1.4.2. Environmental assessmentsIn Russia, no significant progress in the procedure of environmental assessments has been reported inrecent years. The State Environmental Review (SER) continues to hold a central position in this process andaims at verifying the project compliance with environmental laws and regulations. It results in a formaldecision by competent authorities stating whether the activity may start. Besides reviews performed bycompetent authorities, independent environmental reviews can be carried out by non-governmental actorsat their expense. In some cases, environmental impact assessment (EIA) precedes the SER. The list offacilities subject to mandatory EIA includes all large-scale energy, industry, and agricultural facilities.Within the framework of EIA, potential negative impacts and concerns of the general public are studiedand measures to prevent and reduce adverse project impacts are developed. Although the need for adifferentiated approach is recognized, there are no screening criteria for the sites subject to environmentalassessment. Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) remains largely outside the scope of currentprocedures.The EIA/SER system is quite technocratic and implies little public involvement. Incentives to carryout environmental assessments at the early stages of project preparation (see Box 2) hardly exist due to poordevelopment of procedures and oversight mechanisms, In addition, the public does not get any information
đang được dịch, vui lòng đợi..
