Arctic EIA – Environmental Impact Assessment

The aim of the Arctic EIA project was to improve the application of environmental impact assessments (EIA) in the Arctic region. The project gathered examples of existing good practices across the Arctic, identified areas where improvements are needed and formulated associated recommendations. The recommendations and good practice examples are shared in the final report. The project worked under the auspices of the Arctic Council and its Sustainable Development Working Group during the Finnish Chairmanship of the Council in 2017–2019.

Questionnaire and workshops – background material and networking:

With its partners, the project organized three workshops and had an online questionnaire to identify key themes and collect good practice examples. The Editorial Group used the information from the questionnaire and workshops as a base for co-creating good practice recommendations. Appendix IV of the final report explains in more detail the approach and the procedure of the project.

• Alaskan Workshop Summary; Alaskan Workshop Report: Meaningful Engagement of Indigenous Peoples within the Environmental Impact Assessment, Utqiaġvik/Barrow, Alaska, 27–29 November 2017.
• Nordic Workshop Summary: Tomorrow’s Arctic EIA – Nordic Possibilities and Perspectives to Environmental Impact Assessments in the Arctic, Rovaniemi, Finland 11–12 December 2017.
• Yellowknife Workshop Report: Arctic Environmental Impact Assessment Workshop, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada 24-26 April 2018.

• Questionnaire Summary
• Questionnaire Analysis
• Questionnaire Analysis Russian cases in English and Russian

Other background material:

There was an earlier Arctic-wide effort in the field of EIA. The Guidelines for Environmental Impact Assessment in the Arctic were approved in 1997 by the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy, the predecessor of the Arctic Council. The work of International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) is worth noting as background material, for example in the form of Principles of Environmental Impact Assessment Best Practices.