Integration and integrated approaches to assessment: what do they mean for the environment?

Integration and integrated approaches are increasingly presented as new and superior ways to consider the environment in policy- and decision-making. If used in an uncritical way, this assertion could become a hindrance to good practice and could undermine efforts to defend or improve environmental quality. The aim of this paper is to provide the missing critical perspective through an investigation of the meanings of integration found in recent literature on assessment. This literature represents a broad survey of European (particularly UK) and US critiques of assessment practices, and proposals for better and usually ‘more integrated’ approaches. These critiques and proposals relate to a range of assessment contexts, from relatively technical issues of data handling, to questions of the design, choice and implementation of policy options. This paper also surveys, and contributes to, literature that questions the central goals and assumptions informing assessment practice and environmental governance more widely. Fourteen meanings of ‘integration’ are presented, with a discussion of the potential synergies and conflicts among them, and with environmental objectives. Integration is argued to be a matter of value judgements concerning assessment design in specific historical and social contexts. Far from providing a panacea, integration would appear to create as many challenges as it might resolve in seeking to achieve more sustainable development. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

构建土地利用规划环境影响评价的指标体系

20世纪90年代中期,土地科学界和生态学界曾提出:"无论将土地作为生产性利用还是非生产性利用,都会形成一种干扰,使生态环境的不确定性增大,从而降低土地利用规划的科学性和合理性".在这一背景条件下,尝试性地按照土地利用类型对其所带来的环境变化影响与效应进行了分析,并在此基础上构建土地利用规划环境影响评价指标体系及可采用的评价方法.     

基层环境影响评价工作存在的问题与对策

目前环境影响评价普遍存在滞后现象和水平低及周期长等问题,提出广泛开展环评法宣传教育;加强环评队伍建设,提高环评人员的素质;把环评纳入总量控制轨道,突出浓度与总量同时评价;大众参与以及进一步规范和完善环境影响报告书的审批等对策与措施.     

“互联网+”时代的环境风险评估探讨

环境风险评估是环境管理的前提和依据。目前比较成熟的方法分为项目"事先"环评和健康"事后"风险评估。以上两种风险评估方法由于多种原因制约,无法提供给环境管理部门实时在线的环境风险结果。实际上,环境风险评估方法在不断完善中,随着互联网、物联网、云计算、三网融合等IT与通信技术的迅猛发展,环境保护领域也迎来了大数据时代,风险评估也将逐渐步入"互联网+"时代。新型环境风险评估更具系统性,将以数字化的形式体现环境(E)—污染物(M)—人为因素(H)的风险耦合度。虽然数字化环境风险评估在相关风险因子和风险评估方法上仍处于起步阶段,但它是新形势下环境风险管理的一个全新方向,其应用将对环境管理领域产生巨大影响。本文将分析传统环境风险评估与"互联网+"时代的环境风险评估差异,探讨新型数字化环境风险评估需要的支撑硬件与平台,并对数字化环境风险评估的发展趋势与挑战做出展望。     

焦化行业环境影响后评价探讨

环境影响后评价是环境影响评价的延伸和发展,同时也是提高环境影响评价有效性的重要手段。目前其理论和方法体系尚处于发展初期的探索阶段。本文针对焦化行业的产业特征,结合当前在焦化行业环境影响评价及环境管理中存在的问题,阐述了焦化项目环境影响后评价的必要性,并就后评价的内容及方法进行了探讨。     

回顾性环境影响评价程序及内容研究

回顾性环境影响评价是环境影响评价的一个分支,是继常规环境影响评价之后,为检验实际环境影响和减缓措施的有效性行为。其工作内容主要包括环境监测、检验与评估、环境管理及其他环境研究。它既是对原环境影响评价过程中所使用的预测模型和结果正确性的验证,又是对原工作内容进行重要的补充和修正,并提出更为合理和实用的环境保护措施及对策     

SYSTEMATIC APPROACHES TO ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT: AN EVALUATION1

ABSTRACT. Increased public awareness of the environmental effects of large-scale projects and concomittant public participation in the environmental impact assessment process demand that assessment methods and procedures fulfill a wide range of desirable characteristics. These are developed and offered as specific criteria against which currently proposed environmental assessment procedures should be judged. Such procedures as checklists, matrices, networks (stepped matrices), overlays, linear vector analyses, and nonlinear evaluation systems are presented and judged in light of the proposed criteria. It is concluded that the use of checklists, the most common assessment format used to date, does not constitute a viable assessment procedure. Use of the matrix or stepped matrix techniques in conjunction with the linear vector or nonlinear evaluation systems, with the latter modified slightly, is seen as an approach to environmental assessment that will achieve most of the established criteria.     

