“Overview of the Hawaii Geothermal PSIA” Pending
The recently completed PSIA of Hawaiian Geothermal Energy is described, including methodology, conduct, analysis and key findings. Implications of the study are discussed.
The recently completed PSIA of Hawaiian Geothermal Energy is described, including methodology, conduct, analysis and key findings. Implications of the study are discussed.
This paper looks at what the new resource management system in New Zealand, under the Planning and Natural Environment Acts, means for the scope and effectiveness of environmental impact assessment.
The discussant will present information and answer questions about the Asian Development Bank's new 2024 Environmental Standard: Cultural Heritage.
Workshops on CEA fostered discussions for evolving CEA practice in the context of the federal environmental agency and the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil
We use AI to build China's first county-level agricultural policy database and identify which interventions effectively protect crop yields from climate shocks.
A systematic review comparing how AI is actually used in climate impact assessment across Africa and Europe, and where oversight gaps remain.
A new method utilizing the Ecological and Environmental Zoning Database has been developed to conduct rapid and efficient SEA for large-scale spatial plans.
Celesa Horvath brings a practitioner’s perspective to this session, exploring IA streamlining as an opportunity to do Better, Faster, Together.
AI-enabled assessment is transforming mining regulation by automating document review, accelerating assessments, and empowering regulators to focus on better decisions and community outcomes.
Using ChatGPT's release as a technology shock, this study finds that generative AI increases household consumption-based carbon emissions in China, particularly indirect emissions.
Applies the IUCN Global Standard for NbS to lake ecotourism in Lake Sebu, Philippines,linking ecological condition, livelihoods, climate resilience, governance, and T'boli and Ubo Indigenous knowledge
A new collaborative practitioner guide establishes a common language and evidence-based methodology for assessing recreation effects, drawing on 40 years of New Zealand professional practice.
An ex-ante protocol compares temporary urban heat-relief options for equity, feasibility, environmental burdens and adaptive monitoring before resources are committed.
Hydrocarbon pollution of environmental matrices, especially groundwater, shoreline sediments, and soils, is still a big and complicated problem around the world. Bioremediation is necessary.
Ngāwhā shows that zero air emissions do not prove containment or whole-system environmental performance. Geothermal CCS must track carbon and fluid effects across connected receptors.
Moving beyond compliance, this case explores how impact assessment can support more circular industrial water reuse through earlier, integrated decision-making.
A practical method for identifying inconsistent climate hazard scores through coherence checks between related hazards, improving the reliability of renewable energy CCRAs.
Project-community interface conditions, not just physical delivery, shape whether infrastructure builds or erodes community resilience, with practical lessons for impact assessment.
Moving beyond project metrics, this paper proposes a landscape-scale framework to assess how ecological recovery, livelihoods and community governance interact to strengthen climate resilience.
The CIA supports informed decision-making and sustainable hydropower development by effectively managing cumulative and transboundary risks.
Incorporating trait-based functional diversity metrics into conventional EIAs enables practitioners to better predict habitat fragmentation risks, and design targeted mitigation strategies.
Ugandan evidence shows why biodiversity assessment must move beyond inventories to influence decisions, mitigation, implementation, monitoring, and ecological outcomes.
Visual storytelling can bridge the gap between impact assessment reports and real-world decisions by making knowledge accessible, strengthening dialogue and amplifying community perspectives.
When engagement starts early, it can change what a project becomes. Boorloo Bridge demonstrates how Traditional Owner knowledge shaped design, place and legacy.
Through analysis of leadership barriers and enablers, this work aims to understand how leaders in the Great Barrier Reef can work towards achieving better system environmental outcomes.
China's EIA reforms in ecosystem integration, climate, follow-up and digital support frame discussion on assessing planetary recovery alternatives.
Climate risk assessments keep missing the social side. Social Impact Assessment can fill that gap, building not just climate resilience but communities' capacity to adapt to any change.
Community Led, community driven, Community empowerment.
Indigenous outcomes are not proven when organisations report on them; they are proven when Indigenous communities can see, experience and validate the change.
