Human Health
Human Health in
the EIA Convention and SEA Protocol
This page
discusses the effects on human health of proposed
projects, plans, programmes, policies and legislation.
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
(see below). The Protocol
on Strategic Environmental Assessment (the
SEA Protocol 
) 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 (London
Declaration on Action in Partnership ), 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.
Technical
Discussion
Human health has often been taken
into account in EIAs and SEAs. However, “even when
health aspects are addressed, assessments tend to
estimate only the negative effects resulting from
expected changes in [physical] environmental media,
neglecting the effects of modifications on other
health determinants, such as socio-economic ones,
and the possibility of promoting health benefits”.[1]
Health is dependent on both environmental and socio-economic
determinants. [2]
Further, the human health component of an EIA or
SEA is not generally undertaken by a health professional,
but rather by an environmental or social scientist,
further diminishing the consideration of health.
The consensus of an International
Workshop on Public Participation and Health Aspects
in Strategic Environmental Assessment [3]
was that health should be more broadly addressed
in SEAs than at present. As a minimum, ‘exposure’
(i.e. health effects arising from pollutants, etc)
should be included. Other issues that might be addressed
include:
-
Health
determinants and effects (with a need to specify
which determinants and priority risk factors
are to be addressed);
-
Positive
and negative health effects (using appropriate
indicators); and
-
Effects
on particularly vulnerable groups.
In the draft guidance on implementation
in the United Kingdom of the
EC SEA Directive (2001/42/EC) , a distinction
is made between population and human health on the
one hand, and social inclusiveness and economic
development on the other;[4]
the former is part of SEA, whereas the latter is
only part of the broader Sustainability Appraisal.[5]
Such a distinction is consistent with the Protocol's
inclusion of health effects and exclusion of socio-economic
effects.
Health Impact Assessment (HIA)
methodologies have been developed in a number of
countries, notably Canada, the Netherlands and the
United Kingdom. However, HIA and SEA have evolved
separately and there are differences in methodology
and terminology. In addition, health (not just environmental
health) and environment are generally the responsibilities
of different government ministries and authorities.
It is not clear exactly how HIA should be integrated
within SEA. However, it is clear that there are
opportunities for integration and efficiency gains,
for example in public participation.[6]
The draft United Kingdom guidance
for the implementation of EC SEA Directive illustrates
how health may be fully integrated into SEA, providing
examples of SEA objectives and indicators for human
health.[7]
Similarly, there are examples of HIAs that have
been undertaken that illustrate health and planning
authorities working together, and that would also
fit straightforwardly into an SEA methodology.[8]
[1] Dora & Racioppi (2002)
— see note [2].
[2] The importance of socio-economic
determinants of health is noted by, for example,
Dora, C., & Racioppi, F. 2002. Health
Impact Assessment as part of Strategic Environmental
Assessment: moving the European policy framework
towards a greater integration of health consideration
in the development of policies, plans and
programs, in Proceedings
of Symposium at ISEE-ISEA Conference 2002
on Health Impact Assessment (HIA) - a maturing
tool for decision-making , Vancouver,
Canada, 14 August 2002.
[3] Dusik, J. 2001. Introduction,
in Proceedings
of International Workshop on Public Participation
and Health Aspects in Strategic Environmental
Assessment , November 23-24, 2000, Szentendre,
Hungary. Regional Environmental Centre for
Central and Eastern Europe, November 2001.
[4] Levett-Therivel (2002).
Draft
guidance on the Strategic Environmental Assessment
Directive.
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, UK. October
2002. (Later issued as Strategic
Environmental Assessment Directive: Guidance
for Planning Authorities , Office of
the Deputy Prime Minister, UK. October 2003.)
[5] Sustainability Appraisal
is a form of socio-economic, environmental and
natural resource assessment, primarily of development
plans, employed in the United Kingdom since
the late 1990s.
[6] See, for example, Dusik
(2001) — see note [3] .
[7] Levett-Therivel (2002) —
see note [4].
[8] For example, Cambridgeshire
Health Authority. 2002. Cambridgeshire
& Peterborough Structure Plan Review: Health
Impact Review . Prepared by Land Use
Consultants in association with Anne Gordon
Associates. March 2002.