Competent authorities are increasingly expected to report publicly on the effectiveness of project-level Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as part of broader accountability obligations. In many jurisdictions, this expectation is reflected in accountability reports that summarise activities, performance information, indicators, and targets. Yet no previous study has systematically examined such reports as a primary object of analysis. In this paper, we examine what indicators compiled from competent authorities' accountability reports across 23 jurisdictions reveal about project-level EIA effectiveness in practice, and distil a practice-based selection of indicators together with broader recommendations for accountability reporting. Drawing on a set of guiding questions across four effectiveness dimensions (procedural, substantive, transactive, and legitimacy), we identify relevant topics already addressed in current reporting, particularly around quality control, compliance and enforcement, public participation opportunities, and access to justice. We also highlight important effectiveness-related topics that remain largely absent from the analysed sample, notably EIA-induced changes to project design and mitigation, the realisation of expected outcomes over time, resource adequacy for delivering proportionate EIA, and stakeholder perceptions of outcomes. Because reported information shapes stakeholders' ability to evaluate EIA, we recommend further research on the measurement and communication of project-level EIA effectiveness as an integral part of accountability. Developing context-sensitive indicators grounded in what each competent authority is realistically mandated and resourced to deliver can provide renewed grounds for the long-running and foundational debate on EIA effectiveness.

The offshore wind energy sector is rapidly expanding globally, with dozens of new projects being proposed. As a consequence, the volume of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) documents prepared and stored in public repositories is increasing. To ensure transparency and support meaningful stakeholder participation, these documents must be available and accessible. This paper analyzes the current state of the availability and accessibility of EIA documents of the offshore wind sector in public repositories in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and Brazil. A review framework was applied, drawing on key references on access to environmental information and the disclosure of EIA documents. Good practices were found across availability and accessibility in the countries analysed, including organization by project stage, search tools, filters, and complete EIA documentation. All four countries provide official online repositories, although their level of open access and user accessibility differs. Public repositories are not merely administrative tools for the disclosure of documents, but also an instrument for operationalizing the right of access to environmental information. The design of public repositories is not only a technical or communication task, but a core responsibility of EIA practice. Future research and policy efforts should establish minimum standards for digital repositories.

Local communities, civil society organizations, and investors have been calling for transparency in the mining sector, but research falls behind real-world development. Here, a systematic literature review was conducted to identify the major areas of research on transparency in the mining industry. A comprehensive search was made in the Web of Science, Scopus, and Science Direct databases, resulting in 15,994 articles. Screening resulted in 945 articles, which were grouped by analyzing their titles, keywords, and abstracts using the lexical software IraMuTeq. This study originally identified six notable topics of transparency in the mining sector on a six-cluster dendrogram, which may assist upcoming research. The largest cluster was “Community participation”, contrasting with the smallest cluster about “Accountability and participation in deep sea mining”, considered an under-researched area with 20 articles. Other understudied areas were revealed, which should be addressed by future research about transparency in mining, expected to grow due to the energy transition.

Field-based monitoring may be insufficient to detect biodiversity trends across scales, especially in projects that have the potential to impact extensive areas. Despite its importance, landscape-scale data collection is rare in impact monitoring practice. In this research, we tested landscape metrics to evaluate their contribution to enhancing forest biodiversity monitoring in the EIA follow-up process, using a case study of a bauxite mine in the Brazilian Amazon. The research combined literature review and a case study to select, apply, and compare landscape metrics with local-scale field-based biodiversity monitoring. Metrics related to the amount and quality of habitats, fragmentation, edge effect extent and connectivity of landscape were selected and evaluated. We found that they can be easily incorporated into EIA follow-up, as they rely on readily available remote sensing time series, enabling the construction of historical baselines even prior to project approval. Also, landscape metrics can complement field-based surveys by detecting spatial patterns and offering opportunities for integrated multi-scale biodiversity assessments. Furthermore, they provide valuable inputs for identifying, planning, and spatially allocating offsets and additional conservation actions, thereby contributing to more effective impact mitigation and supporting stronger biodiversity outcomes.

