New directions in social impact assessment: conceptual and methodological advances

Frank Vanclay and Ana Maria Esteves, Cheltenham (UK) and Northampton (USA), Edward Elgar, 2011, 382 pp., US$175 (hardback), ISBN 978 1 84980 117 1

I read this book as a social impact assessment (SIA) practitioner and teacher and as such I found it informative, provocative and inspiring as well as being highly readable. It is not necessary to have a background in SIA to appreciate the messages from the various authors, although for those of us that do, the insights and linkages contained within make for rich pickings.

This well-edited, multi-author volume contains 21 chapters divided into three sections:

1.	New approaches in thinking about social impact assessment, with six chapters examining aspects such as principles, values, social sustainability, theoretical foundations and ethics.
2.	New issues to consider (or old issues to consider better), including chapters on gender, indigenous peoples, disasters and climate change, forced resettlement, cumulative impacts and closures.
3.	New methods and techniques, including chapters on the use of deliberative decision-making in the SIA process, conflict mediation, a sustainable livelihoods approach, human impact assessment (a combination of health impact assessment and SIA) and the use of SIA to advance the enjoyment of human rights.

The book begins with a challenging foreword from Bruce Harvey, a community engagement specialist from Rio Tinto. In his view SIA as currently practised simply fails to meet the new requirements of resource developers and communities. The terms ‘impact’, ‘mitigation’ and ‘compensation’ are inherently biased and suggest what is important before any facts have been collected. He expresses the view that SIAs, especially in developing regions, put too little emphasis on assessing the benefits of development, tending to emphasise preservation and conservation of traditional ways of life at the expense of appreciating change that reflects what local people want. He notes poor treatment of economic impacts and inadequate local involvement in generating the questions and solutions as common weaknesses of the SIA process. Other matters he would like to see improved include a greater emphasis on partnership responses involving developers, government, communities and civil society; a greater focus on cumulative impacts; monitoring of impacts that are locally important; and looking beyond the immediate community to the impacts on the broader region. Harvey concludes that ‘it is time for a generational shift in the way socioeconomic studies and community participation is (sic) undertaken in resource development decisions and design’.

The first section of the book comprises an introduction by the editors, which constitutes a potent call to action. The editors remind the reader that SIA is much more than the act of predicting impacts in the regulatory context: it is the process of managing the social aspects of development. As such, SIA needs to be recognised as an adaptive management approach that is embedded in the culture of companies, governments and communities. The goal of ensuring better development outcomes for people and communities can only be achieved when companies and other actors see SIA as an investment in risk management and a strategy to reduce future costs and delays. Consequently, instead of a social impact statement, what regulatory authorities should consider is a social impact management plan.

The introduction sets out the range of activities that together constitute good practice SIA and then highlights some key points that need to be considered more thoroughly in SIA practice. These points provide a neat summary of the messages contained in the following chapters. They are aspirations for best practice and as such are inarguable. In practice, however, some are highly elusive, as demonstrated in the case study examples provided by some of the authors.

The authors come from a wide variety of political and institutional settings and their experiences serve to remind us that, when it comes to SIA practice, context is everything and often one must work with what one has in order to achieve the best outcome in the circumstances. In saying that, I do not wish to detract from the importance of the aspirations noted and the need for practitioners to constantly strive to deliver best practice.

The various chapters pose many challenges to current practice. In my view, the most thought-provoking chapter is that written by Richard Howitt, which examines the meaning, values and ethics behind some of the key concepts embedded in the theoretical foundations of SIA – concepts such as power, community and place. His chapter offers, in the words of the author, a pathway for future SIA that is ‘much more than the role of unreflective handmaiden to unjust and unsustainable development practices’.

There is something for everyone in this book:

•	For beginners it provides a good background on the philosophy, values and methods of SIA and a wide range of examples of how SIA can be applied in different contexts, how it contributes to decision-making and how it relates to other disciplines.
•	There are tips for companies on how to incorporate SIA thinking into systems and decision-making and why it is important to do so.
•	For those of us who have been practising in the field for many years in a variety of contexts, it provides inspiration to try harder, to keep pushing the boundaries and to strengthen the links with our colleagues working in associated fields.
•	For practitioners in other fields it shows how SIA can enhance their outcomes and the importance of doing so if our resources are to be managed effectively and sustainably.
•	For teachers of SIA theory and practice there is a wealth of material to draw on with sound practical examples of techniques and applications based on actual experience to enhance the learning experience for the next generation of SIA practitioners.

There is also a message in this book for SIA advocacy organisations such as IAIA and its affiliated bodies. In the conclusion to their introduction the editors note that, to ensure best outcomes for communities, there needs to be an enhanced awareness of the business case for SIA, a shift in thinking from compliance and impact mitigation to value creation for businesses, governments, civil society and local communities. Where decision-makers are willing to enter into a collaborative power-sharing partnership, this in turn can lead to better outcomes for the decision-makers as well as the community. The quality of the work undertaken by individual practitioners is often at the mercy of the institutional, regulatory and political context within which it is undertaken. A strong regulatory framework that ensures that proposals with inadequate SIAs do not proceed to the decision-making stage would address many of the short-comings identified in this book. While practitioners and academics can advocate for such frameworks, on a worldwide basis the advocacy is likely to be more effective if undertaken by representative bodies such as IAIA and its affiliates. In their thought-provoking chapter on ethical issues and dilemmas, Baines and Taylor identify a specific role for IAIA in helping to promote and provide active support for ethical practice.

The book presents a strong case for the place of SIA in the project decision-making, monitoring and management process, and it provides excellent material for practitioners to use in arguing for the resources, organisational approach and attitudes needed to produce quality work. At the same time it provides some excellent new ideas, a timely reminder of the principles and values behind best practice SIA, and a range of tools to use to improve performance. As such it is a book that I will use in future training courses and that I will recommend to my students.

© 2012 Dianne Buchan