Criterios generales para mejorar la calidad de los estudios de impacto ambiental

Abstract

The environmental impact study (EIS) is a document that is realized to assess the environmental impacts of a project, work or activity (PWA) about the environment, it plays a fundamental function in the decision making, ensuring a responsible management of the natural resources and the reduction of the negative impacts on the environment. Nevertheless, the lack of a systematic compendium of instruments, documents, features and tools around criteria for quality assurance of the EIS, constitutes a problem in this field. However, in the literature checked, it is observed that these elements appear in an isolated way, which makes their integration into methodological processes difficult. In contrast to countries to with greater training in environmental consulting, the quality of the EIS is linked to comprehensive training of the professional of the environmental impact assessment (EIA), this training is complementary with the availability of accurate and detailed environmental information, supported by suitable budgets that allow to obtain baselines and strong data about socio-environmental realities. In the national context, the lack of a structured base to guarantee the quality of studies; not only limits the effectiveness of the analysis, but also highlights a training and methodological breach that requires attention. In this sense, this research tackles the quality of EIS, considering regulations, backgrounds, and areas for improvement; its purpose is to develop general criteria to improve the quality of these studies. For this, a qualitative exploratory methodology is adopted, which allows to identify and analyze in a systematic way the criteria that can contribute to the EIS improvement. It is developed in three phases, which allow to determine elements that influence in the quality of the studies, to compare experience of international good practices in relation to EIS and to propose criteria to improve the quality of environmental impact studies. As a result, different general criteria are proposed, from the assurance and quality control, that allow a better decision making in the project management. Finally, it is emphasized the need to improve the quality of environmental impact studies and to strengthen the community participation in the assessment process. Moreover, the EIS play a vital role in environmental management, but face significant challenges; so, to improve the process, it is proposed measures as the standardization of the studies, the effective implementation of regulations, and the public participation promotion.