Assessment of Health Impacts on Local Communities is Fundamental forSustainability

摘要

Past planning for extractive projects has emphasized economic benefits but overlooked human health andwellbeing.The Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)however recognise health as a pillar of sustainabledevelopment,with SDG 3 health focused and other SDGs as determinants of health.Recent decisions innational and regional Courts,appealing to climate change and social impacts,are challenging companiesand governments to see human health and wellbeing as central to planning decisions and sustainable energystrategy.Health Impact Assessment(HIA)has consistently been the worst health leading performance indicatorof the oil sector.The latest HIA guidance for extractive industries promotes an integrated approach,andnational governments often have exclusively Environmental and Social Impact Assessment requirements.However research into whether health issues are adequately being considered in EIA is very limited.Weinvestigated'How and to what extent are health,well-being and equity issues considered in EnvironmentalImpact Assessments(EIAs)of major coal mining projects in New South Wales,Australia'by using acomprehensive coding framework designed to interrogate the publicly available environmental impactstatements; we then interviewed varied stakeholders in the same region; and we triangulated the abovefindings with our experience in impact assessment of oil and gas as well as mining project,and wedemonstrated that EIAs fail to consider health and equity comprehensively.Recent decisions in the courts concerning coal mining projects(the last stop in the system for challengesor appeals)have provided legal articulation for how decision-makers should take into consideration aproject's impact on human health both through climate change and social impacts as entry points.Unlessthese issues are addressed up front in planning,designing and assessing,oil and gas projects could notbe considered sustainable,and the present paper provides a series of recommendations to address theselimitations.