Untitled

improving environmental performance as correcting
the negative aspects.
See also: environmental valuation
impact assessment,
environmental
PEIYI DING, AUSTRALIA
Environmental impact assessment �EIA) is defined
as an analytical procedure for predicting and
evaluating the environmental impact of proposed
development programmes and projects, terminating
with a written report �environmental impact
statement) to prescribe safeguards. It is also a
legally defined administrative procedure to involve
major interest groups in the decision-making
process, inform the public and resolve potential
conflicts caused by multiple uses of the community's
resources.
Generally, at the planning stage of a proposed
project, the significant environmental impacts can
be identified and examined, and measures suggested
for their prevention or mitigation. The main
objective of an assessment process is to identify
risks, minimise adverse impacts and determine
environmental acceptability; to achieve environmentally
sound proposals through research, management
and monitoring; and to manage conflict
through the provision of means for effective public
participation.
The evolution of the environmental impact
assessment process reflects growing public concern
over such issues. The process has been improved,
and has become an important means of protecting
and improving environmental quality as more and
more countries have adopted impact assessment by
legislation. EIA is designed to follow a particular
format and is required by the decision-making
authority for its review as part of the project
approval procedure. The EIA procedures are a
very useful technique to ensure that environmental
impact of proposal projects including tourism
projects have been taken into consideration and
preventive actions taken, thus providing the basis
for making any necessary adjustments to the
proposal. However, in its implementation, some
weaknesses can arise. It appears that improved and
effective environmental impact assessment must
extend beyond impact statements to include
continued monitoring and revision of possible
objectives and operational procedures. In addition
to its predictive role, the process must allow for
ongoing impact assessment. This continuing management
role is particularly important in the case
of more complex projects. Under these circumstances,
EIA should be improved to extend to the
entire process from the inception of a proposal to
environmental auditing.
See also: codes of ethics, environmental;
environmental compatibility; environmental
management systems; planning, environmental;
quality, environmental
Further reading
Butler, R. �1993) `Pre- and post-impact assessment
of tourism development', Tourism Research:Critiques
and Challenges, London and New York:
Routledge, 135±55.
Ding, P. and Pigram, J. �1995) `Environmental
audits: an emerging concept in sustainable
tourism development', Journal of Tourism Studies
�6)2: 2±10.
Ecologically Sustainable Development Working
Group �1991) Final Report ± Tourism, Canberra:
Commonwealth of Australia.
Inskeep, E. �1991) Tourism Planning:An Integrated and
Sustainable Development Approach, New York: Van
Nostrand Reinhold.
imperialism
imperialism 299
PEIYI DING, AUSTRALIA
The term `imperialism' has long been employed
�often carelessly) in the social sciences and in the
briefer span of tourism studies. In 1968, Hans
Dalder wrote that imperialism had been widely
used emotively, but rarely theoretically. That
pattern has continued whether the term is
employed more generally to refer to transactions
between societies or nations, or more narrowly to
refer to specific kinds of transactions �such as
economic and cultural). All usages, however, have