Living up to the Spirit of MegaEvents: An integrated methodology

1
Living up to the Spirit of Mega-Events An
integrated methodology

• Tamara Steger, Ph.D.
• Central European University
• Center for Environmental Policy and Law

2
Integrated Methodology Figuring out who wins and
who loses what, how and why

• Social impact assessment
• Qualitative research
• Environmental justice

3
Social Impact Assessment (SIA)

• What is it?
• Social Impact Assessment is analysing,
  monitoring, and managing the social
  consequences or impacts of development or
  change.
• It may consider what can be done to eliminate or
  minimize losses and maximize benefits (esp. in
  form of alternatives).

4
SIA can map direct and indirect changes in the
following

• Peoples way of life
• Culture
• Political systems esp. extent of public
  participation
• Environment
• Health and well-being
• Personal and property rights
• Fears and aspirations
• (International Principles for Social Impact
  Assessments www.iaia.org)

5
Principles for Social Impact Assessment

• Achieve extensive understanding of local and
  regional settings to be affected
• identify interested and affected parties
• develop community profile baseline.
• Focus on key elements of human environment
• identify relevant issues and develop variables
  that measure and explain them.
• Research methods
• holistic, cumulative, transparent assumptions,
• appropriate forms and levels of data collection
  analysis

6
Principles for Social Impact Assessment
(continued)

• Provide quality information for use in
  decision-making
• sound, reliable qualitative and quantitative data
  on social, cultural, and economic factors
• Ensure environmental justice
• consider underrepresented or vulnerable groups,
  esp. in distribution of impacts
• Evaluate, monitor, and mitigate(Source Impact
  Assessment and Project Appraisal, September
  2003).
• Strengthen legitimacy of SIA
• Consider transparency, and independent evaluation
  of SIA, monitoring, and follow-up.
• Consideration of SAI action using participatory,
  locally responsive, self-determination approach.

7
Special considerations in SIA

• Need for social theory in SIA (assumptions,
  purpose, goal-ie consensus, identify interests,
  sustainable development, etc.)
• Action vs. research orientation or phases of SIA
  from research to action
• Who conducts or should conduct the SIA? degree
  of independence, orientation and experience
  participation facilitators, social scientists,
  environmental consultant, interested parties, etc.

8
Special considerations in SIA (continued)

• Assessment techniques rapid rural appraisal,
  local and traditional knowledge input, gender
  analysis, environmental justice, relocation
  analysis.
• Consideration for areas social history and
  global trends.
• Emphasis Economic? Social? Environmental?
  Balanced? Deliberately Weighted?
• Proactive, reflexive, and adaptive process
  requiring
• analysis of potential change, as well as how to
  minimize and mitigate impacts, and
• use of continued monitoring.
• minimize or eliminate negative effects and ALSO
  enhance project benefits

9
Qualitative Research

• What is it?
• Qualitative research is the inductive (and
  deductive) approach to gain in-depth detailed
  insight into the what, how and why of a
  particular phenomenon and its context using
  mainly in-depth interviewing, focus groups
  participant observation, and archival research.
• Symbolic Interactionism Emphasizes the meanings
  that people have for things which determines how
  they act towards those things.
• Ethnomethodology Assumes we each have our own
  way of knowing. This approach seeks to
  understand different ways of knowing. How do
  people explain and justify what they know?

10
Qualitative Methodology

• Longitudinal favorable in the case of generating
  knowledge on mega-events
• In-depth, open ended interviewing of both
  mainstream and invisible stakeholders.
• Focus groups to identify, using social learning
• the issues
• proposed solutions, and
• mitigation measures.

11
Environmental Justice (EJ)

• What is it?
• A condition of environmental justice exists when
  environmental risks, hazards, investments and
  benefits are equally distributed without direct
  or indirect discrimination at all jurisdictional
  levels and when access to environmental
  investments, benefits, and natural resources are
  equally distributed and when access to
  information, participation in decision-making,
  and access to justice in environment-related
  matters are enjoyed by all. Coalition for
  Environmental Justice

12
Environmental Justice (continued)

• Environmental justice assures that environmental
  harms and benefits are equally distributed.
• Procedural, distributional, and
  inter-generational equity.

13
Critical Considerations in EJ

• Exposure to environmental hazards
• Flood risk
• Denied Benefits Access to Water, Waste
  Management and Sewerage

14
Environmental Justice Framework and Audit
15
Contact Information

• Tamara Steger, Ph.D.
• Central European University
• Center for Environmental Policy and Law
• Nador ut 9
• 1051 Budapest, Hungary
• cepl_at_ceu.hu stegert_at_ceu.hu
• www.cepl.ceu.hu