A Karamoja case examining how community knowledge, farmer engagement and social-impact thinking can shape climate-resilient agricultural development before full-scale implementation.
A Tanintharyi case proposes conflict-sensitive environmental assessment to guide flood and landslide recovery through explicit uncertainty, inclusive priorities and verification.
How can impact assessment better account for an altering landscape, climate resilience, and future ecological change?
Tiered impact assessment tools must integrate the local and regional impacts of urban sprawl into urban planning and projects, using geospatial analysis to understand their effects across these scales
Regional assessment of cumulative impacts in the Nacala Corridor, identifying benefits, key environmental and social risks, and actions to strengthen governance and sustainable development.
Lessons from Fiji's 40 Bridges Project show how local knowledge and adaptive assessment can improve safeguard outcomes where baseline data are limited.
View an innovative platform with the LEAP approach incorporating biodiversity data, site IA data and BESRAs that provides a better overview and insight for management of biodiversity risk.
Historical and cumulative effects must be understood in order for the "One Project, One Review" policy to be effective in relation to indigenous jurisdiction in IA.
Synthesizing two empirical studies, this talk highlights digitally-driven re-urbanization of manufacturing and calls for new impact assessment perspectives on this overlooked shift.
This paper asks whether AI makes impact assessment more sustainable or simply faster, and examines its implications for judgment, participation, trust, and decision quality.
EIA and heritage impact assessment diverge along the Great Wall. Fieldwork at five sites yields a dual-track interface, a judicial EIA-HIA bridge and a checklist for linear World Heritage.
EACOP linked Uganda’s oil fields to Tanzania’s coast, overcoming, environmental & social challenges while creating jobs, boosting regional cooperation, improving infrastructure, and building capacity
The presentation will look at the effectiveness of the public participation process, the outcomes of the remedies available to communities post the appeal and legal review process.
This TCN Nigeria case shows sustainable procurement cuts delays by 23% and boosts environmental compliance, offering replicable model for African power sector.
Outline of the process used to engage remote villages in Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands on their needs in relation to climate change and disaster risk management in order to help build resilience.
ELEF integrates environmental education into impact assessment, smart-cities governance, sustainable infrastructure, community participation and climate resilience strategies.
The moderator will lead a discussion on the 40-year evolution of lender cultural heritage standard, drawing on the panelists perspectives and his experience in implementing ADB's ESS8.
How cumulative impact assessment for Himalayan hydropower evolved from project EIAs to basin-scale studies, how climate change is exposing key gaps, and how to make it a true and useful planning tool.
I will present how we are clarifying who is a ‘suitably qualified expert’ to provide impact assessments for major projects in NSW.
The adoption of the ASEAN Declaration on the Right to a Clean, Safe, Healthy and Sustainable Environment in 2025 provides an opportunity to expand the role and practice of EIA and HRIA in ASEAN.
Alberto Fonseca - UFOP
This comparative qualitative case study examines the co-presence paradox in Texas, how municipal festival branding highlights heritage while excluding the community members who produce these tradition
Chile's compliance data show projects that comply while loads persist and baselines that are never revisited. What 50 years of IA teach about monitoring planetary drivers.
How can IA evolve from predicting project impacts to stewarding environmental outcomes within changing, interconnected and finite systems?
For approximately forty years, the Inuvialuit co-management system has demonstrated that meaningful Indigenous participation, traditional knowledge, trust, and adaptive management are not emerging con
How can impact-assessment knowledge move beyond reports to reach communities, enable dialogue, incorporate local knowledge and contribute to better decisions?
Hong Kong’s bird-friendly design guideline study shows how broad biodiversity policy objectives can be translated into practical considerations for impact assessment, planning and project design.
This study proposes a feedback framework linking CCIA, follow-up monitoring, and PSS to improve assessment reliability and support evidence-based, carbon-neutral urban planning.
Green Star lessons from healthcare, education, and international development projects showing how early Indigenous engagement informed design outcomes, cultural identity, and social sustainability.
