Environmental Impact Assessment Review最新文献

{"title":"Integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services in land use change assessment through sustainability indicator","authors":"Phub Dem ,&nbsp;Kiichiro Hayashi ,&nbsp;Minoru Fujii ,&nbsp;Ebaa Emadeldeen Elsmmani Mohmmed","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107971","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107971","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While agricultural and urban expansion continue to drive land use change (LUC), their long-term impacts on ecological integrity and human well-being remain inadequately addressed due to the lack of robust intergenerational sustainability frameworks. This study introduces a novel indicator-based approach to bridge this gap. It begins with a comprehensive review of biodiversity - ecosystem service (BD-ES) relationships to construct two composite indicators (CIs); <em>CI Loss,</em> which quantifies collective BD-ES losses resulting from the conversion of natural forest to agricultural and urban areas under three management intensities (minimum, limited and intense), and <em>CI Capacity,</em> which measures the existing LU capacity to support and supply BD-ES. These CIs can be incorporated into broader indicator-based environment system analyses. To evaluate intergenerational LUC sustainability across temporal and spatial scales, the CIs are integrated into the land aspect of Resources Time Footprint (RTF) indicator. RTF evaluates resource occupancy rates relative to human lifespan thresholds across multiple sustainability dimensions, including material scarcity, human intervention intensity, social and ecological carrying capacities, and intergenerational fairness. The efficacy of this approach is assessed through two case studies: (1) LU transitions from natural forests to agricultural and urban areas, and (2) a hypothetical sugarcane-bagasse-based electricity generation scenario in Bhutan. The multidimensional linkages between BD and ES reveal that no single BD metric serves as an adequate surrogate for ESs. <em>CI Loss</em> values vary both within and between LU types, with agricultural LUC showing increasing impact across intensities (0.15–0.53), and urban LUC consistently exhibiting higher losses (0.39–1.00). <em>CI Capacity is highest in</em> mixed forests (1.00) and lowest in burnt areas (0.01). The first case reveals spatial variations in RTF (1–8 years/capita) driven by social and ecological factors, while the second highlights a relatively sustainable process (3.75 years) with notable trade-offs across aspects and districts. By addressing ecological integrity and long-term human well-being, this research supports more informed and sustainable LU planning and management<strong>.</strong></div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 107971"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143923323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The role of new agricultural business entities in guiding smallholder farmers' green production: Evidence from chemical fertilizer reduction in China","authors":"Yufeng Lu ,&nbsp;Qiange Liu ,&nbsp;Hui Mao ,&nbsp;Congyi Dai","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107963","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107963","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article examines how new agricultural business entities affect smallholder farmers' green production practices and its mechanisms using a Difference-in-Differences (DiD) approach based on micro-survey data in China. The findings indicate that, overall, these new entities do not have a significant effect on smallholder farmers' reduction of chemical fertilizer usage. However, the impact varies by the type of entity. Agricultural enterprises play a significant role in promoting smallholder farmers to reduce the cost and quantity of chemical fertilizer used and to improve their utilization efficiency by significantly increasing smallholder farmers' probability of obtaining scientific fertilization technology services. In contrast, other new agricultural business entities such as agricultural professional operators, family farms and agricultural cooperatives do not show a significant effect. This article contributes to the existing literature by providing valuable insights for both China and other developing countries in refining policy design to promote green production among smallholder farmers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 107963"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143912770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multi-Hazard exposure of global nuclear power plants and socioeconomic changes in surrounding regions","authors":"Zhan'ao Zhao ,&nbsp;Kai Liu ,&nbsp;Ming Wang ,&nbsp;Xiaoyi Miao ,&nbsp;Jiawang Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107964","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107964","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the growing global demand for nuclear energy, nuclear safety has garnered increasing attention. However, the exposure of nuclear power plants (NPPs) to multiple hazards has not been systematically compared and assessed on a global scale. This study evaluates the combined impact of natural and human-made threats on NPPs, quantifies external hazards, and examines the surrounding socioeconomic conditions across various spatiotemporal scales to assess potential accident risks. Our results indicate that approximately 45 % of global NPPs are exposed to three or more types of hazards, with floods and tropical cyclones being the most common natural threats. Additionally, 19 % of NPPs are threatened by violent conflicts. Under the combined external hazard conditions, approximately 14 % of NPPs are exposed to high or very high hazard levels. Between 2000 and 2020, over 63 % of NPPs experienced population growth in their surrounding areas, while