Offshore wind energy (OWE) has gained international prominence as an alternative for the energy transition. Due to their potentially significant impacts, OWE projects are often subject to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Within the EIA process, follow-up is a crucial step in informing project's management and enabling learning for future EIAs. Given that the regulatory framework is a core dimension of governance and foundational to effective EIA practice, this study provided a critical analysis of the strengths and gaps of EIA follow-up regulatory frameworks for OWE in six countries: China, the Netherlands, England, the United States, Australia, and Brazil. Results showed that EIA follow-up is required for OWE projects in all countries analysed, with similar requirements regarding activities and interested parties' responsibilities, and with some promising practices identified in certain countries. However, most frameworks lack requirements and mechanisms to enable adaptive management, learning for future EIAs, community engagement, and public disclosure. To overcome these gaps, guidance documents may play an important role in complementing legal provisions by providing and regularly updating guidelines in alignment with EIA best practice principles.

Offshore wind energy (OWE) is rapidly emerging and expanding in several countries worldwide. A current challenge is understanding the ecological-causal processes underlying OWE environmental impacts to determine appropriate indicators for baseline assessment and follow-up monitoring. Here, we reviewed the ecological impacts and screened parameters that can serve as process-based indicators of causality for assessing and monitoring changes in benthic environments associated with OWE development. To this end, we first conducted a global literature review (73 articles) to compile evidence on OWE impacts on benthic environments. Next, based on the assessed evidence, we designed conceptual-qualitative ecosystem models to clarify the ecological-causal processes connecting OWE pressures with their potential cascading effects. Lastly, we identified ecological parameters from the reviewed literature that could serve as indicators of the processes described by the models. As key results, we detailed the causal chain of OWE effects on benthic environments and proposed 32 indicators for assessing and monitoring impacts. We highlighted that the causal meaning of the indicators, from a process-based perspective, depends on considering biodiversity categorized by life-history traits, rather than relying on general parameters such as the total abundance of the benthic community. This includes classifying species into ecological functional groups that will signal distinct causal processes, such as noise pollution, organic enrichment, and changes in ecosystem functioning. Such a tool can be further applied in baseline and monitoring studies to guide Environmental Impact Assessment toward a process-based praxis that is more aligned with the principles of Ecosystem-Based Management.

The need to address and reverse global biodiversity decline is imperative across all of society including the practices of mine closure planning. Nature Positive is the latest global biodiversity focused initiative which calls for at least 30% of biodiversity to be enhanced through effective restoration relative to the 2020 baseline. This paper conceptualises and explains what is necessary in mine closure planning and implementation to meaningfully contribute to this and other nature positive goals, with some illustrative examples. Issues considered include application of the mitigation hierarchy, rehabilitation in mining and the time lag challenge for restoring biodiversity before it is too late, biodiversity offsetting, social needs and considerations for nature conservation, consideration of the indirect and induced impacts of mining, managing tradeoffs in decision-making processes and ensuring that nature positive benefits are long-lasting. The implications for mine closure planning are identified for each of these considerations. The paper ends with a conceptual framework that maps the nature positive challenges in relation to mine closure planning undertakings and call for action by practitioners and researchers alike to advance progress and practices.

The multiple uses of marine space and the synergies among their effects require a systematic assessment of cumulative impacts, especially amid the growing blue economy and offshore wind expansion, which interact with existing human activities in an impacted seascape. Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) has become essential for systematically managing complex environmental interactions. Clear legal requirements for CIA are crucial to supporting better-informed decision-making, improving environmental governance, and fostering the implementation of CIA into practices. This study aims to compare the legal requirements related to CIA applied to the early planning and development phases of offshore wind energy (OWE) in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, and Canada, offering guiding elements for designing or restructuring CIA regulations for offshore wind markets. We conducted a comprehensive scholarly and gray literature review to identify the key federal legislation related to CIA applied for OWE, which was then comparatively analysed using a set of core questions. The key findings are (1) Clear legislation is foundation to CIA practice; (2) Definition of cumulative impacts is key to guiding CIA implementation; (3) CIA requirements are crucial at various planning levels, from marine spatial planning to project-level assessments; (4) CIA regulations should consider collaboration, clear roles, and shared accountability among institutions and sectors; and (5) Stakeholder engagement and public consultation should be ensured throughout all the CIA steps. These elements may be used to support countries that have not yet adopted CIA, as well as those seeking to strengthen its implementation in offshore wind development.

