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Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Audit in Large-Scale Public Infrastructure Construction: The Case of the Qinghai–Tibet Railway

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Abstract

Large-scale public infrastructure projects have featured in China’s modernization course since the early 1980s. During the early stages of China’s rapid economic development, public attention focused on the economic and social impact of high-profile construction projects. In recent years, however, we have seen a shift in public concern toward the environmental and ecological effects of such projects, and today governments are required to provide valid environmental impact assessments prior to allowing large-scale construction. The official requirement for the monitoring of environmental conditions has led to an increased number of debates in recent years regarding the effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Governmental Environmental Audits (GEAs) as environmental safeguards in instances of large-scale construction. Although EIA and GEA are conducted by different institutions and have different goals and enforcement potential, these two practices can be closely related in terms of methodology. This article cites the construction of the Qinghai–Tibet Railway as an instance in which EIA and GEA offer complementary approaches to environmental impact management. This study concludes that the GEA approach can serve as an effective follow-up to the EIA and establishes that the EIA lays a base for conducting future GEAs. The relationship that emerges through a study of the Railway’s construction calls for more deliberate institutional arrangements and cooperation if the two practices are to be used in concert to optimal effect.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the National Basic Research Program of China (2007CB407307), the international project between the Netherlands Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 08CDP005), and the Pilot Project of Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-YW-420-5). The contents of this article represent the opinions of the authors, not necessarily those of the National Audit Office of China. The authors thank all interviewers and respondents of this study and the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 18 Shuangqing Road, Beijing, 100085, China

    Guizhen He & Yonglong Lu

  2. Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, 6706, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Lei Zhang

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  1. Guizhen He
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  2. Lei Zhang
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Correspondence to Yonglong Lu.

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He, G., Zhang, L. & Lu, Y. Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Audit in Large-Scale Public Infrastructure Construction: The Case of the Qinghai–Tibet Railway. Environmental Management 44, 579–589 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-009-9341-5

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