Dear readers,
As I write this editorial, International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA) annual conference is around the corner which is to be held in Dublin this year. Hence, I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on the theme of this year’s conference which is ‘Impact Assessment for a Just Transformation’. With the time-bomb of climate change ticking, countries are pledging their commitment in reducing carbon emissions. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) limiting global average temperature increases to 1.5°C requires a reduction of CO2 emissions of 45% by 2030 (IPCC Citation2018). The changes involved to enable a transformation in greening our economies and delivering net zero are leading to new approaches, tools, implications and uncertainties. The stakes are high as not being able to transform quickly may have dire consequences.
However, as we race to gird ourselves and adopt new ways, delivering such changes in a fair and equitable manner poses further challenges and uncertainties. As a starter, the changes will have different effect on different communities and regions and evidencing such impacts will hold clue in finding solutions that will help us in delivering just transformation. Consequently, the role of Impact Assessment (IA) in enabling Just Transformation is manyfold. First, IA has the potential to mitigate and adapt to the consequences of climate change (Larsen Citation2014). Second, IA has the potential to be integrated with existing and emerging approaches, such as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Circular Economy (CE), and Environmental Social Governance (ESG) in evidencing the extent to which the desired targets are being met (see e.g. Kørnøv et al. Citation2020; Claassens et al. Citation2022). Third, IA can help in democratisation of the decision-making process by incorporating stakeholder opinions, overcoming inequalities and ensuring all communities and age-groups are represented in a fair and just manner (for e.g. see Sims and Rodriguez-Corcho Citation2022). Furthermore, as decisions will invariably involve trade-offs for targets and for stakeholders, IA will play a pivotal role in making these trade-offs transparent (Fischer Citation2023). The above four points are not exhaustive but merely indicative of the huge potential that IA can play in this journey. I am eagerly looking forward to the numerous presentations and conversations we are going to have on this theme in the forthcoming conference and sincerely hoping that many of these will translate into excellent papers in IAPA, which we will have the privilege of sharing with the wider community.
In this issue, I am pleased to bring to you a total of six full papers and one letter to the editor coming from a total of 27 authors. I would like to present this issue in two parts. The first five full papers are discussed initially. The authors in the first paper review the EIA process in Namibia against the principles of governance. In the second paper, the authors review EIA legislation in Pakistan using the Next Generation Framework (NGF). In the third paper, which is from China, the authors look at Social Impact Assessments (SIAs) within the Transport sector, focussing on different-sized Chinese cities. The fourth paper involves case studies from Sweden, Greece and the Czech Republic. In this paper, the authors pilot tests a multi-dimensional assessment framework which is useful in the evaluation of societal impact of agricultural research and related education. The next paper is from Botswana in which the author focusses on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in the country and evaluates the barriers in its implementation from the perspectives of environmental assessment practitioners and engineers.
The last two pieces in this issue is grouped together as these two contributions are based on a common theme of artificial intelligence (AI) and its implication on the future of IA. This is an emerging field, which is full of possibilities and uncertainties that IA needs to grapple with. The sixth paper explores the uncertainty of using AI in EIA by conducting a literature review assisted by ChatGPT and Elicit. Our final contribution in this issue is presented in a letter format. In this piece, the authors examine the use and challenges of AI specifically within habitat and biodiversity related data and aims to initiate a thought-provoking discussion amongst EA stakeholders on the implications of using AI for Environmental Assessment. These two papers touch the nerve on an important topic that deserves dialogue exchanges amongst EA actors and hence will act as the core papers based on which I would like to request you all to reflect and comment in a special issue on ‘Exploring the role of AI in the future of IA’. As this topic is still in its embryonic stage, your responses in letter formats can reflect on both these pieces or either of them. Furthermore, you can present insight from the perspective of your specialism and interest area to discuss this topic. Look out for the special issue announcement with further details in IAPA website.
As mentioned in my previous editorial, you can now find a collection of papers receiving the ‘Best Paper Awards’ published over the years in IAPA (1998–2022). This collection can be viewed at https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/tiap20/collections/TIAP_25_YEARS_IAPA and has been made available to celebrate IAPA’s journey over 25 years. Finally, I would like to end this editorial by congratulating the authors of the ‘Best Paper Award’ for 2023. Heartiest Congratulations to Francois P. Retief, Alan Bond, Angus Morrison-Saunders, Jenny Pope, Reece C. Alberts, Claudine Roos and Dirk P. Cilliers for your insightful paper titled ‘Gaining a deeper understanding of the psychology underpinning significance judgements in environmental impact assessment (EIA)’!
Enjoy Reading
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
References
- Claassens CE, Cilliers DP, Retief FP, Roos C, A BR. 2022. The consideration of waste management in environmental impact assessment (EIA) for developments in protected areas. Impact Assess Proj Apprais. 40(4):320–330. doi: 10.1080/14615517.2022.2080491.
- Fischer TB. 2023. Transformation towards a sustainable world – the pivotal role of impact assessments. Impact Assess Proj Apprais. 41(2):85–86. doi: 10.1080/14615517.2023.2171829.
- IPCC. 2018. Summary for Policymakers. In: global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. In Masson-Delmotte V, Zhai P, Pörtner H-O, Roberts D, Skea J, Shukla PR, Pirani A, Moufouma-Okia W, Péan C, Pidcock R, Connors S, Matthews JBR, Chen Y, Zhou X, Gomis MI, Lonnoy E, Maycock T, Tignor M, and Waterfield T, editors. Cambridge, UK and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press; p. 3–24. doi: 10.1017/9781009157940.001.
- Kørnøv L, Lyhne I, Davila JG. 2020. Linking the UN SDGs and environmental assessment: towards a conceptual framework. Environ Impact Assess Rev. 85:106463. doi: 10.1016/j.eiar.2020.106463.
- Larsen SV. 2014. Is environmental impact assessment fulfilling its potential? The case of climate change in renewable energy projects. Impact Assess Proj Apprais. 32(3):234–240. doi: 10.1080/14615517.2014.898386.
- Sims L, Rodriguez-Corcho D. 2022. A gender equity and new masculinities approach to development: examining results from a Colombian case study. Impact Assess Proj Apprais. 22(3):202–213. doi: 10.1080/14615517.2022.2035648.