Planning for Sustainable Development – the practice and potential of Environmental Assessment Proceedings from the 5th Nordic Environmental Assessment Conference Reykjavik, Iceland, 25 – 26 August 2003 Edited by Tuija Hilding-Rydevik and Ásdis Hlökk Theodórsdóttir Nordregio 2004 First published in 2004 by Nordregio. PO Box 1658, SE-111 86 Stockholm, Sweden Tel. +46 8 463 54 00, fax: +46 8 463 54 01 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.nordregio.se Planning for Sustainable Development – the practice and potential of Environmental Assessment. Stockholm: Nordregio 2004 (Nordregio Report 2004:2) ISSN 1403-2503 ISBN 91-89332-36-9 Nordic co-operation takes place among the countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, as well as the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland. The Nordic Council is a forum for co-operation between the Nordic parliaments and governments. The Council consists of 87 parliamentarians from the Nordic countries. The Nordic Council takes policy initiatives and monitors Nordic co-operation. Founded in 1952. The Nordic Council of Ministers is a forum for co-operation between the Nordic governments. The Nordic Council of Ministers implements Nordic co-operation. The prime ministers have the overall responsibility. Its activities are co-ordinated by the Nordic ministers for co-operation, the Nordic Committee for co-operation and portfolio ministers. Founded in 1971. Stockholm, Sweden 2004 Foreword The focus and aims of the conference The important role of planning and environmental assessment in imple- menting the political goals of sustainable development has been under- scored with the introduction of the EU directive on the ‘Environmental Assessment of certain plans and programmes’ (EC/2001/42) and the in- troduction of requirements for Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) into national legislations. Furthermore, planning for sustainable development is now high on the political agenda in both the Nordic coun- tries and in the EU context. In the Nordic context this is, for example, manifested in the action programme for 2001-2004, ‘Spatial planning as an instrument for promoting sustainable development in the Nordic coun- tries’, which complements the Nordic strategy for sustainable develop- ment. The focus of the 5th Nordic conference on Environmental Assess- ment, held during the period, 24-26 August 2003 in Reykjavik, Iceland was ‘Planning for sustainable development – the practice and potential of Environmental Assessment’. The primary aims of the conference were to describe, analyze and discuss the role of Environmental Assessment with respect to planning and the political goal of sustainable develop- ment. The conference aimed to highlight experience thus far, as well as providing a forum for the showcasing of emerging issues with regard to the assessment of policies plans and programmes through SEA and the assessment of projects in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Fur- thermore, the theoretical bases and assumptions of environmental as- sessment were also expected to be explored, in particular with regard to the existing theories of planning and policy analysis and to recent devel- opments in the field of planning theories with relevance to the impact assessment field. The conference was targeted at, and open to, practitioners, re- searchers, students and others interested in research and practice concern- ing EIA, SEA and planning. Participants from outside the Nordic coun- tries were also welcome. The final programme – plenary and parallel sessions – is presented in appendix 1. A one-day excursion highlighting issues in relation to en- vironmental assessment and Icelandic nature and culture were also pro- vided for the participants. 3 Organisation The organizing committee consisted of: Ásdís Hlökk Theodórsdóttir, (Chairman), Hólmfrídur Sigurdardóttir, Matthildur Kr. Elmarsdóttir and Thóroddur F Thóroddsson from the Na- tional Planning Agency, Iceland and Hólmfrídur Bjarnadóttir and Tuija Hilding-Rydevik from Nordregio. An advisory group consisted of: Hrafn Hallgrímsson, Ministry for the Environment, Iceland; Björn Gun- narsson and Júlíus Sólnes, University of Iceland; representatives from the various national planning authorities in the Nordic countries and a Nordic group of national Environmental Assessment officials. Outcome 166 participants attended the conference. The participants came from 13 countries including 153 participants from the Nordic countries, 10 from other European countries and 3 participants from countries outside Europe. 43 presentations were given – including plenary and parallel ses- sions and a number of posters were presented. This report, which includes 20 contributions, provides the proceed- ings from the conference. These proceedings as such represent the sheer variety of issues raised at the conference, from contributions that have a theoretical research perspective to more practice-oriented perspectives. This was in line with the conference intentions of being a platform of relevance for both researchers and practitioners in the field of environ- mental assessment and planning. These conference proceedings are organized under three very broad themes. The first theme covers the general issue of the integration of environmental policy and the role of EIA and SEA in this context. The second theme includes contributions covering SEA from different per- spectives, some of which also relate to EIA. Finally, in the third section, the contributions focussing mainly on EIA are brought together. Stockholm, May 2004 4 Contents Audun Ruud: Governance for sustainable development: The challenge of environmental policy integration in Norway ........................................ 7 Tim Richardson: Environmental assessment and planning theory: Four short stories about power, multiple rationalities and the need for situated ethical judgement .....................................................................................23 Bo Elling: Modernity and communicative reflection in environmental assessment................................................................................................53 Karin Bradley: Environmental justice – new fuel to the debate on plan- ning for sustainable development ............................................................69 Tim Richardson and Stephen Connelly: Value driven SEA: Time for an environmental justice perspective? ..........................................................81 Eric Markus and Lars Emmelin: Applying good EIA practice criteria to SEA – the Öresund Bridge as a case..................................................103 Ásdís Hlökk Theodórsdóttir: The introduction of strategic environ- mental assessment to national level planning in Iceland ......................119 Ingvild S.H. Swensen: Is Impact Assessment Endangered? EIA in a changing environment............................................................................131 Anke Seifried: Great Expectations: The contribution of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to decision-making in Alberta, Canada.........141 Mat Cashmore, Dick Cobb, Alan Bond and Richard Gwilliam: Enhancing the ‘substantive’ effectiveness of EIA: A case for the reform of the EIA research agenda?..................................................................157 Pekka Hokkanen: The influence of EIA for decision-making and the formulation of alternatives.....................................................................183 Einar Leknes: EIA in parliament: Environmental sustainability and Nor- wegian offshore petroleum developments ..............................................195 5 Paulo Pinho and João Margalha: Scoping in EIA: Theoretical strengths and practical weaknesses...................................................................... 225 Hólmfríður Sigurðardóttir and Jakob Gunnarsson: EIA and the prac- tical experience of the scoping report in Iceland.................................. 237 Hreinn Haraldsson and Ásdís Guðmundsdóttir: The Environmental Impact Assessment of Icelandic road projects ...................................... 247 Maria J. Figueroa: Public Participation, Democracy and Environmental Integration in Transport: Can EIA/SEA Provide a Feasible Connection? .......................................................................................... 255 Hólmfríður Sigurðardóttir and Jakob Gunnarsson: EIA and Geo- thermal Energy in Iceland..................................................................... 275 Mikael Jakobsson: EIA and Heritage Management – the need for re- search and development........................................................................ 285 Gretar Thor Eythorsson, Hjalti Johannesson and Kjartan Olafsson: Socio-economic Impact Assessment: The experience of two different pro- jects: a road tunnel in the Tröllaskagi Peninsula in northern Iceland and the Kárahnjúkar hydro project in eastern Iceland................................ 295 Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir and Rannveig Ólafsdóttir: Sustainable Tour- ism Management: Application and Appraisal of the Tourism Carrying Capacity and the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum Dynamics............ 307 The Nordic Environmental Assessment Network The Nordic countries have now had more than ten years of experience in re- search and development co-operation concerning Environmental Impact As- sessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). The Nordic Ad hoc group on EIA, under the Nordic Council of Ministers, initiated and institu- tionalised this co-operation.