Introduction to Social

Impact Assessment

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 Preamble
Social Impact Assessment vs Environmental Impact Assessment
• For certain projects, impacts on people & the environment
can be by far the most important consideration.
− Adverse social impacts can reduce the intended benefits of a
proposal, & can threaten its viability if severe enough.
− Adverse environmental impact threaten feasibility of the project
• In this case, social impact assessment is an approach used to
analyze impacts of a proposal on individuals & communities,
and to mitigate the adverse effects & enhance positive effects.
It also provides a framework to manage social change.
• Environmental impact assessment is an approach used to
analyze impacts of a proposal on environment. It is also a tool
used to achieve integrated environmental management (IEM)
• Usually, social impact assessment is carried out as part of the
EIA process, or sometimes as a parallel or separate review
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Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
• What is the environment?
− Land, water & air
− Micro-organisms
− Plant & animal life
− Physical, chemical, aesthetic & cultural properties
− Humans are part of the environment
“Every one has the right -
• to an environment that is not harmful to their health and
well-being; and
• to have the environment protected... through reasonable
legislative & other measures that-
− Promote conservation, and
− Secure ecologically sustainable development and use of
natural resources while promoting justifiable economic
and social development.”
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 What is EIA?
• EIA is process of examining the potential effects of a
proposed project on the environment.
• Its objectives are:
− Ensure environmental considerations are addressed & included
in decision-making.
− Anticipate, avoid or minimise negative biophysical & other
relevant effects of development proposals.
− Protect productivity & capacity of natural systems & ecological
processes which maintain their functions.
− Promote development that is sustainable & optimise resource
use and management opportunities.
• EIA is project specific, not used on plans, policies & programs
• Strategic Environmental assessment (SEA) is used on policy &
program level
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 Integrated Environmental
Management (IEM)
• A philosophy concerned with finding the right
balance between development & environment
Or
• A code of practice to ensure that environmental
considerations are fully integrated into all stages of
the development process (cradle to grave) to achieve
a desirable balance between conservation,
development and human needs

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 Where does EIA fit into the
project cycle?
SIA
EIA
EIA DESIGN

IDEA
CONSTRUCTION

CLOSURE OPERATION

MANAGEMENT
IEM
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Social Impact Assessment (SIA)
What is social impact?
Social impact is the consequence on human
populations of any public or private actions that
alter ways in which people live, work, play, relate
to one another, organize to meet their needs and
generally cope as members of society. Includes
cultural impacts involving changes to the norms,
values and beliefs that guide their cognition of
themselves and their society

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 Social impact may also be defined as any
sudden shock or slow-acting and cumulative series
of event that disrupts existing systems of social
support. This includes not only the work of those
who collect and allocate material and other forms
of support, but also those whose work is in itself
supportive of others or those whose work supports
and reproduces the system of social support itself.
In other words social impact is:
• Something that is experienced or felt (physical or
perceptions)
• …. A change in ……
• And it can be positive or negative
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The Economic Impact is defined as that which causes
diversion of resources to uses that would not have
been necessary in their absence. For example, HIV
& Aids and decreased production due to the
disease.

Worth to note:
Social, economic & biophysical/environmental
impacts are interconnected - change in one will lead
to change in others

