Sharachchandra Lele

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability | August 2023

Large infrastructure projects, such as ports, dams, highways, and mines, cause major negative environmental impacts, most felt by local communities but affecting other stakeholders as well. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and associated Social Impact Assessment (SIA) are tools that together constitute the core of the concept of environmental appraisal (EA). This concept has been accepted worldwide as the value-articulating institution that both recognizes values and evaluates impacts on them. The values, as in ethical principles, at stake here include values toward nature (instrumental, relational, or intrinsic) and toward people (recognition justice, distributive justice or equity, and procedural or democratic functioning).