Urmila Jha‐Thakur
Biographic Data
| ID | 6674739 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Urmila Jha‐Thakur |
| GIVEN NAMES | Urmila |
| FAMILY NAME | Jha‐Thakur |
| SIGNATURE | THAKUR U J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Liverpool |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6767-1210 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 33 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 25 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Impact assessment in times of war, conflict and disaster
Dear Readers,I hope the title of this editorial does not evoke an undue sense of gloom to your minds. As I sat reflecting on topical themes against which I wanted to reflect on impact assessment (I
Silent Spring to Woeful Winter
Dear Readers,In 1962 Rachel Carson’s landmark book ‘Silent Spring’ is said to have been influential in paving the way for the modern environmental movement. The US Environmental Protection Agency (
Moving on since Iaia 2025
Dear Readers,The International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA) 2025 Conference in Bologna is just over, and I am sure those who attended this event are teeming with ideas! 1043 delegates fr
Putting the best foot forward in 2025
Reflecting on Iapa 2025
Dear Readers,I am delighted to present to you the final issue of this year. We started the year by growing our editorial team. This year, the journal has published a total of 46 items, out of which
Retrospective reflection
Impact assessment for just transformation
Dear readers,As I write this editorial, International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA) annual conference is around the corner which is to be held in Dublin this year. Hence, I wanted to take
Developing international guidance to make impact assessment follow-up happen – reflections on an interactive design process
To advance impact assessment (IA) practice worldwide the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) has long promoted and published a series of international best practice principles, including the recently revised best practice principles for IA follow-up. IA follow-up refers to any kind of undertaking that seeks to ‘understand the outcomes of projects or plans’ that have been subject to IA. To support the implementation of these pri…
Rising mercury levels
Dear Readers,I am pleased to present issue 42(4) for you. As I was working with this issue many of our authors and reviewers were away in their summer breaks and yet they connected and contributed
Reflections on Iaia 2024 annual conference
This year was my first IAIA Conference as an editor of IAPA and with 1,109 attendees from 85 countries, 130 sessions, 488 presentations/speakers and 26 posters, the conference was also one of the b
Your leadership in impact assessment
Dear Readers,Two significant recent political events have led to a lot of anticipation and discussion in relation to their implication on our fight to combat climate change: the US elections and th
Three decades of EIA reforms in India
This letter provides an overview of the EIA system in India for the last three decades. The strengths and weaknesses of the system are summarised here based on the key reviews, which have been undertaken during this time. The main purpose of this contribution is however to reflect on the recent attempts to introduce changes within the EIA system in India via the Draft EIA Notification of 2020 and the subsequent regulatory instruments. The propose…
Simplification of environmental and other impact assessments – results from an international online survey
Results from an international online survey on simplification efforts in environmental assessment (EA) and other types of impact assessments (IAs) are presented. The survey, which was conducted between July and October 2022, captured responses from 45 participants who reported on developments in a total of 26 EA/IA systems. Whilst in about three quarters of these systems simplification efforts are either currently underway or planned, in particul…
Exploring the role of strategic environmental assessment in cultural heritage tourism planning
Sustainability is critical to the delivery of cultural heritage tourism (CHT) since its foundation to attract tourist relies on the preservation of the historic and cultural offerings of the host community. CHT destinations within urban and semi-urban heritage sites in emerging economies find this particularly challenging. To explore this issue and its associated challenges, this paper brings together an interdisciplinary team representing discip…
Beyond 25 years of EIA in India
The role of environmental assessment (EA) in Iranian water management
In this paper, we reflect on the effectiveness of environmental assessment (EA for e.g. projects, policies, plans and programmes) in Iranian water management. Urmia Lake Basin (ULB) is used as a case study area and the extent to which EA appears to be delivering environmental protection objectives is established. Data were collected using document analyses, semi-structured interviews with local experts and site visits. It is established that acti…
Evaluation of the environmental impact assessment system in Iran
Implications of Brexit for environmental assessment in the United Kingdom – results from a 1-day workshop at the University of Liverpool
There is currently a lack of clarity for what the anticipated British Exit from the European Union will mean for environmental assessment (EA) in the United Kingdom (UK) in the medium to long term. It is within this context that a workshop was organised by the Environmental Assessment and Management Centre (University of Liverpool) and held in Liverpool on 14 June 2017, with the involvement of the Ireland-UK branch of the International Associatio…
Consideration of urban green space in impact assessments for health
