Sustainable Development in a Developing World: Integrating Socio-Economic Appraisal and Environmental Assessment

Sustainable Development in a Developing World evaluates the evolution of the three main forms of project appraisal - environmental impact assessment, social impact assessment and economic appraisal - in development policy making over the past 25 years. From this evaluation the authors conclude that there is a need for further integration of socio-economic and environmental assessment in the development planning process.

Whilst the diversity of situations in which integration will be effective means that there is no single integration model which will be universally applicable, the authors provide a variety of policy solutions to remedy the present deficiencies. These include raising awareness of this lack of integration with those involved in decision making and consultation activities; promoting a more interdisciplinary approach to policy making and the provision of guidelines reinforced with training programmes on how to undertake integration sensitive to different contexts; and the expansion and improvement of research on the environment, social and economic factors in development processes and improvement of data for integrating appraisal and decision making.

This book will be of special interest to development policymakers, consultants, international agencies, government advisers, environmental and development economists as well as academics and postgraduates working in the fields of development and environmental studies.