| This study addresses, in the context of international environmental governance, the structure and role of a set of institutionalized decision-making arrangements commonly referred to as environmental impact assessment (EIA). The central idea that animates EIA is that decisions affecting the environment are best made through comprehensive evaluation of predicted environmental impacts and through the creation of an open, participatory and information rich decision-making environment. EIA commitments do not impose specific environmental standards on decision-makers nor do they require a proponent to mitigate the identified environmental impacts of a proposed activity. However, the inclusion of EIA commitments in international instruments is premised on the ability of EIA processes to bring about substantive outcomes that reflect international environmental norms. In light of tension between process and substance that inheres in international EIA commitments, the objective of this study is to assess whether EIA, as a method of implementing international environmental norms, is a sound policy strategy, and how international EIA commitments may structure scientific, political and normative considerations so as to influence domestic decisions affecting the international environment.; It is argued that international EIA commitments incorporate many of the features of international and transnational governance structures identified by process-oriented legal scholars as contributing to state compliance with international law. Like process-oriented compliance explanations, EIAs rely on the projection of international norms into processes that are transparent, participatory, discursive, contextual and normative to produce outcomes that are consistent with prevailing norms in a self-regulatory manner. Flowing from this analysis, this study identifies two complementary roles that EIAs play in international environmental governance structures. Firstly, EIAs perform a broad interest co-ordination function by requiring source states to notify and consult with affected states and affected persons where there is a likelihood of international environmental impacts. Secondly, EIAs provide opportunities for persuasion and interest transformation of government agencies through repeated interactions where norms are raised and considered in the context of specific project approvals. In this manner, international EIA commitments, which require domestic decision-makers to account for international environmental norms, can produce policy outcomes that are broadly reflective of the goals of international environmental law. |
