Impact assessment in the European Commission in relation to multifunctional land use

Abstract

This chapter reviews the potential application of Impact Assessment (IA) in the European Commission in relation to issues of land use. Drawing on qualitative research conducted with EC policy-makers, conclusions are drawn concerning the probable role and application of SENSOR's Sustainability Impact Assessment Tool (SIAT) in the course of the EC Impact Assessment procedure. A participatory approach is integral to the IA process, with national level stakeholders consulted throughout at EC level. In the current procedures, opportunities for consultation within the short time span of an IA tend only to reach lobby groups and activists, and citizens who are affected by the policy are unlikely to contribute directly as individuals to the debate. There are opportunities to engage local stakeholders as part of the operation of the tools themselves, but this is likely to be restricted to medium-term strategic development of the tools, as the time required may be outside the timescale normal for operational IA. Although some IAs have been carried out to a short timescale and have consequently been brief and descriptive, there is evidence of an increasing importance being given to IAs during the policy-making process, and it is concluded that flexible tools are needed that can exist in different forms: 1. a superficial level which doesn't require reprogramming and works for a wide range of policies and could be used immediately by trained desk officers. 2. an intermediate level which requires several weeks' work to programme and run the tool for a particular policy area 3. a strategic level where the tool is being developed and programmed for one or more policy areas and used over successive years to contribute at particular points in the development of specific policies. This third level of complexity to include updating and reprogramming the source models might be necessary to deal with a completely new policy area, or one that has not yet been modelled adequately, and this would require a longer term expert study. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2008.