Environmental impact assessment; a Bibliography with abstracts

The last decade has witnessed increasing concern for the harmful environmental and social effects of development, this concern being expressed not only by professional planners and policy-makers, but more particularly by the public. Thus the need for the analysis and evaluation of the consequences of projects, plans, programmes and policies became all too evident, and the procedures of environmental impact assessment were the direct result of this need.

Since the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act in the United States in 1970, the use of EIA has increased rapidly and internationally. There now exists a very large body of research into the procedures and methods of assessment of both projects and policies, and a substantial literature relating to the questions of who should commission, carry out and comment upon environmental impact assessments, and under what circumstances.

Although a number of bibliographies dealing with specific topics have appeared, this is the first to bring together all aspects of EIA. Divided into five parts, Environmental Impact Assessment: a bibliography with abstracts covers methods and critiques of methods of environmental and social impact assessments, the relationship of EIA to other aspects of planning, and the application of the procedures in different countries, all major references being abstracted with critical comment where appropriate. This bibliography thus provides a major reference work for planners in government, private consultancy and academic institutions, and for all those in large-scale industry and major development and other agencies involved in processes likely to have effects on environment.