A qualitative content analysis of environmental impact assessment in Indonesia: a case study of nickel smelter processing.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in Indonesia has been established for over 36 years. During this time, the EIA system has evolved to reflect both political and bureaucracy changes. However, the current implementation and effectiveness of the EIA process have not yet to be fully understood. This study aims to review the current implementation of EIA, to assess the effectiveness of EIA process procedurally, and to provide recommendations. In order to examine the effectiveness of EIA, we evaluate and compare the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) of nickel smelters against criteria. The results indicate that the screening and scoping process encountered problems in terms of scientific database availability, cost, and time of the study. Public participation was not effective due to the constraints of information channeling and weaknesses of the discussion process. We found insufficient synchronization between the evaluation and monitoring processes. EIA reporting indicated redundancy, inconsistency, and ambiguity. We recommend the political reinforcement of the will of the government to establish sustainable policy in terms of budgeting, human resources, and procedure of decision-making process in EIA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]