Environmental impact assessment has been in use within the British forest sector since 1988\ud
when the Environmental Assessment (Afforestation) Regulations became effective. In Great\ud
Britain between 1988 and 1998 a total of 211 applications for grant assistance for afforestation\ud
proposals have been subject to environmental impact assessment. Of these 101 had been\ud
completed by 1998 and the assessment concluded. This research details the development of\ud
environmental impact assessment in international, national and forest sector contexts, and\ud
presents a review procedure tailored for use in the British forest sector. Using this procedure,\ud
89 forest sector environmental statements were reviewed. The review highlights the overall\ud
poor quality of environmental impact assessments and environmental statements within the\ud
British forest sector. The research investigates the efficacy of the Forestry Commission's\ud
screening process and its ability to identify projects with potential impacts through the\ud
development of a screening protocol for use in the British forest sector, which was used\ud
Forest Commission staff to screen a series of case studies. The survey, prediction and\ud
assessment techniques employed within forest sector environmental impact assessments are\ud
analysed. For a sample of assessments where adequate baseline information was included in\ud
the original assessment, a practical audit of impact predictions was carried out, where the actual\ud
outcomes of predicted impacts were compared with information derived from field\ud
investigatio