This paper describes the experiences of Nepal to compliances on IA preparation , implementation of three decades and examine the compliances in differ infrastructures in Nepal and suggest learnings.
An award-winning Aotearoa methodology that draws on enduring Indigenous knowledge to improve infrastructure assessment, investment and asset decisions.
OneLab shows how outcome-focused impact assessment can reveal institutional benefits, emerging economic and environmental effects, and priorities for future laboratory networks.
How participatory mapping and community impact assessment helped translate Jébalè II priorities into 54 million FCFA of conservation and livelihood investments.
A Saudi pipeline case study shows how site inspections and corrective actions support environmental follow-up during construction.
How programme-level ES commitments translate into project realities, and why earlier collaboration between development finance and impact assessment practitioners matters.
This research evaluates the Social Significance Matrix in Mexico’s energy sector, addressing shifting baselines by transitioning from bureaucratic compliance toward resilient, integrated frameworks th
China's GHG EIA practice for petrochemical projects: pilots legalized by the Eco-environmental Code, delivering source control of carbon and coordinated pollution–carbon governance.
Geospatial accessibility analysis is standard in engineering and health, but rare in public policy. AI-enhanced spatial modelling should be embedded early in infrastructure planning.
A 25-year private sector view on changes in heritage treatment—key drivers, practical on-the-ground changes, and the stubborn sticking points where it can be slow going
HIA reveals how prolonged flooding creates unequal health and socioeconomic burdens and can inform more equitable, health-sensitive flood risk management and community resilience.
The paper analyses how E-mobility experts understand and address the extra-local impacts of urban E-mobility, and makes recommendations on the scope of IA for urban electric mobility policy.
Experience sharing on impact assessments of mining dam disasters, addressing community, environmental and social impacts, vulnerability, accountability, recovery and disaster prevention.
As an early-career ESIA practitioner, I will debate whether new tools and AI have made impact assessment better or just more complex, and help define what to preserve, leave behind and strengthen.
Assess gaps and impacts between national law and IFC PS (PS 6) biodiversity requirements for the Oil Pipeline and Railway Projects in Tanzania for the project financing process and impacts.
The discussant will share his views on evolving bank heritage policies, especially on the importance of community consultation in deciding what heritage to protect and how to protect it.
Drawing on current Canadian impact assessment examples, this Solution Room explores practitioner, project, and regulatory barriers to Indigenous Knowledge integration and practical solutions.
This paper presents lessons from Nepal’s first transmission line Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) and highlights the need of regulatory authority for its effective implementation.
IFC integrates climate change into E&S risk management to help projects assess, manage, and adapt to physical climate risks, strengthening resilience and sustainability.
This study explores the integration of SE into Türkiye’s transportation policies, identifying institutional, legal, and methodological requirements and proposing an implementation framework.
Since 2008, I have been involved in… Preparing EIA as a Sociologist Preparing Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) as a Resettlement Expert Impact Assessment and Vulnerability Analysis for hydros
Are we using social impact assessment to shape better infrastructure decisions, or simply to assess choices already made?
This study investigates eco-environmental zoning-based regulation in China, building a high-quality knowledge graph and multi-agent collaboration to explore intelligent management models.
Japan's history of resident-led assessment shows how local values, collective learning and expert collaboration can generate alternatives and inform public decisions.
This paper reviews the Hanthawaddy Airport ARAP in Myanmar, highlighting lessons for social impact assessment, fair compensation, stakeholder engagement, and sustainable livelihood restoration.
A review of Korea's EIA and CCIA cases identifies methodological issues in emissions and mitigation assessments relevant to linking the NDC to project decisions.
Integrating Indigenous, local and IUCN expertise early in impact assessment strengthens biodiversity assessments, anticipates risks and enables more informed, inclusive decisions.
Mandatory SIA raises the floor but may lower the ceiling. Comparing voluntary and regulated SIA practice to ask whether regulation changes outcomes or just documents.
Infrastructure development can alter the tidal flow that sustains mangroves well beyond its footprint. A Vietnam case study shows how to assess this and turn the findings into practical measures.