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Categories of social and
economic impacts
• Health & social wellbeing
• Quality of living environment
• Economic impacts & material wellbeing
• Cultural impacts
• Family & community impacts
• Institutional, legal, political & equity impacts
• Gender relations
Health & wellbeing
• Health impacts – on mental, physical
• Social well being
• Nutrition
• Actual health & fertility
• Perceived health
• Aspirations for future
• Autonomy
• Stigmatization
• On sense of place, heritage, perception of belonging,
security & livability & aspirations for the future
Quality of living environment
• Quality of the physical environment
• Leisure & recreation opportunities
• Aesthetic quality
• Availability and quality of housing
• Personal safety & hazard exposure
• Environmental change, e.g. alterations to land use,
natural habitat and hydrological regime (loss of
subsistence or livelihood in resource dependent
community
Economic impacts & material wellbeing
• Workload
• Standard of living
• Economic prosperity, resilience & dependency
• Property values
• Replacement cost of environmental functions
• Demographic change, e.g. size & composition of resident
population, influx of temporary work force/ new
recreational users (disrupts cohesion of community)
• Economic change, e.g. new patterns of employment/
income, speculation (marginalises long term, older
residents)
Cultural impacts
• Change in cultural values
• Violation of culture
• Experience of being culturally marginalized
• Exploitation of culture
• Loss of local language, natural & cultural heritage
• Lifestyle impacts – the way people behave & relate as
family, friends & cohorts on day-to-day basis;
• Changes in shared customs, values obligations,
language, religious belief & elements which make a
social or ethnic group distinct
Family & community impacts
• Alterations in community infrastructure, services,
activity networks
• Alterations in family structure
• Obligations to family/ancestors
• Family violence
• Social networks – interaction with others in
community
• Community connection –sense of belonging
• Community cohesion
• Social differentiation and inequity
• Social tension/crime and violence
Institutional, legal, political &
equity impacts
• Capacity of government agency to handle workload
generated by project
• Integrity of government agencies. Competence of agency
• Participation in decision making
• Access to legal advice
• Distribution of resources
• Institutional change, e.g. in the structure of local
government or traditional leadership, zoning by-laws or
land tenure (reduced access or loss of control leads to
disempowerment or impoverishment of the established
population)
Gender relations
• Physical integrity of the people – decide about own body
• Personal autonomy of the people – independence in all
aspects
• Gendered division of labour – income, household,
childbearing & rearing.
• Access to resources & facilities
• Political emancipation of the people
 What is Social Impact
Assessment (SIA)?
• SIA is a philosophy about development that considers
pathologies (e.g. harmful impacts), goals (e.g. poverty
alleviation) & processes (e.g. participation, capacity
building) of development. In other words: SIA is about
“people impacts” of project, proposal or development
• SIA is therefore a process of examining potential
effects of a proposed development on the people
• SIA is not "evaluation research“, which concentrates on
gauging effectiveness of public & aid programs already
in operation.
• It is an anticipatory research to predict social effects of
proposal, program or project while still in planning stage
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Where does SIA fit into the
project cycle?
SIA
EIA
EIA DESIGN

IDEA
CONSTRUCTION

CLOSURE OPERATION

MANAGEMENT
IEM
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 Social impacts vary in accordance
with stages of the project life cycle
• Planning or project development: – This phase, beginning
with project notification (or rumour) can have its own social
impacts, even though nothing has actually happened. For
example, the following can occur:
 changed expectations or fears about the community &
its future;
 increase or fall in property prices depending on the
nature of the proposal;
 real estate speculation, which locks up or freezes land;
 concerns about the environmental, social or health
impacts, which may lead to activism, resulting in
community polarization/division.
• Implementation: – This phase usually has greatest social
impact as it is socially disruptive. It frequently involves
processes that:
Result in traffic congestion, dust, noise & other hazards
typically undermine quality of life of resident population.
Depending on project type and scale, there may be a large
influx of temporary workers, whose demands and
behaviour may be at odds with those of local people.
In small communities, this phase creates a strain on
community infrastructure and may be marked by a boom
and bust cycle. These changes, inter alia, may fuel
resentment, affect community cohesion or undermine
cultural values or traditional institutions.
• Operation and maintenance: – This phase of a project
normally continues over many years. In many cases, it
will be relatively stable period compared to the social
changes that occurred during construction.
For one thing, operation requires fewer workers, &
newcomers often become gradually assimilated into the
community. Longer-term economic opportunities & social
benefits from development will be realized at this stage.
On the other hand, the operation of power, industrial and
waste treatment facilities can bring another set of social
impacts and health hazards from pollution emissions.
However, the community also may be different from that
which existed before the project was constructed, possibly
adjusting to an industrial operation if it is carefully
managed.
• Decommissioning or abandonment: – This phase has
significant social impact, especially where a facility is
the mainstay of the local economic base or only
employer as in a single purpose mining community.
Depending on condition & location, it may be possible
to convert a site to its former or an alternative use, such
as restoring an open pit mine for agriculture or recycling
a port facility to recreational or commercial use.
In other cases, however, industrial lands may be
contaminated and require costly remediation treatment
to rehabilitate or secure them to ensure the health and
safety of nearby residents.
Problems encountered in SIA
• Methodological problems - approach & methods used
• “Asocietal mentality” – social issues are unimportant
• SIA in the Third World – cultural & practical constraints
• Pre-project focus of SIA ignoring the other stages
• Legal constraints –lack of standards compared to EIA
• Poorly trained experts, hence, “Outsiders” doing SIA
• Poorly funded compared to EIA
• Political constraints
• Feasibility –long & costly
• Time given to do SIA

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Myths surrounding SIA
• Social impacts cannot be measured &
therefore should be ignored
• Social impacts are common sense &
everybody knows what they are
• Social impacts seldom occurs & therefore
need not be assessed

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Thank You Very Many

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