Mitigation

The objectives of mitigation measures Find better alternatives and ways of doing things Enhance the environmental and social benefits of the project Avoid, minimize or remedy adverse impacts. Ensure that residual adverse impacts are kept within acceptable levels.

From Practical Prospect, Mitigation Means: Public should not be expected to bear costs greater than the benefits Predictable and undesirable effects of a project should be mitigated by the proponent. Injured parties may need to be compensated financially. Mitigation deal with the transfer of costs and benefits between the project and the public. Definition of "proponent " means the person, body, authority or government that proposes the project.

From Practical Prospect, Mitigation Means: The responsibility of proponents to internalize the full environmental costs of development proposals is now accepted. In addition, many proponents have found that: Good design and impact management can result in significant savings. Mitigation measures are more expensive in capital outlay but have been found to be cost effective over the long run.

The sustainability agenda: New demands to Mitigation and Impact Management: Increasing attention is being given to the principle of no net loss of natural and social capital . Under, the polluter pays principle ,restitution for unavoidable residual damages should be done. In this case, mitigation would include: “in-kind compensation measures”

The main elements of mitigation are organised into a hierarchy of actions : First, avoid adverse impacts as far as possible by use of preventative measures. Second, minimize or reduce adverse impacts to as low as practicable levels. Third, remedy or compensate for adverse residual impacts, which are unavoidable and cannot be reduced further.

A framework for impact mitigation