early in the process, after the project developer has submitted its preliminary environmental study, (ii) after the authority has issued the scoping decision and (iii) after the …

What are the advantages of EIA?

EIA benefits occur in many guises: improved project design, improved decision making, better information disclosure, more public involvement, better co-operation, smoother processes etc.. High information quality in EIA is a prerequisite for these benefits to ma- terialize.