Transforming fragmented biodiversity records into actionable knowledge for environmental licensing, impact assessment, and biodiversity conservation.
The Mauri Model shows how Indigenous-defined cultural indicators can be operationalised in IA, and introduces Infrastructure Belonging as a mauri-based infrastructure assessment framework.
Dubai Police applies Social Return on Investment to assess 13 community initiatives, demonstrating how policing contributes to measurable social value, public trust, and long-term societal wellbeing.
The effect of Mega development projects in Tanzania on resettlement and livelihood is a practical paradigm to both decision makers, stakeholders and practitioners on the future of IA.
Empirical data from a public EV charging station, demonstrates approximately 422 tonnes of net operational CO₂ avoided over one year, establishing practical model for monitoring the climate benefits
This sessions looks back at compound climate hazards of drought, flood, and fire in four countries providing actionable insights for policy and decision making.
Native riparian forest cover was negatively associated with phosphorus concentrations, showing its contribution to nutrient regulation and water-quality management at the watershed scale.
Monitoring helped Mandai Wildlife Reserve identify bird-glass collision hotspots and progressively adjust mitigation to suit sites and operational needs.
Prof. Claudine Alberts (Roos) North West University, South Africa Area of expertise: Environmental Management Instruments, EIA, waste management
Academic
A Peruvian Amazon case where Indigenous communities produce their own data and diagnoses, turning social investment into lasting capacity across the mine life cycle.
This paper introduces an integrated implementation framework for Next-Generation Impact Assessment that uses system thinking, lifecycle-oriented process as opposed to traditional EIAs.
China's pharmaceutical EIA reform replaces one-off ex ante approval with life-cycle dynamic governance through the "no renewed EIA where impacts do not increase" rule and some limitations.
This paper presents the state-of-the-art and the challenges in the field of IA and transport infrastructure development. We discuss experiences and practices to enhance the field.
HRIA should evolve from episodic assessment to continuous due diligence, embedding human rights, FPIC and rights-holder engagement into project decisions and impact management.
Dr. Peixiu Chen is an Assistant Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research focuses on the circular economy, life cycle assessment, and waste management.
Transforming ESIA education through industry and regulator engagement, hands-on EIA practice, field studies, and research that bridges academic preparation with professional employment.
This research seeks to identify the priority competencies required to prepare future environmental professionals to conduct effective EIA. Delphi study will be used, involving Latin-American experts.
Important sociocultural components were mapped to support regional impact assessment in the Xingu basin, where 24 indigenous territories face increasing pressure from infrastructure projects.
Lessons from conserving Ethiopia's rock-hewn churches show how impact assessment can better balance heritage protection with community development at living World Heritage sites.
Darul Hana demonstrates how SIA-informed resettlement can rebuild trust, safeguard livelihoods and preserve social networks through fair compensation, community engagement and inclusive planning.
A standardized digital recording framework for AlUla's rock-cut monuments creates a documented baseline for heritage condition assessment, monitoring, and impact assessment.
Who decides what successful mine closure looks like? This paper explores Indigenous influence over closure and post-mining governance.
IA reports support decision-makers to identify and balance trade-offs. Yet an implementation gap between research and best practice reduces rigour, adding cost in regulatory processes.
Reclaiming the land is reconnection with its Spirit. This knowledge grounds us in developing cultural/spiritual indicators, assessing cumulative impacts, and protecting future generations from harm.
Recurrent Nigeria's floods erode livelihoods beyond physical damage. Study of 350 households shows significant impacts (F=14.450, R²=0.515), advocating cumulative community-based SIA
Land conflict in resettlement is not case-by-case bad luck: it follows three recurring, predictable drivers rooted in baselines that change faster than project governance accounts for.
Sri Lanka’s licensing tiers do not match pollution risk. A pollution index, built through an ongoing RIA, will rank prescribed activities by risk to support fairer reform.
This paper examines the role of screening and scoping and how legislation, standards and risk aversion can undermine proportionate impact assessment and our role in addressing this.
As an early-career professional, I’ll debate Impact Assessment’s future—embracing AI and emerging assessment tools, preserving core principles, and leaving outdated "tick-the-box" practices behind.
