Mental health impact assessment: population mental health in Englewood,Chicago, Illinois,USA

In this paper, we describe a pilot mental health impact assessment (MHIA) undertaken by the Institute on Social Exclusion (ISE) at the Adler School of Professional Psychology. This pilot involved a multi-method approach that included literature reviews and direct engagement of community stakeholders. It resulted in a policy document that summarized the anticipated effects of a proposed amendment to Chicago's Vacant Buildings Ordinance on the collective mental health of people living in Englewood, a neighbourhood located on the city's southwest side. The Chicago City Council passed the proposed amendment in the summer of 2011.Working to advance health impact assessment (HIA) practice, the project aimed to assist Englewood residents by empowering them to participate in the systematic review of a proposed policy change that would impact their own community's mental health. Additionally, the pilot sought to ensure that any policy decision reflected an evidence-based understanding of its probable effects on the mental health of Englewood residents. Thus, these efforts were designed to narrow several health inequities as suggested by key indicators of community mental health.     

Bringing health impact assessment to the Mongolian resource sector: a story of successful diffusion

Following the 2009 signing of the stability agreement between the Mongolian Government and Canadian mining company Turquoise Hill Resources (formerly known as Ivanhoe Mines), researchers from Simon Fraser University secured funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research to conduct applied knowledge translation (KT) research that introduces health impact assessment (HIA) to Mongolia's rapidly emerging resource sector. HIA is a highly regarded informed decision-making tool that helps to identify, assess and mitigate (or promote) potential positive and negative human health impacts of policies, projects and programs. We engaged in a series of knowledge synthesis, KT and dissemination activities with key public and private sector stakeholders as well as community representatives. Our goals were to develop consensus on a socially and culturally appropriate approach to equity-focused HIA, draw on this consensus to develop a contextualized HIA toolkit, build local HIA capacity based on this toolkit, strengthen the HIA regulatory environment and provide evidence-based support for efforts to institutionalize HIA in the resource sector. These efforts have resulted in the inclusion of HIA in the environmental impact assessment law of Mongolia, and the focus has now shifted from KT to further supporting HIA institutionalization and practice.     

Establishing mixed method research design guidelines in health impact assessment investigations

In the last decade local policymakers and community health officials have been using a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) strategy to assess the health impacts of their policy decisions. The HIA research design is founded on the mixed method research approach (integration of quantitative and qualitative data slices within a single investigation) to get as comprehensive assessment as possible of the expected impacts. The HIA literature has yet to provide any guidelines on how community health investigators should conduct a mixed-method HIA research. We conducted a content analysis of 100 HIAs executed around the world published between 1999 and 2011 and analysed their research methodologies. Observations generated from the analysed HIAs were used to establish an ‘HIA mixed method model’ by which a series of mixed-method design guidelines were used to help community health researchers improve the analytical capabilities in their future HIA investigations.     

The importance of cultural aspects in impact assessment and project development: reflections from a case study of a hydroelectric dam in Brazil

Abstract

Failure to consider the cultural and social factors of projects can lead to situations where mitigation does not effectively address the impacts they were intended to alleviate, and can even create other impacts. We critically analyse the processes of designing and implementing a social and environmental compensation program for the Lajeado Hydroelectric Dam in the Amazon region of central-northern Brazil. This mitigation program caused a wide range of social and environmental impacts on the Xerente Indigenous people, such as intra-group conflict, and changes in agricultural practices and food regime. Based on qualitative fieldwork and an extensive document analysis, we present a contextualization of the region, the project, the Xerente people, and their cosmological understandings. We consider the perspectives of a broad range of stakeholders about the compensation program and its outcomes, and demonstrate how traditional cultural practices and values played a role in the unfolding of the program. Better comprehension of sociocultural aspects through the use of ethnography, ongoing consultation, and meaningful community participation in the planning and implementation of mitigation measures are recommended.     

Use of environmental impact assessment in addressing chronic environmentally damaging agricultural and rural development practices: examples from Kenya and Cambodia

To support sustainable agricultural and rural development in Kenya and Cambodia, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) conducted training with an emphasis on field situations and case studies. Participants were required to bring their most pressing environmental problems to the courses in the form of a case study. The majority of problems were chronic environmentally damaging agricultural and rural development practices. Participants examined cause/effect relationships, mitigation options, and action plans. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) format was used for reporting and presentation. This application of EIA resulted in substantial improvement in the understanding of each case and in identifying solutions. This unanticipated use of EIA was a powerful tool for the analysis of ongoing activities.     

