Abstract Land take is emerging as a global environmental concern, and is particularly critical in intensively developed and land-scarce regions. This paper seeks to understand the effectiveness of the screening stage of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in addressing land take. Screening is the stage where a decision is made as to whether an EIA is required for a project. In many jurisdictions, screening results in three pathways: full EIA directly, preliminary EIA only, or preliminary EIA followed by full EIA. We compared the land take of 217 projects triggering the different pathways in a study region in Italy over a 15-year time interval. Land take was quantified by overlaying the footprint of the projects with a land cover map. The results show that while more attention was given to projects with larger land take impacts overall, the cumulative land take from smaller projects not triggering full EIA was considerable (40% of overall land take). The case-by-case examination conducted through the preliminary EIA was found to work better for some project types (ski areas and small urban development), than for others (quarries). Our findings lead us to advocate improvements in current screening procedures to ensure that the land take impacts are quantified and made explicit in preliminary EIA reports. Our evidence-based approach to determining land take in EIA provides a compelling basis for understanding ways to improve EIA policies, guidance and practice.

中文翻译：

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土地占用和环境影响评估中项目筛选的有效性：实证研究的结果

摘要 土地占用正在成为一个全球性的环境问题，在密集开发和土地稀缺的地区尤为重要。本文旨在了解环境影响评估 (EIA) 筛选阶段在解决征地问题方面的有效性。筛选是决定项目是否需要环境影响评估的阶段。在许多司法管辖区，筛选会产生三种途径：直接进行全面环境影响评估、仅初步环境影响评估或初步环境影响评估后进行全面环境影响评估。我们比较了 15 年时间间隔内在意大利研究区域触发不同途径的 217 个项目的土地占用情况。通过用土地覆盖图覆盖项目的足迹来量化土地占用。结果表明，虽然对土地较大的项目给予了更多的关注，但总体上会产生影响，未触发全面环评的小型项目的累计土地占用量相当可观（占总土地占用量的 40%）。通过初步环境影响评估进行的逐案检查被发现对于某些项目类型（滑雪区和小型城市开发）比其他项目（采石场）更有效。我们的研究结果促使我们提倡改进当前的筛选程序，以确保土地的影响被量化并在初步环评报告中明确。我们在 EIA 中确定土地占用的循证方法为理解改进 EIA 政策、指导和实践的方法提供了令人信服的基础。通过初步环境影响评估进行的逐案检查被发现对于某些项目类型（滑雪区和小型城市开发）比其他项目（采石场）更有效。我们的研究结果促使我们提倡改进当前的筛选程序，以确保土地的影响被量化并在初步环评报告中明确。我们在 EIA 中确定土地占用的循证方法为理解改进 EIA 政策、指导和实践的方法提供了令人信服的基础。通过初步环境影响评估进行的逐案检查被发现对于某些项目类型（滑雪区和小型城市开发）比其他项目（采石场）更有效。我们的研究结果促使我们提倡改进当前的筛选程序，以确保土地的影响被量化并在初步环评报告中明确。我们在 EIA 中确定土地占用的循证方法为理解改进 EIA 政策、指导和实践的方法提供了令人信服的基础。