more than 94 % saw an increase in regional gross domestic product (GDP). Middle-income countries demonstrate significantly higher growth rates compared to high-income nations, with median population growth rates ranging from 1.77 to 6.17 times higher and median GDP growth rates between 1.42 and 2.07 times greater across different years. As of 2020, approximately 1 % of the global population and 3 % of global GDP are located around NPPs, with 0.3 % of the population and 0.5 % of GDP exposed to high or very high hazard level NPPs. The findings provide scientific evidence and decision-making support optimizing for global nuclear safety strategies and the sustainable energy development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 107964"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143907040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact assessment of reactive carbon tariff and proactive carbon tax on China's energy and power industries","authors":"Xiaofeng Xu ,&nbsp;Yijing Wang ,&nbsp;Lean Yu ,&nbsp;Guowei Gao ,&nbsp;Xiangyu Liu ,&nbsp;Mingyue Jiang ,&nbsp;Li Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107965","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107965","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The global climate issue has driven carbon reduction actions, but the unequal emission reduction policies have led to competitiveness loss and carbon leakage. Carbon tariffs are regarded as one of the solutions despite the controversies. Given developed countries' economic status and their determination to levy carbon tariffs, as well as the crucial role China's energy and power industries play in energy supply, the effects of carbon tariffs on these industries necessitate further investigation. This paper proposed a theoretical analysis mechanism to illustrate how the economy, trade, industrial price, industrial output, and industrial emissions are affected by carbon tariffs and utilized the Energy-Environmental Version of the Global Trade Analysis Project model (GTAP-E) to simulate seven scenarios, providing quantitative support for the theoretical analysis. The findings show that: (1) Carbon tariff policy is ineffective in ensuring domestic product competitiveness and mitigating the carbon leakage problem. It fails to significantly improve the economy of the levying countries. Moreover, it has a negligible effect on emissions reduction in the affected countries and will affect their economy and exports. (2) The proactive carbon tax in China will neither damage the emission reduction achievements of the EU, US and Japan nor cause a growth in global emissions. As an effective response, it can fundamentally change the energy use and production mode, achieve a good emission reduction effect, and mitigate the adverse impact from carbon tariffs. (3) The differentiated carbon taxes, which comprehensively account for the cost fairness among countries, contribute more effectively to alleviating the transformation pressure on China's energy and power industries. The paper assesses how reactive carbon tariffs and proactive carbon taxes affect China's energy and power industries, which differentiates from previous studies and can provide a completely new analytical perspective for evaluating the effect of carbon tariffs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 107965"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143903623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessment of snow cover dynamics and the effects of environmental drivers in High Mountain ecosystems","authors":"Ehsan Moradi ,&nbsp;Zlatica Muchová ,&nbsp;Hamid Darabi ,&nbsp;Seyedeh Masoumeh Hafezi ,&nbsp;Zahra Karimidastenaei ,&nbsp;Jana Moravcová ,&nbsp;Ali Torabi Haghighi","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107969","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107969","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Remote sensing is crucial for monitoring decadal-scale snow cover dynamics in response to climate change across mountainous ecosystems. This study analyzes spatiotemporal snow cover trends and their driving factors using satellite observations, topographic data, and climate variables. MODIS snow product (MOD10A1) data from 2000 to 2022 were used to assess snow cover changes across 69 High Mountain Ecosystems (HME) in the Middle East. We analyzed data from January to April and October to December to capture seasonal snow cover dynamics. A linear regression method detected significant trends in the Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI), while a pixel-based Random Forest (RF) regression model assessed environmental drivers influencing NDSI variability. Results show that northern and northwestern humid regions generally experienced increasing NDSI, whereas central and southern arid regions exhibited a decline, highlighting spatial and temporal heterogeneity in snow cover trends. Temperature and precipitation change significantly influenced NDSI patterns, suggesting climate variability plays a critical role in snow cover disturbances. RF analysis identified mean annual temperature, precipitation changes, and mean annual precipitation as the top three drivers of NDSI variability. Future research should focus on the impact of extreme weather events on snow cover. Additionally, refining the methodology with higher-resolution data across diverse climate zones could enhance predictive accuracy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 107969"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143907039","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Analysis of sustainability assessments to understand modeling trends and habits in the Agri-food industry: A Canadian case study","authors":"Joël Mongeon,&nbsp;Ebenezer M. Kwofie,&nbsp;Raphael Aidoo","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107959","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107959","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the