Fifteen Years of Environmental Impact Assessment System in Bangladesh: Current Practice, Challenges and Future Directions

Abstract

The aim of this article is to review the current practice of EIA system in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, EIA has been practiced for more than fifteen years. However, there is a lack of scientific information about the current practice of EIA in Bangladesh. This article focused and reviewed three key areas of EIA system in Bangladesh: institutional arrangement, quality of EISs and implementation of mitigation measures. By using a set of good practice criteria, this article finds that still there are shortcomings in current EIA practice despite that fact that EIA practice in Bangladesh has been improving over the last fifteen years. This means Bangladesh could not harness the full benefit of EIA yet. This article suggest that in order to harness the full benefits of EIA, adequate implementation of mitigation measures is imperative while improving the capacity of proponents, regulatory agency and the quality of EIS.

Environmental Impact Assessment: Integrated Evaluation of Bridge Construction Project in Bangladesh

“…[12]. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) has a play a vital role in achieving these goals [1], [9], [10], and [11]. However, EIA has some limitations but it is important for the country to improve on these limitations with an aim to building a robust of EIA system for sustainable development.…”

Overcoming low EIA performance - A diagnostic tool for the deliberate development of EIA system capacities in low and middle income countries

“…We define capacity as the ability of the EIA organizations to achieve their interests and objectives. In this paper, we focus on the organizational level because the capacities of the EIA organizations largely determine the performance of the EIA system that we would like to improve (Marara et al, 2011;Kabir and Momtaz, 2013;Kolhoff et al, 2016).…”

“…It was at that conference that the role of EIA as an important policy tool for environmental management was first acknowledged by high, middle, and low income countries. However, various studies have shown that in the majority of LMCs, EIA system procedural and substantive performance are both considered to be weak (Annandale, 2001;Wood, 2003;Khadka and Shrestha, 2011;Marara et al, 2011;Kabir and Momtaz, 2013;Kakonge, 2013;Kolhoff et al, 2016;Wells-Dang et al, 2016). Procedural performance is defined as the extent to which the EIA process complies with the EIA legislation (Sadler, 1996).…”

“…In the EIA literature on LMCs, weak performance is usually explained by three interlinked groups of factors (see Fig. 1): EIA legislation that is either unclear or too ambitious, given the capacities and the (political) context (Mwalyosi and Hughes, 1998;Bitondo, 2000;Marara et al, 2011;Kabir and Momtaz, 2013;Kolhoff et al, 2009Kolhoff et al, , 2013; weak capacities of the organizations involved (Wood, 2003;Van Loon et al, 2010;Clausen et al, 2011;Marara et al, 2011;Kabir and Momtaz, 2013), including weak monitoring and enforcement capacities (Khadka and Shrestha, 2011); and contextual factors that influence the performance of organizations through, for example, the extent to which the rule of law is applied and, as mentioned, the development of the EIA legislation (Kakonge, 2006;Kolhoff et al, 2009Kolhoff et al, , 2013Marara et al, 2011;Kabir and Momtaz, 2013;Wells-Dang et al, 2016).…”

Enhancing EIA systems in developing countries: A focus on capacity development in the case of Iran

“…EIA legislation that is unclear, given the capacities and the political context (Bitondo, 2000;Marara et al 2011;Kabir and Momtaz 2013;Kolhoff et al 2009Kolhoff et al , 2013). (Wood 2003;Van Loon et al 2010;Clausen et al 2011;Marara et al 2011;Kabir and Momtaz 2013), including weak monitoring and enforcement capacities (Khadka and Shrestha 2011). 3. Contextual factors such as the political system, the socio-economic situation, and the legal framework (Kakonge 2006;Kolhoff et al 2009Kolhoff et al , 2013Marara et al 2011;Kabir and Momtaz 2013;Wells-Dang et al 2016).…”