Offshore wind energy (OWE) is expected to grow as part of the efforts to transition to a low-carbon economy. Its environmental and social impacts should be comprehensively assessed to identify and mitigate potential adverse effects. For this purpose, developing an appropriate biodiversity baseline that considers the ecological complexity of target areas, a crucial pre-construction phase of environmental impact assessment (EIA), can benefit from Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) principles. Here, we review international guidance documents containing guidelines for performing biodiversity baseline assessments in OWE projects. We synthesize the guidelines and critically discuss their potentialities and limitations under an EBM perspective for the EIA process, proposing a conceptual approach applicable to OWE development. The reviewed documents recommended stakeholders’ involvement in selecting priority biodiversity components and point to the need for assessing cumulative impacts, which agrees with EBM principles. However, we note insufficient guidance to evaluate the synergism between OWE impacts and climate change effects in the baseline phase and scarce recommendations about assessing impacts on ecosystem functions and services. To overcome such limitations, we discuss strategies to perform a retrospective-analytical baseline study prioritizing integrative-paired assessments of ecological processes, rather than species-centered assessments. Designing regional ecosystem models to clarify the causal nexus between OWE projects, biodiversity, and ecosystem-level indicators is also a fundamental need to incorporate EBM principles into baseline studies. Therefore, our contribution can support a holistic baseline assessment for offshore wind projects toward an ecologically responsible energy transition.

Biodiversity's intense decline and the consequences on human wellbeing are of major concern for society. Human activities such as mining, of growing presence in forest areas, threaten biodiversity. Monitoring and reporting for impact assessment follow-up have the purpose to provide and organize information about project impacts, assist decision-making, and improve impact management. However, evidence suggests that biodiversity impacts are not adequately addressed in the impact assessment follow-up process. This paper aims to identify and examine the key elements necessary for securing quality of monitoring and reporting of biodiversity impacts. Based on literature review, key elements of follow-up biodiversity monitoring reports were derived. A longitudinal document analysis was conducted for a bauxite mine operating in a highly biodiverse area, the Amazon, revealing challenges in the application of best practice. Our analysis of the case revealed four emerging issues relevant for improving follow-up practices in the extractive sector: advancing rigor, integration, meaningful stakeholder engagement, and adaptive management. We conclude that improving stakeholder engagement and going beyond compliance requirements, by adopting action plans based on long-term data and a transparent management system, can create a more effective and responsive management of impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Disasters caused by tailings storage facilities (TSFs) have highlighted the complexity of safely managing mine tailings and the extension of consequences over time and throughout the tailings runoff. Investigations commissioned by mining companies following major failures in Mariana and Brumadinho, Brazil, primarily focused on immediate technical causes and hazards. However, for effective disaster risk reduction, the integration of technical, environmental, and social factors is needed to comprehensively address the complexity of risk management. Bow-tie models can be used for TSF's disaster analysis, as they consider causes, consequences, and preventive and mitigation controls. Here, an adapted bow-tie framework for TSF's disaster risk analysis is proposed to systematize the identification of threats and consequences and address the four disaster risk dimensions: hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and capacity. The framework was applied to the Pontal TSF, Brazil, using publicly available information, revealing gaps in the risk management, such as the lack of identification of social vulnerabilities. Our framework highlights the importance of reducing TSF's disaster risks through all dimensions and engaging multiple stakeholders. Although TSF stability control is primordial and irreplaceable, alone it is insufficient for effective disaster risk reduction.

