Since 1970’s Environmental Law has been struggling in reconciling two divergent forces i.e., economic development and environmental protection. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has emerged as a means to achieve sustainable development which requires environmental issues to be taken into consideration in every development project or industrial unit. This article undertakes a doctrinal analysis of the legal regime regulating EIA in Bangladesh. Begging with a conceptual examination of EIA as an anticipatory, participatory and sustainable environmental management tool it makes a comprehensive examination of different stages of EIA procedure in Bangladesh. In addition, it compares these stages with other well established EIA systems including European Union, United Kingdom, India. After exploring relevant legislations, rules, guidelines, reports, book chapters, research articles and other secondary sources it claims that the EIA system of Bangladesh suffers from the substantive, procedural, transactive and normative defects. The findings add to the ongoing discussion about environmental governance. They also offer recommendations for legal and regulatory changes to improve the EIA system in Bangladesh and support the goals of sustainable development. Keywords: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA); Sustainable Development; Screening; Scoping; Impact Analysis; Mitigation
Redwan Ahmed (Sun,) studied this question.