Quality Assurance in the Review Process of the Swedish EIA System ; Kvalitetssäkring av granskningsprocessen i det svenska MKB-systemet

By 2050, the world population is projected to exceed nine billion and sustainable development measures are therefore critical. There has been a clear consensus internationally regarding the importance of assessing projects’ environmental impacts as a mean to promote sustainable development. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) system has a fundamental role of being a tool for reaching sustainable development. Therefore, continuously enhancing its quality by evaluating the system is important. This study focused on the quality of the review process in the Swedish EIA system, as it is the l... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Mällberg, Camilla
Dokumenttyp: Student thesis
Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
Verlag/Hrsg.: Stockholms universitet
Institutionen för naturgeografi
Schlagwörter: quality assurance / EIA / CEAA / NCEA / commission / environmental impact assessment / burden of proof / EIS / transparency / independence / environmental impact statement / sustainable development / Sweden / Netherlands / environment / sustainability / review / impartiality / precautionary principle / environmental policy / environmental law / EU / Kvalitetssäkring / MKB / granskningsprocess / Sverige / Nederländerna / miljökonsekvensbeskrivning / hållbar utveckling / hållbarhet / miljö / miljölagstiftning / miljöbalken
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27204858
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-118505

By 2050, the world population is projected to exceed nine billion and sustainable development measures are therefore critical. There has been a clear consensus internationally regarding the importance of assessing projects’ environmental impacts as a mean to promote sustainable development. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) system has a fundamental role of being a tool for reaching sustainable development. Therefore, continuously enhancing its quality by evaluating the system is important. This study focused on the quality of the review process in the Swedish EIA system, as it is the last step of quality assurance before the final decision-making. Currently, various authorities are responsible for assessing the quality of the environmental impact statement (EIS), something that can naturally lead to varied review qualities. The purpose of this Master Thesis was to question the quality of the current review process in Sweden’s EIA system and raise awareness as to how it possibly can be improved. An approach to promote consistency in the review process exists in the Dutch EIA system, where a national independent authority built up of experts is set to critically review EISs of complex proposed projects. Objectives of this study were to contribute with research on whether or not Sweden should implement an independent national commission to review the quality of EISs, to identify participants’ views and attitudes regarding the subject and to analyze whether or not it is favorable and possible to change the current system. A comparison with the Dutch review process along with eight semi-structured interviews were completed, and results showed that it is likely that the Swedish review process can improve by implementing a national independent review authority and thus increase the current quality and uniformity. The study also found that it would not lead to any major losses to the current system. By using a national authority, standardized working procedures can be developed and independence can be reached ...