This paper explores how health aspects connected with the planning of urban green space are currently supported through two types of impact assessments: health impact assessment (HIA) and environmental assessment, including strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of policies, plans and programmes and environmental impact assessment (EIA) of projects. Seven HIAs and five EIAs/SEAs from the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Austria and Germany are revi…
Years of the UK EIA System
The Effectiveness of Eia as an Instrument for Environmental Governance
The European Union (EU) Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive which was introduced some 25 years ago has had a major impact on decision-making practices in EU member states. In the professional literature, this impact has mostly been discussed under the heading of "effectiveness", with an emphasis being given in particular to procedural elements. The extent to which EIA has contributed to objectives, such as raising environmental awaren…
Effectiveness of strategic environmental assessment - the significance of learning
Learning, particularly transformative learning, is an established feature of environmental planning, management and assessment. Nevertheless, very often it loses its prominence both as a process and as a goal. This paper explores the extent to which strategic environmental assessment (SEA) can facilitate learning at an organisational and individual level, and ultimately, achieve effectiveness. It is based on the assumption that SEA effectiveness …
Internationalisation and standardisation of European Environmental Assessment. Relevance to India
This paper discusses the rationale underlying ‘PENTA’, an EU funded Erasmus Mundus project. In doing so, it explores the challenges of internationalising and standardising European environmental assessment (EA) practice and education to a third country audience, looking at India as a case study. It is argued that the EU EA Directives are influencing the development of EA systems internationally, leading to a standardisation of the way in which EA…
Learning through EC directive based SEA in spatial planning? Evidence from the Brunswick Region in Germany
Are open-cast coal mines casting a shadow on the Indian environment
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) follow-up in India is essentially regulator-driven. This articleexplores the role of the regulating agencies within the coal mining sector in India to determine the extentto which the agencies have been successful in ensuring environmental protection through EIA follow-up.In doing so, the work adopts a qualitative approach. Three case studies in three different states in Indiaare examined. These reveal the we…
Learning through EC directive based SEA in spatial planning? Evidence from the Brunswick Region in Germany
Years of the UK EIA System
Evaluation of the environmental impact assessment system in Iran
Beyond 25 years of EIA in India
Are open-cast coal mines casting a shadow on the Indian environment
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) follow-up in India is essentially regulator-driven. This articleexplores the role of the regulating agencies within the coal mining sector in India to determine the extentto which the agencies have been successful in ensuring environmental protection through EIA follow-up.In doing so, the work adopts a qualitative approach. Three case studies in three different states in Indiaare examined. These reveal the we…
Are open-cast coal mines casting a shadow on the Indian environment
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) follow-up in India is essentially regulator-driven. This articleexplores the role of the regulating agencies within the coal mining sector in India to determine the extentto which the agencies have been successful in ensuring environmental protection through EIA follow-up.In doing so, the work adopts a qualitative approach. Three case studies in three different states in Indiaare examined. These reveal the we…
Effectiveness of strategic environmental assessment - the significance of learning
Learning, particularly transformative learning, is an established feature of environmental planning, management and assessment. Nevertheless, very often it loses its prominence both as a process and as a goal. This paper explores the extent to which strategic environmental assessment (SEA) can facilitate learning at an organisational and individual level, and ultimately, achieve effectiveness. It is based on the assumption that SEA effectiveness …
Internationalisation and standardisation of European Environmental Assessment. Relevance to India
This paper discusses the rationale underlying ‘PENTA’, an EU funded Erasmus Mundus project. In doing so, it explores the challenges of internationalising and standardising European environmental assessment (EA) practice and education to a third country audience, looking at India as a case study. It is argued that the EU EA Directives are influencing the development of EA systems internationally, leading to a standardisation of the way in which EA…
Learning through EC directive based SEA in spatial planning? Evidence from the Brunswick Region in Germany
The Effectiveness of Eia as an Instrument for Environmental Governance
The European Union (EU) Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive which was introduced some 25 years ago has had a major impact on decision-making practices in EU member states. In the professional literature, this impact has mostly been discussed under the heading of "effectiveness", with an emphasis being given in particular to procedural elements. The extent to which EIA has contributed to objectives, such as raising environmental awaren…
Years of the UK EIA System
Implications of Brexit for environmental assessment in the United Kingdom – results from a 1-day workshop at the University of Liverpool
