Content
The module addresses various impact assessment and mitigation instruments, including the German Impact Mitigation Regulation, EU regulations such as Habitat Regulations Assessment and Protected Species Assessment, mitigation under the U.S. Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act, as well as European and U.S.-American Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of projects, plans, policies and programs (EU Directives, NEPA). In general, students are supplied with research materials to compare these instruments in different contexts and regions.
Part 1 ‘Regulations and Documents in Impact Assessment and Mitigation’ covers the statutory basis of these instruments with a comparative approach, and takes a closer look at the assessment documents. Impact assessment tools on the project and plan/program levels (EIA, SEA) are compared in terms of their basics steps (e.g. screening and scoping) and in terms of contents required in the reports (e.g. assessment of alternatives, cumulative effects, monitoring, etc.). The requirements for various impact mitigation tools are compared in terms of what triggers their application, the covered environmental resources (e.g. species, biodiversity, wetlands), and the application of the mitigation sequence (avoid, minimize, compensate).
Part 2 ‘Advanced Topics and Current Discussions in Impact Assessment and Mitigation’ goes into more detail on the basics covered in Part 1 and aims to discuss new approaches and current discourses in the field. To deepen the understanding of various impact assessment and mitigation instrument, we take a closer look at topics such as requirements for and implementation of public participation processes, the effectiveness of instruments, balancing methods, and innovative approaches (e.g. third party compensation mechanisms, landscape-scale mitigation).
