EIA as the Start of a Social Bargaining Process: The Malampaya Deepwater Gas-to-Power Project

摘要

The Malampaya Deepwater Gas-to-Power Project won a UN Environmental Programme/International Chamber of Commerce World Summit Business Award for Sustainable Development Partnerships in 2002. The project pioneered the 'social acceptability' criteria under the Philippine environmental impact statement system in 1996, and serves as an important example of the challenges of environmental governance within a complex social environment. It also shows that an environmental impact assessment (EIA) process that involves extensive public participation may be seen as a form of social bargaining that can contribute to governance long after the regulatory approvals have been secured. Unlike traditional public participation, a social bargaining process places certain demands and creates expectations on the part of the participants, especially community stakeholders, and continues beyond the initial decisions to foster environmental management. Viewing the EIA as such a process enables an analysis that addresses issues such as consent ex post facto and the importance of 'social sustainability' in the concept of governance for sustainability.