Deciding over nature: Corruption and environmental impact assessments

Abstract

Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) are a core aspect of environmental decision-making in most countries. Despite massive potential for public harms resulting from corrupt decision-making linked to EIAs, research on this topic is still very limited. We consider the main generic corruption risks in carrying out EIAs and provide suggestions for what public agencies, including development aid donors, might do to mitigate them. Our analysis provides a systematic literature review of the topic, supplemented by fieldwork-based case analysis of the EIA process in Albania. We find that a range of poor practice currently afflicts Albania's EIA system and that the present accountability and monitoring framework for EIAs does little to mitigate various corruption risks.