Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Abbreviations
- List of Checklists
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Maps
- Preface
- Chapter 1 EIA approaches
- Chapter 2 EIA procedures
- Chapter 3 EIA methodologies
- Chapter 4 Public participation, inquiries, and mediation
- Chapter 5 International organisations
- Chapter 6 Europe
- Chapter 7 The Nordic countries
- Chapter 8 North America
- Chapter 9 Asia and the Pacific
- Chapter 10 Towards the twenty-first century
- References
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Abbreviations
- List of Checklists
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Maps
- Preface
- Chapter 1 EIA approaches
- Chapter 2 EIA procedures
- Chapter 3 EIA methodologies
- Chapter 4 Public participation, inquiries, and mediation
- Chapter 5 International organisations
- Chapter 6 Europe
- Chapter 7 The Nordic countries
- Chapter 8 North America
- Chapter 9 Asia and the Pacific
- Chapter 10 Towards the twenty-first century
- References
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The 4 most populated countries in the European Community (EC) are treated first in this chapter. I then deal specifically with a number of other European countries.
Britain
Britain, an island nation, has a population of 57.6 million, 236 people per square kilometre; 91.5 per cent urban, and 8.5 per cent rural.
As the first of the industrialised nations, Britain has a long history of pollution and its control, and the resolution of environmental conflicts. Some of that history is recorded in checklist 6.1.
John Evelyn (1620–1706) was an eminent diarist and author of 30 books. He held senior positions under King Charles II and was life-time friend of Samuel Pepys. Evelyn's diary was published in 1818.
In 1661, Evelyn said of pollution in the city of London:
…her Inhabitants breathe nothing but an impure and thick Mist, accompanied with a fuliginous and filthy vapour, which renders them obnoxious to a thousand inconveniences, corrupting the Lungs, and disordering the entire habit of their Bodies; so that Catharrs, Phthisicks, Coughs and Consumptions, rage more in this one City, than in the whole Earth besides.
(Evelyn, 1661)However, apart from setting up an alkali inspectorate and giving local authorities a limited capacity to act against nuisances (see glossary) there was no clear objective until the passing of the Clean Air Act in 1956, following the London smog disaster of 4 years earlier. Measures to reduce water pollution and noise, and a general strengthening of the Town and Country Planning Acts, resulted.
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- Environmental Impact AssessmentCutting Edge for the 21st Century, pp. 91 - 103Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994