There is currently a lack of clarity for what the anticipated British Exit from the European Union will mean for environmental assessment (EA) in the United Kingdom (UK) in the medium to long term. It is within this context that a workshop was organised by the Environmental Assessment and Management Centre (University of Liverpool) and held in Liverpool on 14 June 2017, with the involvement of the Ireland-UK branch of the International Associatio…
Consideration of urban green space in impact assessments for health
This paper explores how health aspects connected with the planning of urban green space are currently supported through two types of impact assessments: health impact assessment (HIA) and environmental assessment, including strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of policies, plans and programmes and environmental impact assessment (EIA) of projects. Seven HIAs and five EIAs/SEAs from the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Austria and Germany are revi…
The role of environmental assessment (EA) in Iranian water management
In this paper, we reflect on the effectiveness of environmental assessment (EA for e.g. projects, policies, plans and programmes) in Iranian water management. Urmia Lake Basin (ULB) is used as a case study area and the extent to which EA appears to be delivering environmental protection objectives is established. Data were collected using document analyses, semi-structured interviews with local experts and site visits. It is established that acti…
Evaluation of the environmental impact assessment system in Iran
Exploring the role of strategic environmental assessment in cultural heritage tourism planning
Sustainability is critical to the delivery of cultural heritage tourism (CHT) since its foundation to attract tourist relies on the preservation of the historic and cultural offerings of the host community. CHT destinations within urban and semi-urban heritage sites in emerging economies find this particularly challenging. To explore this issue and its associated challenges, this paper brings together an interdisciplinary team representing discip…
Beyond 25 years of EIA in India
Three decades of EIA reforms in India
This letter provides an overview of the EIA system in India for the last three decades. The strengths and weaknesses of the system are summarised here based on the key reviews, which have been undertaken during this time. The main purpose of this contribution is however to reflect on the recent attempts to introduce changes within the EIA system in India via the Draft EIA Notification of 2020 and the subsequent regulatory instruments. The propose…
Simplification of environmental and other impact assessments – results from an international online survey
Results from an international online survey on simplification efforts in environmental assessment (EA) and other types of impact assessments (IAs) are presented. The survey, which was conducted between July and October 2022, captured responses from 45 participants who reported on developments in a total of 26 EA/IA systems. Whilst in about three quarters of these systems simplification efforts are either currently underway or planned, in particul…
Retrospective reflection
Impact assessment for just transformation
Dear readers,As I write this editorial, International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA) annual conference is around the corner which is to be held in Dublin this year. Hence, I wanted to take
Developing international guidance to make impact assessment follow-up happen – reflections on an interactive design process
To advance impact assessment (IA) practice worldwide the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) has long promoted and published a series of international best practice principles, including the recently revised best practice principles for IA follow-up. IA follow-up refers to any kind of undertaking that seeks to ‘understand the outcomes of projects or plans’ that have been subject to IA. To support the implementation of these pri…
Rising mercury levels
Dear Readers,I am pleased to present issue 42(4) for you. As I was working with this issue many of our authors and reviewers were away in their summer breaks and yet they connected and contributed
Reflections on Iaia 2024 annual conference
This year was my first IAIA Conference as an editor of IAPA and with 1,109 attendees from 85 countries, 130 sessions, 488 presentations/speakers and 26 posters, the conference was also one of the b
Your leadership in impact assessment
Dear Readers,Two significant recent political events have led to a lot of anticipation and discussion in relation to their implication on our fight to combat climate change: the US elections and th
Moving on since Iaia 2025
Dear Readers,The International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA) 2025 Conference in Bologna is just over, and I am sure those who attended this event are teeming with ideas! 1043 delegates fr
Putting the best foot forward in 2025
Reflecting on Iapa 2025
Dear Readers,I am delighted to present to you the final issue of this year. We started the year by growing our editorial team. This year, the journal has published a total of 46 items, out of which
Impact assessment in times of war, conflict and disaster
Dear Readers,I hope the title of this editorial does not evoke an undue sense of gloom to your minds. As I sat reflecting on topical themes against which I wanted to reflect on impact assessment (I
Silent Spring to Woeful Winter
Dear Readers,In 1962 Rachel Carson’s landmark book ‘Silent Spring’ is said to have been influential in paving the way for the modern environmental movement. The US Environmental Protection Agency (
Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (18 works) · Political science (15 works) · Environmental planning (14 works) · Environmental Science (14 works) · Mining and Resource Management (13 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Environmental impact assessment (10 works) · Environmental resource management (10 works) · Geography (10 works) · Business (8 works)