The international law of environmental impact assessment : process, substance and integration

Contents Acknowledgments page xi Table of cases xiii Table of international instruments xvi Part I Introduction 1 Introduction and overview 3 1.1 EIAs and the process and substance of international law 3 1.2 Proceduralism, transnationalism and integration 6 1.3 EIAs and compliance 11 1.4 Overview 14 1.5 Method 16 Part II Background norms 2 Domestic origins of international EIA commitments 23 2.1 Introduction 23 2.2 Elements of domestic EIA processes 25 2.3 Domestic EIA structure: process and substance 34 2.4 The roles of domestic EIA processes 37 2.5 EIA in developing countries 42 2.6 Application of domestic EIA beyond the state 45 2.7 Conclusion 51 3 EIAs and general principles of international environmental law 54 3.1 Introduction 54 3.2 Nondiscrimination 55 3.3 The harm principle 59 vii viii contents 3.4 The duty to cooperate 68 3.5 The proceduralization of the harm principle 72 3.6 Sustainable development 77 3.7 Conclusion 82 Part III EIA commitments in international law 4 Sources of international EIA commitments 87 4.1 Introduction 87 4.2 Explicit EIA commitments 90 4.2.1 Formally non-binding instruments 90 4.2.2 MEAs as a source of international EIA 96 4.2.3 EIA guideline documents 105 4.3 International organizations 108 4.4 EIA and interstate disputes 111 4.5 Customary obligations to perform EIAs 120 4.6 Elaboration of existing EIA commitments 126 4.7 Conclusion 129 5 The structure of international EIA commitments 132 5.1 Introduction 132 5.2 Screening 133 5.3 Scoping and the contents of EIA reports 139 5.4 Notification and consultation 141 5.5 Public participation 146 5.6 Final decisions 150 5.7 Post-project monitoring 153 5.8 Strategic environmental assessment 155 5.9 Implementation 159 5.10 Conclusion 161 5.10.1 Determinants of international EIA commitments 161 5.10.2 Structure of EIA commitments 167 Part IV The role of EIA commitments in international law 6 EIAs and compliance 175 6.1 Introduction 175 6.2 Implementation, compliance and effectiveness 178 6.3 Process-oriented compliance models 182 6.3.1 The managerial model 182 6.3.2 Transnational legal process 187 6.3.3 Legitimacy and compliance 189 contents ix 6.4 Process values: transparency, participation and discursiveness 194 6.4.1 Transparency 194 6.4.2 Participation 196 6.4.3 Discursiveness 198 6.5 EIAs as transnational legal processes 200 6.6 Substantive values: normativity and context 208 6.6.1 Standards and norms in EIA processes 209 6.6.2 Context and EIAs 212 6.6.3 Science as a normative influence 216 6.7 Conclusion 225 7 EIAs, interests and legitimacy 228 7.1 Introduction 228 7.2 EIAs and interest-coordination 229 7.3 EIAs and interest-transformation 235 7.4 EIAs and legitimacy 244 7.5 Conclusion 251 Part V Conclusion 8 EIAs and the process and substance of international environmental law 257 8.1 Introduction 257 8.2 Proceduralism, transnationalism and integration in international environmental governance 258 8.3 Process-oriented approaches and EIAs 267 8.4 Proceduralization as a form of governance 271 8.5 The effectiveness of international EIA commitments 274 8.6 Conclusion: an action-forcing mechanism for international environmental law 279 Appendices Appendix 1 List of international instruments containing EIA commitments 283 Appendix 2 Espoo Convention 294 Appendix 3 Antarctic Protocol, Annex I 309 Bibliography 313 Index 327