Within the mining sector, the revegetation process is increasingly recognized as a global imperative for the closure of tailings facilities. Nonetheless, revegetation strategies on bauxite tailings pose a substantial challenge due to very low or non-existent organic matter content in the substrate. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of inducing ecological succession on bauxite tailings substrates. For this purpose, field experiments were conducted during twelve months with varying conditions of organic matter supplementation. In the control treatment (T3), only tree seedlings were planted on unamended tailings; the T2 treatment introduced both tree planting and green manure; the T1 treatment combined tree seedlings, green manure, and decaying wood. Dendrometry variables, phenological phases, litter production, mortality rate (Mr), and soil's physicochemical parameters (organic matter, soil bulk density, porosity, stability, and nutrient content) were assessed. The T1 treatment displayed the highest OM content (27.08 g kg(-1)) and CEC values (3.40 cmolc dm(-3)) at 0-5 cm. The highest biomass production by Crotalaria spectabilis Roth was obtained at T1 (7.81 t ha(-1)), however, Canavalia ensiformis (L.) DC. produced similar amounts of biomass at T1 and T2. Among tree species, Hymenaea courbaril L. showed the highest mortality rate (16 %). The best results of natural colonization were observed at T2 (111 %). The induction of ecological succession enhanced chemical attributes in the surface layer and promoted the establishment of tree species during the initial stages of closing bauxite tailings facilities. The T1 treatment exhibited the most significant enhancements in substrate fertility within the 0-5 cm layer, T2 proved to be the most favorable for the spontaneous entry of shrub and tree species, and T3 represented the slowest method to achieve substrate improvements and plant colonization during the initial stages of revegetation.

Major disasters involving tailings storage facilities (TSFs) in Canada (2014) and Brazil (2015 and 2019) shed light on the absence of disclosure of risk information of such structures. Subsequently, the conveners of the Global Tailings Review developed the Global Industry Standard for Tailings Management, that encouraged ample dissemination of information, and launched the first international database of TSFs, the Global Tailings Portal (GTP). To investigate the current state of TSF's public databases, a search was made in 36 mining countries, finding ten open-access inventories. Those databases, the GTP and an inventory cited in the literature were analyzed in terms of 22 categories of information organized in four groups: scope, format, frequency of update, and content. Five databases were launched after the Brumadinho failure, indicating that recent major TSF disasters enhanced the perception of their risks. However, inventories are incomplete, as not all types of facilities and operational status are included. Only four databases inform about hazard-prone areas, although they all disclose information related to TSFs’ stability. The database of the National Mining Agency of Brazil, SIGBM, displays the highest score, featuring 16 categories of information. We highlight the importance of public databases and show that most fall short of comprehensively presenting relevant, accurate, timely, and understandable information for a range of stakeholders. We also call on governments, industry associations, and others to develop and continuously improve the disclosure of TSF risk information.

Abstract Controversies about Environmental Licensing have been featured in the public agenda as the National Congress advances a policy reform being debated since 2004. In the National Council for the Environment, given its legal attributions, the Environmental Licensing rules and possible changes have been discussed since the first meetings. Through the analysis of Council meeting documents, the objective was to highlight such speeches and the players who pronounced them. For this purpose, memoirs and minutes of meetings of instances of the Council in the period 1984-2021 were examined. Essentially, discourses were found about the screening stage and environmental impact studies, with the absence of criticisms and proposals regarding the definition of the scope of the studies and the follow-up stage. There was a prevalence of discourses centered on administrative efficiency, without acknowledging the objectives of this environmental policy instrument, or challenges to increase its effectiveness.

Evaluating the outcomes and tracking the trajectory of biodiversity offsets is essential to demonstrating their effectiveness as a mechanism to conciliate development and conservation. We reviewed the literature to determine the principles that should underpin biodiversity offset planning and the criteria for offset evaluation at the project level. According to the literature, the core principles of equivalence, additionality, and permanence are used as criteria to evaluate conservation outcomes of offsets. We applied the criteria to evaluate offsets of a large iron ore mining project in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. We examined equivalence in terms of the amount of area per biodiversity value affected and fauna and flora similarity, additionality in terms of landscape connectivity, and permanence in terms of guarantees to ensure protection and restoration offsets lasting outcomes. We found an offset ratio (amount of affected area:offset area) of 1:1.8 for forests and 1:2 for grasslands. Ecological equivalence (i.e., similarity between affected and offset areas) was found for forested areas, but not for ferruginous rupestrian grasslands or for fauna. Landscape metrics showed that connectivity improved relative to the preproject situation as a result of locating restoration offsets in the largest and best-connected forest patch. Permanence of offsets was addressed by establishing covenants and management measures, but financial guarantees to cover maintenance costs after mine closure were lacking. Offsets should be equivalent in type and size, provide conservation outcomes that would not be obtained without them (additionality), and be lasting (permanence). To monitor and evaluate offsets, it is necessary to determine how well these 3 principles are applied in the planning, implementation, and maintenance of offsets. Achieving measurable conservation outcomes from offsets is a long-term endeavor that requires sustained management support, and is information intensive. Thus, offsets require ongoing monitoring and evaluation as well as adaptive management.