清洁生产纳入环境影响评价的意义

当前的环境影响评价在某种程度上更侧重于环境的末端治理,无法将污染控制与生产过程控制密切结合,资源和能源不能在生产过程中得到充分利用.而清洁生产在这方面却有着独特的特点和优势.根据清洁生产与环境影响评价的内在联系,尽快地将清洁生产纳入环境影响评价是具有重要意义的,清洁生产应该成为环境影响评价报告撰写中的重要内容.     

Analysis of uncertainty consideration in environmental assessment: an empirical study of Canadian EA practice

Identifying and communicating uncertainty is core to effective environmental assessment (EA). This study evaluates the extent to which uncertainties are considered and addressed in Canadian EA practice. We reviewed the environmental protection plans, follow-up programs, and panel reports (where applicable) of 12 EAs between 1995 and 2012. The types of uncertainties and levels of disclosure varied greatly. When uncertainties were acknowledged, practitioners adopted five different approaches to address them. However, uncertainties were never discussed or addressed in depth. We found a lack of suitable terminology and consistency in how uncertainties are disclosed, reflecting the need for explicit guidance, and we present recommendations for improvement. Canadian Environmental Impact Statements are not as transparent with respect to uncertainties as they should be, and uncertainties in EA need to be better considered and communicated.     

模糊数学在矿山环境影响评价中的应用

环境质量是一个涉及多因素多层级的模糊概念,用经典数学进行环境质量评价,评判环境质量的等级只能用一个绝对判据来划分,无法处理模糊因素边界不清晰、中间过渡不分明的问题。本文应用模糊数学方法,在单环境因素模糊综合评价的基础上,进行了总体环境质量模糊综合评价的探讨,结合某区域环境实例,对其总体环境质量进行了模糊综合评价,并将评价结果与用经典数学评价结果进行了比较,比较表明,环境质量模糊评价方法较经典数学评价方法更客观更准确。     

矿区地下水环境影响评价的关键问题探讨

随着人类社会经济的快速发展,地下水环境问题日益严重,由于地下水环境影响具有隐蔽性和滞后性,在矿区建设生产前必须对地下水环境影响进行评价。结合某拟建整合灰岩矿的地下水环境影响评价,进行了实例分析,确定了保护目标、地下水环境影响识别、矿坑涌水量的计算、预测评价方法的选取等关键技术,以期为相似矿区地下水环境影响评价提供参考。     

基于环境污染责任保险的环境风险评估研究进展

环境风险评估是环境污染责任保险制度实施和应用的重要环节,是一种为投保人和承保人量化环境风险的方法,量化结果是保险公司厘定保费的重要参考依据。随着环境污染责任保险的发展和推广,构建适用于环境污染责任保险的环境风险评估体系逐渐成为当前的研究热点之一,但目前针对环境污染责任保险环境风险评估缺乏深入系统的研究与总结。在已有研究基础上,本文进一步明确环境污染责任保险环境风险评估内涵及特征,并对其评估体系进行科学界定,简要评述当前环境污染责任保险环境风险评估的相关研究主题,并在已有模型和方法基础上构建环境污染责任保险环境风险评估的理论框架,最后在总结当前研究不足的前提下,探讨未来环境污染责任保险环境风险评估的研究趋势,为环境污染责任保险的实施和应用提供思路和参考。     

小水电站环境影响评价内容探讨

小水电站工程环境影响评价按有关规范规定为报告表，但其大纲内容不适合山区小水电站环评。通过总结30余座小水电站环评实践，探讨了小水电站环评基本内容应包括：环境影响分析与预测评价、涉及生态影响因子范围、环境保护措施、公众参与等，从技术角度能满足环保管理部门的审批要求。     

浅谈如何做好建设项目环境影响评价与规划环境影响评价的联动

围绕建设项目环境影响评价和规划环境影响评价的特点,通过在评价思路、评价内容、评价方法等方面的比较,分析其差异,从而找到两者在评价时间、评价内容等方面的联动途径,以提高环境影响评价工作的效果和效率。     