Environmental and human health impact assessment of major interior wall decorative materials

Despite the growing interest in green products in the interior wall decorative material market, knowledge gaps exist because determining which product is more environmental and user friendly than the others is difficult. This work assesses the environmental and human health profiles of interior latex and wallpaper. Two interior latex products of different raw material ratios and one non-woven wallpaper product are considered. The environmental impact assessment follows life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology and applies Building Environmental Performance Analysis System (BEPAS). The human health impact is based on impact-pathway chain and is performed using Building Health Impact Analysis System (BHIAS). The assessment scope, associated emissions, and territorial scope of various emissions are defined to facilitate comparison study of interior wall decorative products. The impacts are classified into 15 categories belonging to three safeguard areas: ecological environment, natural resources, and human health. The impacts of categories are calculated and monetized using willingness to pay (WTP) and disability-adjusted life year (DALY) and summarized as an integrated external cost of environmental and human health impacts. Assessment results reveal that the integrated impact of interior latex is lower than that of non-woven wallpaper, and the interior latex of low quality causes low life cycle integrated impact. The most impacted categories are global warming, respiratory effects, and water consumption. Hotspots of product manufacturing are recognized to promote green product design.     

Public understanding of risk in health impact assessment: a psychosocial approach

Development projects inevitably pose risks to the health of humans and the planet. Health impact assessment (HIA) practitioners increasingly evaluate the mental health effects of development but have rarely considered those caused by public understanding of risk (‘risk perception’) itself a determinant of health. This paper proposes a new psychosocial model of public understanding of risk in response to the literature on perceived high risk developments. It exemplifies the psychosocial process that occurs when people respond to industrial threats to health. In doing this, it draws upon literature from psychology, social science and public health. The model is foregrounded in the context of psychosocial health in HIA. The paper also reviews the health and well-being effects that may result. Overall, it is argued that the philosophical and moral underpinnings of HIA compel practitioners and developers to understand the formation and ongoing development of public understandings of risk in light of the cultural, demographic, temporal and other contextual factors shaping them in unique development contexts where HIAs are undertaken, and how understandings of risk actually affect community health. We encourage them to propose mitigation measures and solutions that accord with the values of Planetary Health.     

Capacity building for trade impact assessment: lessons from the development of environmental impact assessment

This paper examines difficulties in creating capacity to undertake impact assessments of trade policy and possible approaches to overcoming them, particularly in developing countries. The assessment of trade agreements and related policies can be a highly complex task, involving many different specialist disciplines. Also, many hurdles have to be overcome to integrate an effective impact assessment process into policy- formulation and decision-making mechanisms. Difficulties in some ways similar, in other ways different, have been encountered in developing effective environmental impact assessment (EIA) systems. This paper reviews experience with EIA capacity-building, and considers how the lessons learned might be applied to initiatives to build capacity for the impact assessment of trade policy.     

Trends in consultation and public participation within environmental impact assessment in Kenya

The objective of this study was to document trends in public participation within environmental impact assessment (EIA) in Kenya, using a Consultation and Public Participation Index (CPPI) developed for the analysis of EIA Study Reports submitted to the Environment Authority between 2002 and 2010. Results indicated that public participation remained relatively low, with the highest score of 1.65 in 2010, out of a possible score of 5. Scores for individual dimensions within the index fluctuated during the study period, with participation methods and type of participants scoring the highest, following increased emphasis by the Environment Authority on the conducting and reporting of public participation. This was followed by venue, notification and language used, in that order, which were often not reported, and, when reported, choices per dimension were limited. This is the first time this index has been used, yet it serves as a good starting point to evaluate public participation within EIA.     

Assessing the assessments: improving methodologies for impact assessment in transboundary watercourses

Transboundary impact assessment (TIA) has become an important environmental management tool, particularly where a project may have transboundary impacts. With the growing practice of TIA, it becomes important to consider the accuracy of the transboundary impact assessments that are being conducted. If TIA is a planning tool designed to provide a basis for making an informed decision, does it actually provide the necessary information? This paper summarizes lessons learned in pilot-testing a methodology to assess the accuracy of TIAs.     

Socio-economic impact assessment of industrial projects in India

Socio-economic impact assessment (SEIA) is conducted in advance to determine the socioeconomic consequences of industrial projects. The focus is on the project-affected people. All possible data is collected from census information and academic institutions. Personal interviews are also conducted with the local people and their administrative heads. The main phases of the project addressed are pre- construction, construction and operation. Issues addressed include compensation payment for the land, provision of employment, and alternative accommodation for the people affected. A decision on the acceptability of the project is taken after assessing the positive and negative socio-economic impacts.     

