PhD thesis on ESIA in developing countries

20 December 2016

On December 14, Arend Kolhoff (NCEA) defended his PhD thesis on the performance of ESIA in developing countries. His research revealed that the extent to which ESIA contributes to environmental protection is largely explained by motivation of the project proponent – and to a lesser extent of the governmental actors involved. Other actors, such as donors, can influence this motivation by making their funding conditional on the proponent’s compliance with environmental conditions. At the same time, governmental agencies that issue project permits based on ESIAs should be selective and focus their capacity on projects with the largest potential to contribute to environmental protection.

Click here to find a summary of the conclusions and recommendations.