Public Participation

Public Participation
SIA
Social impact Assessment
Definition
Social impacts can be defined as the
consequences to people of any proposed action
that changes the way they live, work, relate to
one another, organise themselves and function
as individuals and members of society.
For example to people’s values, attitudes and
perceptions of themselves and their community
and environment.
Under EIA mandates, the scope of SIA differs
from country to country, depending on the
institutional arrangements that are in place.
The consideration of social impacts is
triggered by and, in some cases limited to,
environmentally related changes.
These can be particularly important in
developing countries where large numbers of
people are dependent on the resource base
for their subsistence and livelihood.
The key factors studies:
• demographic change, e.g. size and composition of
resident population, influx of temporary work force or
new recreational users.
• economic change, e.g. new patterns of employment/
income, real estate speculation.
• environmental change, e.g. alterations to land use,
natural habitat and hydrological regime.
• institutional change, e.g. in the structure of local
government or traditional leadership, zoning by-laws
or land tenure.
Types of Social Impacts
• lifestyle impacts – on the way people behave and relate to family,
friends and cohorts on a day-to-day basis;
• cultural impacts – on shared customs, obligations, values,
language, religious belief and other elements which make a social
or ethnic group distinct;
• community impacts – on infrastructure, services, voluntary
organisations, activity networks and cohesion;
• amenity/quality of life impacts – on sense of place, aesthetics and
heritage, perception of belonging, security and liveability, and
aspirations for the future; and
• health impacts – on mental, physical and social well being,
although these aspects are also the subject of health impact
assessment.
• Social impacts can be a significant aspect of
many types of projects, not only proposals for
large scale development, such as a dam or
highway, but also in the closing down of
existing facilities, such as a military base or
government facility.
Examples of projects with important and ‘everyday’ social impacts include:
• landfill and hazardous waste disposal sites

(perceived health risks, loss of amenity);
• power and industrial plants (community stress from
influx of work force, pressure on infrastructure);
• dams and reservoirs (lifestyle disruption resulting
from relocation, land use alteration or long lead
time to full impoundment); and
• roads and linear developments (dislocation of
activity networks and relationships).
Social Impacts at different stages of Project
Cycle
Planning or policy development – This phase, beginning with project
notification (or rumour).
Impacts can be:
– changed expectations or fears about the community and its future;
– increase or fall in property prices depending on the nature of the
proposal;
– real estate speculation, which locks up or freezes land; and
– concerns about the environmental, social or health impacts, which
may lead to activism, resulting in community polarisation
Construction/implementation
• Construction work is socially disruptive. It frequently involves
clearing land, building physical plant and putting in access roads
and utilities.
• The resulting traffic congestion, dust, noise and other hazards
typically undermine the quality of life of the 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.
• These changes, may fuel resentment, affect community
cohesion or undermine cultural values or traditional institutions
Operation and maintenance
• Continues over many years (stable period)
• Longer-term economic opportunities and
social benefits from the development will be
realized during this stage.
• The operation of power, industrial and waste
treatment facilities can bring another set of
social impacts and health hazards from
pollution emissions.
Decommissioning or abandonment
• This phase can have a significant social impact,
especially where a facility is the mainstay of
the local economic base or the only employer
as in a single purpose mining community.
• Cases of converting a site to alternative use
like recreational, or open pit.
Benefits of SIA
• Reduced impact on communities or individuals – identification of mitigation

measures is an integral element of SIA;
• Enhanced benefits to those affected – SIA preparation also helps identify
measures such as job training packages;
• Avoiding delays and obstruction – a well prepared SIA demonstrates that social
impacts are taken seriously and helps to gain development approval;
• Lowered costs – addressing social impacts and mitigation measures at an early
stage helps to avoid costly errors and remedial actions imposed at a later stage by
regulatory agencies;
• Better community and stakeholder relationships – experience has shown that SIA
can help to allay fear and concern and build a basis of trust and cooperation
necessary for the proponent to successfully introduce and operate the project;
• Improved proposals – an SIA provides information that adds value to existing
projects and helps to design future ones.
Similarities and dissimilarities in EIA and SIA
• As in EIA, SIA practitioners place considerable

