Legal empowerment for local resource control

3.3. TOOLS TO MINIMISE AND COMPENSATE
NEGATIVE IMPACTS ON LOCAL RESOURCE RIGHTS
3.3.1. Introduction
Large-scale investment projects may be associated with the taking or
compression of local resource rights, and with environmental pollution
and damage to property (e.g. soil and water pollution). Therefore,
another set of legal tools to secure local resource rights concerns
tightening requirements for minimising, mitigating and compensating
land takings and environmental damage suffered by local resource users.
This includes requiring a social impact assessment before approving the
investment project; tightening rules on compensation for taking of
property; and establishing effective remedies for damage to property
(from injunctions to compensation). In this area, access to courts to
challenge government action or to seek redress for damage suffered is
particularly important – as exemplified by the Botswana case Sesana,
Setlhobogwa and Others v. Attorney General (see below).
3.3.2. Social impact assessment
“Social Impact Assessment” (SIA) aims to assess the likely impacts of a
proposed project on local resource rights before the project is approved, and
to design strategies that can help minimise and/or mitigate these impacts.
SIAs first emerged in the US in the 1970s, and have since been applied to
developing country contexts – particularly as part of the requirements of the
World Bank and of other funding agencies. SIA has developed in association
with, and often within the broader context of Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA; in some cases, assessments of both environmental and
social impacts are termed “Environmental and Social Impact Assessment”).
However, while there has been growing experience with and expertise in EIA,
SIA methodologies remain less established (Barrow, 2000) – although the past
few years have witnessed growing experience with this tool.
SIAs generally involve the identification of the actors potentially affected by
the proposed project; the formulation of alternative project designs; the
determination of their respective potential impacts on the identified actors,
and of the magnitude of such impacts; the analysis of trade-offs; the design
of mitigation measures; monitoring during project implementation; and ex-
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