This project encompasses estimating renewable energy potential, analyzing conflict factors associated with renewable energy, and assessing the sustainability of renewable energy siting.
Aotearoa and Australia host important EO infrastructure and need to consider the social impacts of EO. Better earth-space governance systems, guided by SIA is important to reduce the harms.
The scoping review examines how existing research explains social impacts and risks of AI, offering insights into the development of IA modernization in the AI era.
Through South Korea’s climate change impact assessment system, it introduces the interaction between greenhouse gas reduction and climate crisis adaptation in development plans and projects.
Akeel Hajat, a local consultant in Malawi, offers practical guidance on how to work with local counterparts to co-design RAP and LRP processes rooted in project affected people's lived realities.
The aim of this study is to use HIA to assess the overall risks and benefits of climate change mitigation policies for health and well-being in the city of Geneva (Switzerland).
SWIA provides a structured method to address human rights and governance challenges in Colombia’s wind sector, enabling diverse actors to drive context‑based territorial transformations.
In Singapore, construction-phase monitoring tests marine EIA predictions at full scale. This paper shows how its outcomes refine assumptions, scenarios and tolerance limits in future EIAs.
My job description is to "interrogate priority coal and gas projects in Queensland". It's becoming increasingly difficult as the processes are amended to favour proponents. Solutions are needed.
As impact assessment evolves, technical capability is not enough. This keynote explores the human skills—judgement, curiosity, communication and trust that remain essential for better decisions.
A Brazilian noise case shows how gaps in EIA prediction, fragmented responsibilities, and delayed institutional learning can leave affected communities waiting for action long after impacts emerge.
This study examines how Indigenous Knowledge Systems, including bird behaviour, animal behaviour and vegetation changes, inform climate change adaptation and strengthen rural resilience in Mberengwa
A practice-based perspective on when social maturity lags behind technical and financial project decisions—and how this gap can affect project delivery.
South Korea mandates Climate Change Impact Assessments for major projects to cut emissions and adapt to risks in 2021. This presentation examines the regime's current limits and ways to improve it.
Over four decades, cultural heritage safeguard policies of The World Bank have added value to EIA and to the practice of heritage identification, protection and management.
Conceptual models of ecosystem services impact causality were reviewed. Most are used in Integrated Assessments of marine environments, but do not consider reasonably foreseeable future developments.
A proportional impact assessment approach that uses traffic models to screen infrastructure alternatives before detailed air quality and noise modelling.
Modernizing impact assessment law requires stronger quality assurance, stakeholder confidence, and regulatory efficiency to ensure credible assessments and sustainable environmental outcomes.
Despite the general wide acceptance of the triple helix and its utilization for impact assessment, the following problems have given rise to this study. They are identifiable short falls.
This study explores how urban agriculture supports food security and livelihoods among Cameroonian migrant women in Johannesburg, despite socioeconomic and institutional challenges.
This presentation will focus on how HRIA/DD is built into this technical standard, the actual challenges with accomplishing this, and how to strengthen the 'do no harm' imperative.
Forty years on, we look to understand what has changed, and what has not, as we work to advance the current practice of impact assessment.
Real-life cases showing how projects deemed 'good' or strategically important and exempted from E&S safeguards can generate adverse impacts, undermining development and sustainability goals.
Mikisew Cree First Nation shows that collecting Indigenous Knowledge is not enough; it must meaningfully influence regulatory decisions, environmental management, and legal outcomes.
An assessment of 208 tailings failures (1960–2026) demonstrates that post-GISTM risk has relocated toward non-committed operators in developing regions rather than declining globally.
Drawing on the Ruataniwha case, this paper examines how unequal access to expertise shapes participation and influence within New Zealand’s evolving impact assessment framework.
Exploring from a political lens, this paper examines why demonstrated CIA practices from donor financed project in Nepal have not translated into domestic regulation.
We develop a dynamic zoning strategy for China's data centers that coordinates computing, electricity, and heat systems to identify regional mitigation priorities and reduce carbon emissions.