EIAs are a way for the public to become involved in monitoring projects and to allow their voices to be heard in a formal way. Hence by providing training to campaigners on how to better monitor investments, they can in turn use this knowledge to mobilise citizens and the public to do the same. With this purpose in mind, throughout March 2024, Bankwatch organised a series of 3 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) training sessions for internal and some external campaigners. The purpose was to explain what EIAs are, how they work, how to become involved in the process and use them as a form of campaigning to prevent financing of harmful projects. The first session (01/03/2024) provided information about the purpose of EIAs, the second (08/03/2024) was dedicated to how these can be used as an important advocacy and campaigning tool, and the third (14/03/2024) on Appropriate Assessments, a separate but related form of environmental assessment. The overall aim was to equip campaigners with the necessary skills to better challenge, mitigate and prevent financing of harmful investments.
The sessions were divided into three parts and into a different thematic focus, and was presented by 5 different speakers, three female and two male. Considerable space and time were also dedicated to Q&As, where participants were able to ask questions and campaigning advice, for example, in cases where an EIA challenge has been ineffective, what alternative steps can be taken, and how to better mobilise the public around providing comments during a consultation.
The online sessions were attended by 82 persons in total, out of which 28 were unique eligible attendees coming from 11 EU countries.
