Health aspects of EIA - 7th IHIA Cardiff 2006

8/14/2019 Health aspects of EIA - 7th IHIA Cardiff 2006

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Health aspects ofenvironmental impact assessment

a report of the findings of the

European Commissions IMP3 project

on IMProving the IMPlementation ofenvironmental IMPact Assessment

in Europe

Presented by Salim Vohra on behalf of the IMP3 team7th International Health Impact Assessment Conference, Cardiff, April 2006


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Proje ct b ac kg round European Commission regularly reviews theworkings of EU Directives.

This is the second review of the EIA Directive

since its amendment in 1997

Carried out by six partners from five countries:Austria, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden and the UK

1 year research project


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Projec t pa rtn ers IR, sterreichisches Institut fr Raumplanung

Austria(Austrian Institute for Regional Studies and Spatial Planning)

UBA, Umweltbundesamt (Austrian Federal Environment Agency)Austria

CITTA, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do PortoPortugal(Research Centre for Territory, Transports and Environment)

SZAP, Slovensk Agentra ivotnho ProstrediaSlovakia(Slovak Environmental Agency)

Nordregio, Nordic Centre for Spatial DevelopmentSweden


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Re sea rch ba ckg roundQuestionnaires 970 EIA stakeholders were sent questionnaires 183 responded from 24 EU countries (19%)

Interviews 38 stakeholders in 10 EU countries 26 stakeholders in Canada and the US


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Num be r of re spon se s by c ountry


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De fini tion of he alth use d in E IA Majority view - environmental risks to health i.e.air, water, soil and noise pollution

Minority view - in 12 countries - mental health

and social wellbeing recognised in legislation

Small but significant shifts in recognition of needto assess health more broadly in EIA practice

compared to previous studies


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Definition of health used in EIA by country


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He alth impa cts asse sse d in E IA Physical health impacts are always or most oftenconsidered

Social and mental health-wellbeing impact are

less often or rarely considered

Inequalities in health impacts between differentgroups within a community are very rarely, if at

all, considered


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Influe nce s on hea lth consi dere d inEIA


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Ba rriers to str ength ening hea lth No or insufficient guidance on how to considerhealth issues in EIA (65%)

Insufficient knowledge and understanding of

health and health determinants (49%)

Definition of human health in EIA regulations isinadequate or too narrow or missing(40%)

Failure to include health experts in EIA teams(34%)


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EU -le vel pol ic y option s identifie d


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Ov era ll f in ding s Human health is being assessed within EIAs in

Europe

Most are health risk assessments of the affect ofemissions into the air, water and soil

or completely separate HIAs carried out after theEIA has already been completed

Few examples of integrated environmental andhealth impact approaches and methodologies

There are signs of small but significant shifts inattitudes among EIA stakeholders about the needto consider human health in a broader way in EIA


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Em erg ing ch all en ges:stre ng th eni ng hea lth i n EIA

Should we integrate HIA into EIA or keep themseparate?

How do we create better links and morecollaboration between environmental impact and

health impact practitioners?

More and better guidance but what precisely on?

How do we develop better baseline healthinformation and health evidence bases, that fitthe EIA legislative framework at EU and nationallevels?


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te am e or t a n g reat un

Antonia Cornaro, Erich Dallhammer, Valrie Dumont, Ulrike

Fasching, Peter Schneidewind, Gregori Stanzer, GabrieleTatzberger

Wolfgang Lexer, Sabine Mayer, Bernhard Schwarzl

Maria Rita Correia, Paulo Pinho, Sara Santos Cruz

Daniela Bugov, Mria Hrnrov, Zuzana Lieskovsk, KatarnaPalchov, Frantiek Pariek

Tuija Hilding-Rydevik, sa Pettersson, Arto Ruotsalainen

Ceri Breeze, John Kemm, Nicola Pearce, Lynnette Thomas, SalimVohra

Documents

Health aspects of EIA - 7th IHIA Cardiff 2006