Habitat loss and fragmentation are ecological impacts of development projects known to have severe effects on mammals' populations. Here, we study the role of connectivity assessment in Environmental Impact Assessment, focusing on its contribution to determining appropriate mitigation, in particular, biodiversity offsetting. For that purpose, we analysed the dispersal of large mammals in a region potentially influenced by a mine located in the Atlantic rainforest in Brazil and anticipate the long-term outcomes of restoration offsets by modelling a 30-year post-offset scenario. Results show that: (i) offsets enhance ecological connectivity and are used as an alternative habitat for the animals dispersed due to habitat loss and fragmentation; (ii) the location of restoration areas should be carefully planned to maximize their contribution to increase ecological connectivity and enhance habitat quality. The reviewed case suggests that best practices to incorporate connectivity analysis in environmental impact assessment include: (i) monitoring biodiversity to quantify losses and gains; (ii) modelling offset areas alternatives for both protection and restoration; and (iii) conducting rigorous analysis of project alternatives, aiming at impact avoidance.

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the efficiency of a wetland that occurs on the premises of a lead industrial plant located in Santo Amaro da Purificação, Bahia, as a measure to control contamination from a slag dam contaminated with heavy metals. Initially, an annual survey was proposed with weekly sampling of rainwater and surface water from the wetland, in order to assess the efficiency of the wetland, by surveying the concentrations of metals from the leaching and/or slag solubilization processes in their entry and exit points from the flooded system and concentrations and potential availability of the metals retained in the sediments of the floodplain. The following parameters were selected: for rainwater, pH and volume; for surface water, the concentrations of the metals Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Aluminum (Al), Manganese (Mn), Iron (Fe), Magnesium (Mg) and Calcium ( Ca) and support parameters pH, Eh, conductivity, Dissolved Oxygen (OD) and temperature. For the soil and sediment of the wetland, the concentrations of metals like Pb, Cd, Zn and Cu e, determination by analyses of the sequential extraction of the total removed by the system in its different phases and the potential availability of heavy metals. However, a modification of the investigation strategy had to be made due to a court decision that determined the covering of the slag and closing of the access to the wetland. The work was then divided into three phases, considering the surveys carried out before, during and after the coating. The data collected in the five months before the coating showed that the metals cadmium, lead, copper and zinc have been retained by the wetland and that this system was 100% efficient for the copper and zinc metals, 82% for the lead and 73 % for cadmium. The support parameters that influence the removal of these metals were the pH, between neutral to alkaline, and Eh, in the surface water oxidation range, besides the high cation exchange capacity of the montmorillonite present in the sediment. As for the potential availability of metals, cadmium, lead and zinc present high values, while copper is preferentially concentrated in the residual phase. The second stage of the survey carried out during the slag coating showed that there was little migration of metals from the wetland area, although the company did not comply with the technical standards for slag coating. In the third stage, a survey was carried out at the exit of the wetland and the drainage near the Subaé River. The analyses showed the great availability of cadmium in the flooded system, a mechanism triggered by the erosion of the contaminated soil disposed on the slag and the great solubility of cadmium. It can thus be concluded that the wetlands are efficient in retaining metals. The reduction of its area is undesirable, as it tends to decrease its efficiency, as a surface water pollution control system. It is recommended to build a new wetland downstream of the existing one.

"“It is the scale of issues that is important”: a review of “Handbook on cumulative impact assessment”." Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp. 1–2

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