importance on mitigation, monitoring and impact
management.
• Post-project analysis is recognised as critical to gaining
a better understanding of social impacts and how to
manage them. However, in practice, implementation
and follow up are not always undertaken
systematically, and, often, SIA continues to be a one off
exercise that cannot be grounded in the context of
comparable projects.
• This process constrains SIA practice,
undermines its potential contribution to
decision-making and inhibits its acceptance by
others.
• When an SIA is conducted as a separate study
or is a major component in its own right, it
should be conducted with reference to the EIA
process (and vice-versa) and key findings
should be cross referenced.
Steps in the SIA process
• Public involvement – develop and implement an effective
public involvement plan to involve all interested and affected
stakeholders
• Identification of alternatives – describe the proposed action
and reasonable alternatives to it,
• Profile of baseline condition – document the relevant human
environment/area of influence of the proposal and the
existing social conditions and trends
• Scoping – identify and prioritise the range of likely social
impacts through a variety of means, including discussion or
interviews with numbers of all potentially affected
• Projection of estimated effects – analyse and predict the
probable impacts of the proposal and the alternatives against
baseline conditions (with versus without the action)
• Prediction and evaluation of responses to impacts – determine
the significance of the identified social impacts to those who will
be affected
• Estimate indirect and cumulative impacts – identify the
subsequent, flow-on effects of the proposal, including the
second/third order impacts and their incremental impacts when
added to other past, present and foreseeable current activities
• Changes to alternatives – recommend new or changed
alternatives and estimate or project their consequences for
affected and interested stakeholders
• Mitigation – develop and implement a
mitigation plan, in order of preference to
firstly avoid, secondly minimise and thirdly
compensate for adverse impacts
• Monitoring – develop and implement a
monitoring programme to identify deviations
from the proposed action and any important
unanticipated impacts
Principles of SIA good practice
• Involve the diverse public – identify and involve all potentially
affected groups and individuals
• Analyse impact equity – identify who will win and who will lose,
and emphasise vulnerability of under -represented groups
• Focus the assessment – deal with the issues and public concerns
that really count not those that are just 'easy to count'
• Identify methods and assumptions and define significance –
describe how the SIA is conducted, what assumptions are used
and how significance is determined
• Provide feedback on social impacts to project planners – identify
problems that could be solved with changes to the proposed
action or alternatives
• Use SIA practitioners – trained social scientists
employing social science methods will provide the best
results
• Establish monitoring and mitigation programmes –
manage uncertainty by monitoring and mitigating
adverse impacts
• Identify data sources – use published social scientific
literature, secondary data and primary data from the
affected area
• Plan for gaps in data – make clear any incomplete or
unavailable information and the reasons why this could
not be obtained
Prediction of social impacts
• Understanding of the affected population – how

are people likely to respond to and be affected by
a given proposal?
• Comparison with similar cases – what is the
experience with the effects of proposed actions
on similar communities elsewhere?
• Appropriate expertise and knowledge base – has
the analysis been undertaken by an experienced
SIA practitioner using suitable methods and tools?
SIA practitioners guard against:
• Spatial bias – information gathering focuses on accessible
locations and overlooks remote or nomadic tribes;
• Seasonal bias – an SIA may be carried out at a time when it is
difficult to gain a representative information on an affected
community, for example during harvest time or hunting season;
• Personal bias – consultation and interviews may be dictated by
cultural traditions or power structures, for example limited to
political leaders, elders or men; and
• Professional bias – lack of interaction between disciplinary
specialists may result in important links between the
environment and society being omitted.

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• landfill and hazardous waste disposal sites

• Reduced impact on communities or individuals – identification of mitigation

• As in EIA, SIA practitioners place considerable

• Understanding of the affected population – how

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