Assessing impacts on people's relationships to place and community in health impact assessment: an anthropological approach

This paper explores a way in which health impact assessment (HIA) practitioners can improve their evaluation of the effects of infrastructure developments on people's intangible connections and emotional attachments to places and communities, and their health impacts. This assessment poses conceptual and methodological challenges. It is argued that social anthropology and the social sciences offer HIA a conceptual vocabulary and a methodology for exploring these relationships. These relationships are defined then positioned in HIA as an outcome of the health determinant, social capital. The paper offers a critique of their treatment in an HIA case study from the United Kingdom. Its shortcomings are used to propose a predominantly qualitative, anthropological methodology. The overall approach offers benefits. Practitioners gain clarification, new tools, a more holistic HIA, and links between these relationships, well-being, and sustainability and resilience. Developers are shown how to sensitise their approach, potentially enhancing community support.     

Ecological assessment: an initial evaluation of the ecological input in environmental impact assessment reports in Bahrain

Ecological assessment forms a fundamental part of environmental impact assessment. The quality of ecological input in 15 Bahraini EIA reports concerning coastal and marine developments produced between 1996 and 2004 was evaluated using adopted criteria. The overall quality indicated that eight reports were assessed as borderline quality, and seven reports were found to be of poor quality. Major shortcomings included limited new ecological surveys, inadequate evaluation of impacts, neglecting cumulative and long-term impacts, and failing to address adequately mitigation and monitoring measures.     

Environmental impact assessment and the urban planning crisis in Turkey

In Turkey, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is generally conducted after the location for a new development is selected: it then becomes only an inventory of the expected damage to the enviroment. EIA should be applied more often, and Turkey should change its laws to integrate planning and EIA.     

Transboundary impact assessment: frameworks,experiences and challenges

Transboundary impact assessment has been carried out for many years but only now is it becomingnormal practice in Europe at the project level. This is occurring because of clear legal frameworks, including bilateral and multilateral agreements, and long experience in finding solutions to the many practical problems. However, many challenges remain, especially (a) in regions with unclear or weak provisions for transboundary impact assessment; and (b) for more strategic decisions for which we have little experience in transboundary impact assessment, notably for policies, plans and programmes likely to have significant transboundary effects and for transboundary activities.     

Evaluation of the environmental impact assessment system in Egypt

A formal environmental impact assessment (EIA) system was introduced in Egypt through Environmental Protection Law No. 4 of 1994. This paper evaluates the EIA system in Egypt by using both ‘systemic’ and ‘foundation’ evaluation criteria. The methodology is based on an investigation of EIA legislation, a review of guidelines and relevant documents, and interviews with EIA practitioners. The main factors affecting EIA best practice in Egypt are the limited numbers of local experts, inadequate public consultation, lack of environmental data, weak follow-up, and the absence of long- term land-use plans. Recommendations to strengthen the system include improving capacity building, implementing an effective EIA consultants' accreditation system, ensuring effective public participation and access to EIA reports, applying systematic environmental impact statement (EIS) review criteria and promoting environmental awareness.     

Health impact assessment in the United States

Rapid economic integration of Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta under the policy of “One Country Two Systems” and the consequent social and environmental degradation mean that assessment of sustainability impacts of development projects is essential. However, some fundamental problems are identified for the two systems to carry out SIA before embarking on development projects: minimal integration in terms of institutional set-up, strategies and policies concerning sustainable development; pre-set sustainability indicators rather than tailor-made ones to assess policies, programmes and projects of various nature; and rather different social, economic and environmental norms and development problems. In the short run, given these constraints, SIA in the region though “necessary” is rather “impossible”. Nevertheless, recommendations are put forward to facilitate regional cooperation of SIA practices in the longer term.     

Current practice in biodiversity impact assessment and prospects for developing an integrated process

Irish guidance for Integrated Biodiversity Impact Assessment provides a methodological approach for integrating impact assessment requirements, with regard to biodiversity, under EU and Irish legislation. Preparation of the guidance was supported by extensive consultation, including international and national surveys. These offered insights into the issues affecting the treatment of biodiversity in impact assessment practice as well as expert opinion on factors affecting and supporting the development of a more integrated and adaptive approach. This paper contrasts the international literature with the consultation feedback. Among other aspects, the results highlight the requirement for an improved application of evidence-based assessment techniques, continuity in monitoring, enhanced information exchange between scientists, assessors and proponents, as well as increased awareness amongst stakeholders for inclusion of appropriate biodiversity protection objectives and mitigation in final planning decisions. Comparative analysis of results indicates that current practice is characterized by limited information exchange and the use of in-house databases in assessments. A central spatial data repository is identified as key for quantitatively assessing (cumulative) effects through Geographic Information Systems, and thus supporting evidence-informed decision-making towards biodiversity conservation.     

Participative social impact assessment and management cross-cultural application

The participative approach to social impact assessment and management recognizes that the input from the local community and their participation in a project assessment are essential for the success of a project. Using the example of a mining development, the process of involving the local people is illustrated. The work to date augurs well for its usefulness in the mine development process.