回顾性环境影响评价的特点及发展趋势

依据回顾性环境影响评价的内涵,结合其发展过程和作用,总结了回顾性环境影响评价工作的主要特点,并探索了今后该项工作的发展趋势。     

PROFILE: Indigenous Institutions and Environmental Assessment: The Case of Ghana

/ The search for sustainable development provides the impetus forexamining the role of indigenous institutions and their ecological knowledgein environmental assessment and local sustainability. This paper attempts totrace the evolution of environmental assessment in Ghana. Focusing on theAshanti Region, the paper further discusses the nature and operations ofindigenous institutions, their ecological knowledge, beliefs, practices, andsocial norms that are relevant to environmental assessment process in thecountry. Some of the challenges that emerge from the discussions arehighlighted. There is a need to establish environmental assessment andcooperative management boards that would include representatives ofindigenous institutions. In addition, the introduction of technicaldictionaries and training manuals based on indigenous ecological knowledgeand their humane environmental practices will further improve theenvironmental assessment process in Ghana.KEY WORDS: Environmental assessment; Indigenous institutions; Indigenousecological knowledge; Sustainable development; Environmental assessmentboards     

Baselining pollution: producing ‘natural soil’ for an environmental risk assessment exercise in Chile

Baselines are used extensively in environmental regulation and usually serve as a proxy of a certain ‘natural’ environment upon which the potential toxicity of a certain substance is assessed. However, there is nothing natural or automatic about the process via which baselines are created. Most of the time they are produced through a series of baselining practices in which heterogeneous entities are assembled in highly idiosyncratic ways, a process always crisscrossed by technical, political and ethical issues. This particular paper, based on material collected while observing an environmental risk assessment exercise carried out in an abandoned mining waste dump in northern Chile, looks at two kinds of practices that are especially salient. On the one hand, there is the recognition of a certain ‘naturalness’ of a particular piece of soil, a process in which visual valuation processes play a central role. On the other hand, there is the creation of ‘traceability,’ through which the particular extracted sample is linked to a series of entities, gaining in the process validity as representative of the ‘natural soil’ existing in this particular patch. In the conclusion, both operations will be connected with different difficulties that current environmental regulation faces in dealing with polluted sites such as the one under study.     

规划环境影响评价中替代方案的确定、筛选和分析方法探讨

替代方案的筛选是环境影响评价工作中的重要内容。在国内外环境影响评价理论研究和实践经验的基础上。就替代方案的涵义，规划环境影响评价中替代方案的确定、筛选和分析方法，以及公众参与在替代方案确定和筛选过程中的作用等内容进行了探讨。     

地震灾后重建规划环境影响评价特点和实施框架初探

5．12汶川特大地震灾害引起了社会和学术界对地震灾后重建规划广泛的关注。地震灾后重建规划几乎包含了当前规划领域中的所有挑战，是速度和质量兼顾、人性与理性权衡、社会经济与环境效益统一、多方博弈的过程，对灾后重建规划环评也从理论到实践层面提出了新的挑战。本文在对灾后重建规划特点进行归纳的基础上提出灾后重建规划环评相应具备的特点，即早期介入、与规划过程融合、增加灾害情景、突出规划协调性分析和应用反规划思路等特点，并进一步以《国家汶川地震灾后重建总体规划》为例说明了与灾后规划融合的环评流程、灾后规划环评的关键内容和评价思路。在对常用规划环评方法从信息成本、工作成本、客观和量化程度等原则进行评价后认为灾后重建规划环境评价中应有效利用比较评价法、GIS叠图法、生态承载力评价法等相对快捷、成熟或客观的方法。     

浅论环境影响评价在油田环境管理中的作用

新疆地区的环境较为敏感,油气田开发对环境的影响较大,围绕着油气田开发所开展的各项活动必须严格执行环境影响评价。文章介绍油气田开发环境影响特点,环境影响评价工作中存在的问题。加强油田环境管理的措施为:实施战略和区域环境影响评价,在可行性研究报告审查前提出环境保护建议,在设计阶段严格执行环评中提出的环境保护措施,严格执行HSE环境管理体系,建立和完善回顾性环境影响评价制度,制定新疆油田建设项目环境保护管理方面的规定。