agri-food Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) to develop actions geared towards improving the consistency across different regions. A case study was conducted in the Canadian agri-food industry, addressing inconsistencies in adopting LCA tools, methodologies, and impact categories across academic, industrial, and governmental stakeholders. The study identifies trends, gaps, and opportunities in the field, which involves understanding the status and trends of LCA construction and modeling in the industry, identifying the regions and institutions engaged in LCA development, and papering on the tools and methods used by practitioners. Significant findings include regional and institutional deviations in selecting LCA impact methods and categories, limiting the scalability and comparability of results and hindering the integration of LCA outcomes into national and regional sustainability strategies.</div><div>The deviations in LCA practices across regions, years, and institutions highlight the need for regionalized LCA impact assessment methods. Regional distributions indicate that provinces with high agricultural GDP, such as Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta, are well-represented; however, Saskatchewan has less prominent LCA activity, which is a concerning gap. This study proposes the use of region-specific LCA impact assessment method tailored to diverse agricultural and environmental contexts. Stakeholder-specific strategies to address these gaps, promoting actionable collaboration for more consistent and scalable LCA practices applicable to other sectors, are shared. A Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threats (SWOT) framework is developed to target optimal approaches for stakeholder-specific actions to foster efficient and harmonized LCA collaboration. This paper presents the value of cooperation between all stakeholders to enhance the consistency and applicability of LCA results. To facilitate this, it proposes actionable strategies such as creating centralized knowledge-sharing platforms, inter-institutional partnerships, and standardized data collection and papering protocols.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 107959"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143902133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Urban-rural disparities and future trends in dietary water footprint across African nations","authors":"Lianglin Zhang ,&nbsp;Wanyi Zhu ,&nbsp;Daliang Jiang ,&nbsp;Xinya Guo ,&nbsp;Zhenke Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107967","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107967","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates disparities in dietary water footprints (DWF) across Africa from a consumption-based perspective, focusing on urban-rural, inter-country, and food category dimensions. Using DWF data from 2010 to 2022 for urban and rural populations across 48 African countries and applying integrated assessment models, we analyze dietary consumption and DWF across 11 food types. The findings reveal significant structural differences in consumption patterns between urban and rural populations, across countries, and among dietary categories, as well as the current status and projected trends of DWF. Between 2010 and 2022, food consumption among urban residents in Africa increased by 10.3 %, while rural residents saw a decline of 5.4 %. Compared to urban residents, rural populations had higher grain intake but lower consumption of meat, fruits, and vegetables. The DWF for animal-based foods was notably higher than for plant-based foods, with beef showing the highest DWF at approximately 109.86 m³ in 2022, compared to fruits at 4.82 m³. Additionally, the analysis indicates notable inequalities in DWF among African countries, with widening disparities between the highest and lowest DWF-consuming countries, driven mainly by differences in poultry, beef, and grain consumption. Economic development also plays a key role, with higher-income countries experiencing greater increases in per capita DWF due to dietary shifts toward more water-intensive animal-based foods. The differences in DWF between urban and rural residents, as well as among countries, are projected to continue expanding. By 2030 and 2050, Africa's average DWF of African residents is expected to rise by 75.96 % and 534.51 %, respectively, relative to 2022. The DWF gap between the top and bottom five countries, recorded at 5026.13 m³ in 2022, is anticipated to increase to 7027.19 m³ by 2030 and 29,097.42 m³ by 2050. Scenario analysis shows that SSP3-RCP2.6, characterized by rapid population growth and resource-intensive diets, leads to the highest increase in DWF, while SSP1-RCP2.6, which assumes sustainable development and dietary shifts, results in the slowest growth. These findings support the potential for improving dietary structures in underserved areas by increasing access to nutrient-rich, plant-based foods, which may alleviate future water resource pressures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 107967"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143902132","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Carbon footprint and climate mitigation potential of bamboo products in China","authors":"Meng Zhang,&nbsp;Guomo Zhou,&nbsp;Lei Gu","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107958","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107958","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Evaluating the climate mitigation capacity of bamboo products is critical for sustainable material transitions. This study assesses the carbon footprint and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation potential of bamboo products in China, examining their role as substitutes for carbon-intensive materials. Through an integrated life cycle assessment (LCA) and