Life beyond the checklist: Revitalizing the potential of environmental impact assessments through co-creation

Large infrastructure projects pose substantial and frequently irreversible threats to biological and cultural diversity. These projects predominantly rely on one-size-fits-all solutions, informed by extractive paradigms that endanger the vitality of social-ecological systems. This tendency towards monotone solutions is mainstreamed by Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs). In principle, EIAs should provide the opportunity for fair, accurate, and open-ended evaluation of projects; instead, they are often used instrumentally to facilitate the implementation of decisions already made elsewhere. Nevertheless, EIAs offer a window of opportunity to enhance social-ecological awareness, agency, and accountability. Our work operationalizes this opportunity, by integrating a transformative logic into EIA practice. We seek to address three core flaws found in conventional EIAs: (1) an inherent bias favoring development projects; (2) an anthropocentric, short-sighted vision of sustainability; and (3) a lack of meaningful participation by affected human communities. In this paper, we introduce the outcomes of a transdisciplinary retreat where academics, practitioners, and activists designed and tested a Co-Creative Relational Impact Assessment Process (CoRIAP), drawing on two archetypal cases in Kenya and Laos. CoRIAP includes: (a) process-oriented components that redefine the role of an EIA, transforming it from a routine checklist to a purposeful and inclusive procedure that embraces diverse and unforeseen outcomes; and (b) measurement-oriented components that incorporate relational criteria neglected in conventional EIAs, such as ethics, emotions, esthetics, and alternative ways of knowing. This novel protocol complements and broadens existing EIA practice. At the same time, it provides communities with a tool for self-strengthening and reflection.