Abstract The costs of conducting Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) are well known. Yet the benefits of EIA are much more intangible, leading to a situation where some question its value as the tool of choice for informing decision makers of the sustainability consequences of their actions. Exponents of EIA have thus called for more research on the benefits of EIA in order to provide better evidence on its costs versus benefits, and therefore its value as a decision-making tool. This paper contributes to this evidence by exploring the perceived potential benefits and perceived realised benefits of EIA from a regulators' perspective in the context of sustainable development. Using South Africa as a case study, one third of all the officials responsible for EIA review and decision-making (referred to in this paper as the “regulator”) were surveyed to identify their perceptions of the benefits of EIA, and their ideas on how to bridge the gap between potential benefits and realised benefits. The paper contributes suggestions for the analysis of benefits in a sustainable development context, and identifies some additional benefits currently missing from the literature. In a South African context, the key potential and realised benefits as perceived by regulators are the protection of biodiversity, public participation, access to information, mitigation of environmental impacts, and legal compliance and enforcement.

中文翻译：

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监管机构对可持续发展背景下环境影响评估 (EIA) 收益的看法

摘要 进行环境影响评估 (EIA) 的成本是众所周知的。然而，环境影响评估的好处更加无形，导致一些人质疑其作为向决策者告知其行动的可持续性后果的首选工具的价值。因此，EIA 的支持者呼吁对 EIA 的收益进行更多研究，以便更好地证明其成本与收益之间的关系，从而提供其作为决策工具的价值。本文通过从监管者的角度在可持续发展的背景下探索环境影响评估的感知潜在收益和感知已实现收益，为这一证据做出贡献。以南非为例，对所有负责环评审查和决策的官员（在本文中称为“监管者”）进行了调查，以了解他们对环评好处的看法，以及他们对如何弥合潜在好处之间差距的想法并实现了效益。本文为可持续发展背景下的收益分析提供了建议，并确定了目前文献中缺失的一些额外收益。在南非的背景下，监管机构认为的关键潜在和已实现的好处是保护生物多样性、公众参与、信息获取、减轻环境影响以及法律合规和执法。以及他们关于如何弥合潜在收益和已实现收益之间差距的想法。本文为可持续发展背景下的收益分析提供了建议，并确定了目前文献中缺失的一些额外收益。在南非的背景下，监管机构认为的关键潜在和已实现的好处是保护生物多样性、公众参与、信息获取、减轻环境影响以及法律合规和执法。以及他们关于如何弥合潜在收益和已实现收益之间差距的想法。本文为可持续发展背景下的收益分析提供了建议，并确定了目前文献中缺失的一些额外收益。在南非的背景下，监管机构认为的关键潜在和已实现的好处是保护生物多样性、公众参与、信息获取、减轻环境影响以及法律合规和执法。