When Environmental Movement Meets the EIA Institution
Date Issued
2009
Date
2009
Author(s)
Hsu, Jing-Juan
Abstract
The EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) process was often criticized for poor civil participation mechanisms and access to information. Natural science was the primacy concern and the social issues were disregarded. In the 6th EIA Committee of Taiwan, it is the first case in which members of environmental movement taking on the role of EIA commissioners. This is a milestone of both environmental policy and environmental movement. By analyzing the conference minutes and in-depth interviewes, this study discuss how the deliberation process changes with the new membership structure, and how the commissioners try to make some reformation in the government.It is found that the 6th EIA Commissioners were more active in the deliberation process than those of the previous sessions. They also make more efforts on issues of socio-economics, procedural justice and access to information, which break the scoping restrictions of the past. However, the reformations by the inside advocates also give rise to conflictions between the committee, industries and bureaucracy. Commissioners with advocating consciousness were almost replaced at the expiration. After all, they understand the process of decision making and how to establish rules and procedures inside the political system.The paper also indicates that EIA is not only science, but also contain value assumptions and political process. So it is important to be conscious of the social and political consequences of EIA decisions. Lastly, the author proposes the compositional diversity to facilitate the confrontation, discuss and deliberation in the EIA process.
Subjects
Environmental movement
Environmental policy
Environmental Impact Assessment
Political Opportunity Structure
Type
thesis
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