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This book shows how social impact assessment (SIA), which emerged barely five decades ago, as a way to anticipate and manage potentially negative social impacts of building dams, power stations, urban infrastructure, highways, industries, mining and other development projects, is now widely in use as a planning tool, especially in developed countries. Although SIA has still not gained much acceptance among development planners in Asia, the situation is gradually changing. In India, SIA initially mandated as a policy guideline in 2007 is now a legal requirement. SIA in China has also recently become obligatory for certain types of development projects. Bangladesh, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are other Asian countries that provide examples from a variety of externally funded projects illustrating the use of social impact analysis in project planning to improve development outcomes. With contributions from an array of leading experts, this book is a valuable resource on SIA, indispensable for policymakers, planners, and practitioners in government, international development agencies, private-sector industry, private banks, consultants, teachers, researchers and students of social sciences and development studies, also NGOs everywhere, not in Asia alone.

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The Framework.- Social Impact Assessment for Projects that Involve Displacement and Resettlement.- Social Impacts and Impoverishment Risks in Development Projects: Pre-emptive Planning and Counter-Risk Measures.- Integrating SIA into Resettlement Planning: An Example from Mineral Mining Projects.- Policy and Practice of SIA in India.- SIA Policy and Legal Framework in India.- Building Dams, Ignoring People: The Lower Suktel Irrigation Dam Project.- The Consequences of Inadequate Assessments: Issues in Re-housing People Displaced by the Mumbai Urban Transport Project.- SIA: Bringing in the Gender Perspective.- Assessing the Social Impact of Development Projects on Tribal Communities.- SIA Experience in Neighboring Countries.- Social Impact Assessment in China and Beyond.- Integrating Social Impact Dimensions in Project Planning.- Examples from Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.- Rebuilding Livelihoods: The Income Restoration Strategy for the People Displaced by a Transport Project in Sri Lanka.- Mitigating Adverse Social Impacts.- Resettlement Planning: Managing the Displacement Effects of Development Projects.

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"The aims of this book include discussing the complex relationships among physical landscapes, natural resources, and their modification by human land use in various Asian environments. ... This publication is a useful resource for governments, multilateral development agencies, policymakers, development planners, practitioners, researchers, trainers, environmentalists, social scientists, consultants, academic activists and others who are increasingly beginning to see SIA as a tool for planning better development." (Lina María Rosales, E&U Environment & Urbanization, environmentandurbanization.org, January, 2016)

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