The practice of social impact assessment in a developing country: the case of environmental and social impact assessment of Khulna―Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project in Bangladesh

摘要

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a relatively new phenomenon in Bangladesh resource management. EIA received its legislative mandate in the passage of Environmental Conservation Act, 1995 (ECA '95). While investigation into socio-economic aspects of development has been a part of EIA since its inception, social impact assessment (SIA) never had any recognizable status in development planning. This paper examines a SIA conducted as a part of an EIA. It reveals that despite SIA's global status as a 'poor cousin' of EIA, it has been effectively incorporated into EIA. Community opinions and values collected through social assessment significantly influenced the final outcome of the process.