Assessing Women’s Engagement in Environmental Impact Assessments on Infrastructure Projects in Vietnam: Recommendations for Policy and Public Participation in EIA

In the Mekong region, investment projects are mushrooming and causing adverse environmental and social impacts such as increased pollution, loss of natural resources and livelihoods, and forced resettlement of project-affected people. Yet many of these adverse impacts may have been avoided if the needs and knowledge of all project-affected groups, especially ethnic minorities and women, had been reflected in the project design. Indeed, Governments in the Mekong region and development finance institutions recognize the importance of enabling all project-affected groups to participate in project decision-making. In Viet Nam, national legislations on environmental protection and the social safeguard policies of donors use the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as a mechanism to ensure project affected groups are consulted and investment decisions are influenced by their views.