Shigeo Nishikizawa

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT RESEARCH IN JAPAN: RETROSPECTIVE AND PROSPECTIVE

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) research have been performed in a wide range of topics over 40 years in Japan. The study underlying this paper reviewed the achievement of Japanese EIA research through the academic database survey and identified which areas would be required for future EIA research. As a result, whilst there are only 30–50 EIAs conducted per year under EIA Act and genuine SEA is currently not practiced, there is a noticeable research interest with over 30 associated research papers published in the professional Japanese literature every year on average. Most of EIA articles could be classified into five groups; (a) systems and laws, (b) methods, (c) Theme-oriented Studies, (d) Sector-oriented Studies and (e) Case Studies. The following three main areas were identified for future EIA research; (1) studies on pro-active sound decision making for sustainability; (2) effectiveness of EIA from a proponents viewpoint, leading to enhance public acceptance, for example; and (3) substantive and methodological aspects, including the use of both quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods.

Social impacts induced by a development project in Tanzania: a case of airport expansion

Abstract Land acquisitions, undertaken to accommodate development activities, are causing increasing enmity between local communities and developers in Tanzania, as well as in other parts of Africa and the world. In many cases, it is likely that the socioeconomic costs incurred by local communities are greater than the benefits obtained from these activities. This study carried out an assessment of the changes in household living conditions before and after resettlement due to an airport expansion project in the city of Dar es Salaam. A door-to-door survey of 190 affected households and interviews with other relevant stakeholders revealed that the country has insufficient legal provisions to compel the government to adequately assist those affected. Resettlement has increased the rate of unemployment among the displaced community and triggered problems related to public service access. The impacts observed were accelerated by the lack of an effective national legislative system, the local administration’s poor operational capacity, and conflicts between the displaced population and the host community.

The Quality on Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Reports in Thailand

This study evaluates the public participation section of environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports in Thailand by using a grading system and the principal component analysis (PCA) method. The aim is to identify the key factors that influence quality in the topic of public participation in EIA reports. Of the EIA reports, 82 were analysed according to date and project type in the transportation sector in Thailand. The results indicated that 84.6% of total EIA reports in the period between 1992 and 2005 are of low quality with respect to the topic of public participation. In contrast, in the period after 2005 the quality of this topic received grades of A and B, which accounted for 76.7% of the total EIA reports in this period. The PCA method demonstrates the process of development in public participation in Thailand. Key factors are shown to be the methods of public participation and public information accessibility.

THE EIA SYSTEM AND HAZARD MANAGEMENT OF SEDIMENT-RELATED DISASTER IN JAPAN — A CASE STUDY IN WIND FARM PROJECTS

Japan suffers many sediment-related disasters due to intense rainfall and other geographical and meteorological features. This paper aims to clarify the potential role and challenges of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as a hazard management tool of sediment-related disaster, through surveys of the regulatory framework and analyses of case studies of wind farm projects. Based on the analysis, this paper mainly obtains the following conclusions:(1) One of the important roles of the EIA is to identify potential hazards of sediment-related disaster, because a large proportion of the projects involve potential hazards in terms of the siting, nevertheless, few of EIAs evaluate the hazards;(2) Long-term monitoring is a needed and essential role for EIA because, while re-vegetation would be carried out as a hazard mitigation on average for half the area with land change, in some cases re-vegetation has not been successful in 5 years since the implementation;(3) Improvements in the EIA system are required in order to be able to integrate the various features of hazardous information, including non-legally binding hazardous areas and local knowledge, into a common consideration for robust hazard management.

220 Current situation on the hygiene management of local government for preventing asbestos dispersal during building demolition

Introduction The aim of this study is to improve the level of the hygiene management at asbestos demolition site. For this aim, we conducted a questionnaire survey to understand the differences in local governments’ efforts towards to the hygiene management. We consider that a good example of a local government must be a reference to others. Now, it is banned to use asbestos and asbestos-containing materials except temporary exemption for some uses. Asbestos survey and removal before the demolition of buildings are requested by the law. Measurement asbestos concentration in the air during the demolition is also requested. However, some cases were found where asbestos surveys were not perfect. Furthermore, asbestos dispersal in the demolition was confirmed in some cases. We would like to prevent the dispersal of asbestos into general environment. Methods We have conducted a questionnaire survey among 159 local governments that make onsite inspection at the time of the demolition. Result Our analysis focuses mainly on how the system of the local government influences onsite inspection at the time of the demolition. The result of this survey shows current situation of onsite inspection (check with eyes, measurement of asbestos concentration in the air, instruction to demolition stuffs). In addition, we have made a study of the suitable asbestos measurement method adjusted to the demolition site. We also have considered cost-effectiveness of dispersal of asbestos. Discussion One of our key findings is difficulty of that all demolition sites are made onsite inspection by the local governments in the current government system. On the other hand, some local government make onsite inspection to all demolition sites with good systems and methods. We hope that these good systems and methods should.be shared to other local governments

Quantitative analysis of impact of awareness-raising activities on organic solid waste separation behaviour in Balikpapan City, Indonesia:

Many cities in Indonesia are under pressure to reduce solid waste and dispose of it properly. In response to this pressure, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Indonesian Government have implemented a solid waste separation and collection project to reduce solid waste in the target area (810 households) of Balikpapan City. We used a cluster randomised controlled trial method to measure the impact of awareness-raising activities that were introduced by the project on residents’ organic solid waste separation behaviour. The level of properly separated organic solid waste increased by 6.0% in areas that conducted awareness-raising activities. Meanwhile, the level decreased by 3.6% in areas that did not conduct similar activities. Therefore, in relative comparison, awareness-raising increased the level by 9.6%. A comparison among small communities in the target area confirmed that awareness-raising activities had a significant impact on organic solid waste separation. High frequencies of monitoring at waste stations and door-to-door visits by community members had a positive impact on organic solid waste separation. A correlation between the proximity of environmental volunteers’ houses to waste stations and a high level of separation was also confirmed. The awareness-raising activities introduced by the project led to a significant increase in the separation of organic solid waste.