Public involvement in Environmental Impact Assessment : the Portuguese case

Vasconcelos, MCPS

Abstract

Public involvement in environmental management has become an important component
of decision making, which had been until the 1970's based almost entirely on
"economic efficiency" and "science centred approach". EIA, the most widespread
instrument asking for public involvement in environmental management has been
reconceptualised to incorporate concepts of sustainable development for which EIA is
well fitted provided it is a "holistic", "preventive" and "participative" instrument.
However, depending on political, institutional and social contexts EIA processes, by
opening decision making to the public sphere, still represent a great shift in traditional
planning.
EIA was introduced in the Portuguese legal system in 1990 due to the Portuguese
membership in the European Union and public participation became mandatory. The
intriguing question on the basis of this investigation is how a society labelled as having
a non-participative culture and where decision making has never been opened to public
scrutiny behaves with such an instrument.
A broad picture of EIA public participation in the Portuguese society has been outlined,
the approach taken stressing the importance of cultural contexts in getting insights to the
understanding of the phenomenon. This broad picture has been enhanced by the use of
an in-depth case study of the Portuguese reality in order to stress relevant features. An
analytical model to guide the investigation has been constructed by putting together
pieces of consensus on public participation effectiveness identifying key issues and key
criteria.
This investigation indicates that despite the reactive approach taken to EIA and the
weakness of the Portuguese EIA system, EIA has been contributing to a change in
public perceptions as well as in attitudes of developers, consultants, government and
institutions towards environmental management. It is increasingly felt that EIA got
roots in Portuguese society being the instrument that asks more regularly and with more
efficacy for public involvement. In pair with this, it is also recognised that EIA needs
reformulations to make it a more effective, comprehensive and credible tool. Public participation in the Portuguese EIA system presents several difficulties related to
the social/cultural context and to the procedures used in its implementation. The former
deals in a great part with the lack of traditions of participation in society, the strong
weight of representative democracy and the low levels of environmental consciousness.
The later deals with the late phase of public involvement, poor mechanisms used to
disseminate information and promote a two-way communication and the use of a
standard bureaucratic process.
Environmental problems arrived late to Portuguese society but have become
increasingly relevant due to the development policies followed. Signs exist now that the
traditional passive citizenship can give place to a more active one and that the lay public
increasingly feel that they have a word to say in decisions affecting their quality of life.
Some avenues have been explored in this investigation related to context and practice of
public involvement in EIA and to the challenge posed by sustainable development to
societies especially those considered of intermediate development.

Citation

Vasconcelos, M. Public involvement in Environmental Impact Assessment : the Portuguese case. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Aug 16, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 16, 2011
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2001