Social impact assessment is a methodology to review the social effects of infrastructure projects and other development interventions. Although SIA is usually applied to planned interventions, the same techniques can be used to evaluate the social impact of unplanned events, for example disasters, demographic change and epidemics.
Definition
The origins of SIA largely derive from the environmental impact assessment model, which first emerged in the 1970s in the U.S, as a way to assess the impacts on society of certain development schemes and projects before they go ahead - for example, new roads, industrial facilities, mines, dams, ports, airports, and other infrastructure projects. In the United States under the National Environmental Policy Act, social impact assessments are federally mandated and performed in conjunction with environmental impact assessments. SIA has been incorporated into the formal planning and approval processes in several countries, in order to categorize and assess how major developments may affect populations, groups, and settlements. Though the social impact assessment has long been considered subordinate to the environmental impact assessment, new models, such as the Environmental Social Impact Assessment, take a more integrated approach where equal weight is given to both the social and environmental impact assessments.
Contents
Definitions for "social impact assessment" vary by different sectors and applications. According to the International Association for Impact Assessment, "Social impact assessment includes the processes of analyzing, monitoring and managing the intended and unintended social consequences, both positive and negative, of planned interventions and any social change processes invoked by those interventions. Its primary purpose is to bring about a more sustainable and equitable biophysical and human environment." SIAs originate from the 1970s and were originally used in Anglo-Saxon environments with indigenous peoples, like the United States, Canada and Australia. Use of SIA's, in general in combination with Environmental Impact Assessments has since then developed, and are legally required in many other countries, ranging from development countries like Sierra Leone and Chad, emerging markets like Chile and Philippines but also other OECD countries like Greenland and South Africa. Increased pressure on available land and increasingly educated and competent local communities can lead to high costs for public acceptance of complex projects with adverse risks and effects. SIAs are increasingly seen as an effective instrument to bring these costs down by determining views of affected communities on risks, effects and mitigation measures based on a sound socio-economic baseline study. The IFC Performance Standards are generally seen as the benchmark for ESIAs and insert this in an overarching Environmental and Social Risk Management System, which is based on proven risk management techniques. The IFC Performance Standard is used by multinational companies and commercial investors. Commercial banks have united themselves under the Equator Principles with over 90 members in 37 countries. SIA overlaps with monitoring and evaluation. Evaluation is particularly important in the areas of:
international development projects more generally, whether conducted by governments, international donors, or NGOs.
In all these sectors, there is a case for conducting SIA and evaluations at different stages. The Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol is a sector specific method for checking the quality of environmental and social assessments and management plans. Non-experts and local people should participate in the design and implementation of proposed developments or programmes. For example, in the field of research projects, it can be identified what people using social media platforms say and share about the social impact of science. This can be achieved in the process of doing an SIA, through adopting a participatory and democratic research process. Some SIAs go further than this, to adopt an advocacy role. For example, several SIAs carried out in Queensland, Australia, have been conducted by consultants working for local Aboriginal communities who oppose new mining projects on ancestral land. A rigorous SIA report, showing real consequences of the projects and suggesting ways to mitigate these impacts, gives credibility and provides evidence to take these campaigns to the planning officers or to the courts.
