Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is currently a mandatory legal procedure in all EU countries, applied to a wide range of public and private projects prior their implementation. Directive 2014/52 /EU amended the EIA Directive (Directive 2011/92 /EU), replacing under the scope of covered environmental factors (Article 3), “human being” by “population and human health”. From a public health perspective, this change brings hope for a better evaluation of health issues within the EIA procedure. However, the amended Directive does not provide a definition for population and human health nor an indication of methods for assessing the potential significant health impacts.
European Public Health Association (EUPHA) together with the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) has prepared a reference document on ways in which human health can be addressed within the EIA process as set out by the amended EIA Directive. The aim is to establish basic definitions and common principles, to set out ways in which the health sector can contribute to this regulatory requirement and to provide a document that complements existing national and regional guidance on health in EIA.
The complete document is available here and the summary is available here.