scenario analysis, we present the first comprehensive evaluation of bamboo products' national carbon footprint and their emission reduction through bamboo as a substitute (ERBS). Results show that 60 bamboo products analyzed from cradle to grave (excluding the use phase) exhibit carbon footprints ranging from −0.55 to 4.02 kg CO₂e/kg, with processing and substances input during bamboo product production identified as emission hotspots. Between 2007 and 2022, bamboo products' national carbon storage offset 10.16 % of their lifecycle emissions, resulting in net emissions of 73.71 Mt. CO₂e. As a sustainable substitute to conventional materials like plastic, concrete, and steel, bamboo products mitigated 280 Mt. CO₂e emissions, achieving climate benefits nearly 3.9 times greater than their operational emissions. In a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, ERBS is projected to reach 1.38–2.29 Gt CO₂e between 2023 and 2050. However, implementing energy system decarbonization with efficiency improvements will reduce ERBS by 18–45 %. This carbon footprint dataset and ERBS framework provide empirical support for bamboo as a viable alternative to carbon-intensive materials, informing policy development to enhance climate mitigation strategies and foster sustainable economic development in bamboo value chains.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 107958"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143895532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Social-ecological impacts on forest conservation and restoration in Pan-tropical Asia Karst","authors":"Tao Hu ,&nbsp;Pei Xia ,&nbsp;Jianquan Dong ,&nbsp;Zhiwei Yang ,&nbsp;Jiayao Shu ,&nbsp;Xiaoyu Yu ,&nbsp;Jian Peng","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107962","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107962","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Forest conservation (FC) and forest restoration (FR) are beneficial for alleviating land degradation and increasing ecosystem services, especially in ecologically fragile karst areas. Currently, there was a lack of research exploring the driving mechanisms of FC and FR from a social-ecological perspective, and a comparative study between karst areas (KA) and non-karst areas (NKA) is in great need. Based on the structural equation model, this study explored the characteristics of FC, FR, and regional greening in the Pan-tropical Asia Karst with a special focus on their social-ecological driving mechanism. The results indicated that the proportion of regional greening in KA was 43.65 %, higher than that in NKA (36.23 %). The area of regional greening promoted by FC was 164,557 and 351,688 km² in KA and NKA, while the area promoted by FR was 26,023 and 51,698 km², respectively. Regional greening was mainly driven by forest land in KA, whereas in NKA, greening resulted from both forest land and cropland. Additionally, it was found that in NKA, a negative correlation between rural population change and FC as well as FR, while urbanization showed a positive correlation with FR. 47.40 % of the area achieved simultaneous development of economic growth and regional greening in developing karst areas, while 1.86 % of the area showed the phenomenon of vegetation degradation and economic decrease. Our findings highlighted the social-ecological impacts on FC and FR in Pan-tropical Asia Karst and identified the driving factors that could be targeted for sustainable forest management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 107962"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143899209","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Beyond compliance: Enhancing biodiversity through transformative mitigation strategies in spatial planning related SEAs and EIAs","authors":"Lone Kørnøv ,&nbsp;Emilia Ravn Boess ,&nbsp;Søren Qvist Eliasen ,&nbsp;Sanne Vammen Larsen ,&nbsp;Karla E. Locher-Krause ,&nbsp;Yuanzao Zhu ,&nbsp;Heidi Wittmer ,&nbsp;Lia Borges Laporta ,&nbsp;Davide Geneletti ,&nbsp;Margarida Barata Monteiro ,&nbsp;Maria Rosario Partidario","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107960","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107960","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The global biodiversity crisis underscores the need for transformative change in how development impacts are managed, and biodiversity is preserved. This study explores the integration of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) within spatial planning and infrastructure projects, emphasizing their evolving role in promoting both mitigation and enhancement of impacts. Traditionally, SEAs and EIAs have focused on minimizing negative impacts through the mitigation hierarchy; however, this research advocates for a broader, proactive application that includes enhancement measures to achieve net-positive biodiversity impacts. Using a collection of 200 SEA and EIA reports from Denmark, Spain, Portugal, and Germany, analyzed within the BioValue research project, this study examines how these assessments apply the mitigation and enhancement hierarchy to promote positive outcomes. The findings reveal significant variability in the practical application of SEAs and EIAs, highlighting both strengths and gaps in integrating enhancement measures. By focusing on enhancement as a formal requirement and strengthening the ‘avoidance’ step in the mitigation hierarchy, this paper argues that SEA and EIA can transition from reactive assessments to proactive instruments in environmental governance and add value to spatial planning developments. The study concludes with recommendations for embedding enhancement into regulatory frameworks, encouraging a shift towards transformative environmental assessment practice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 107960"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143892217","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}