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Dams and Development E-Paper Contents

p. -1 of 74 BACK | NEXT Home Page of Dams and Development Foreword I. Why an e-paper on dams and development? II. Assessing options III. Participatory processes IV. Social impacts V. Environmental impacts VI. Benefit distribution VII. Dam safety and sustainability VIII. Existing projects IX. Improving governance X. What other organizations say XI. ADB, Dams, and Development XII. References Contact Us

UN Economic Council for Europe and health impact assessment

The UNECE has incorporated health impact assessment in its Transboundary EIA Convention and Strategic Environmental Protocol.

'Project EIAs have rarely provided sufficient emphasis on such impacts, despite the fundamental importance of human health, focusing instead on the physical and biological environment. The Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment attempts to redress this imbalance by placing a special emphasis on human health, reflecting the Declaration of the Third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, London, 16-18 June 1999 , which included:

Cross-cutting action: (7). We will carry out environmental impact assessments fully covering impacts on human health and safety. We invite countries to introduce and/or carry out strategic assessments of the environment and health impacts of proposed policies, plans, programmes and general rules. We invite international financial institutions also to apply these procedures. There will be appropriate participation of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and members of the public in the procedures set out in this paragraph.

Economic perspectives on environment and health: (45). We will develop, so far as is needed, our capacities to carry out economic analysis, in order to place this tool at the service of efforts to meet our commitments, and in particular to strengthen our national systems of strategic environmental impact assessment so as to include health concerns, and to ensure the integration of environment and health considerations into policies (paragraph 21(a)). We will promote the full internalization of environment and health costs, and the preparation of strategies for achieving this.

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