Evaluation of the Extent, Methods and Levels of Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment Reports

Public participation is recognized as one of the fundamental principles of environmental impact assessment (EIA) and as an integral part of EIA reports without which such reports lose further consideration merit. The aim of the present study was to investigate the methods and levels of public participation in EIA reports in Iran and to compare it with a sample from four countries including South Africa and Pakistan (developing countries), and Australia and the United States (developed countries), five reports from each country. For this purpose, from 130 environmental impact assessment reports in Department of Environment of Tehran Province, 98 reports were randomly selected using Cochran's formula and analyzed through checklists.Findings show that lack of attention to the public participation in EIA procedure in Iran has led to a significant weakness in the quantity, methods and levels of public participation in EIA reports. In this respect only 7.1 percent of the reports in Iran showed limited public participation, while in the four other countries, sufficient attention to the importance of public participation were detected leading to public participation in 95% of the reports. One of the most commonly used methods of attracting public participation in these reports has been holding of public meetings that can, in addition to disseminating information and receiving feedback, raise levels of public participation and empower the participators.