The Nicaragua channel evaluated with a hybrid social impact assessment / social LCA approach – what is LCA adding?

A lot of debate has recently been created by the planned Nicaragua channel, and a social impact assessment (SIA) study has been performed. In a recent project, the SIA study has been completed by a social LCA study which... [ view full abstract ]

A lot of debate has recently been created by the planned Nicaragua channel, and a social impact assessment (SIA) study has been performed. In a recent project, the SIA study has been completed by a social LCA study which assesses the potential social impacts over the entire life cycle.
The presentation will summarise the results from the SIA and the social LCA, and characterise the different and similar findings. This will show that each approach has “blind spots” and thus benefits from a more comprehensive, broader study design. On the other side, taking the concept of additionally useful information from Stöckigt leads to a consideration of effort and validity of the additional information.
Both aspects will be discussed in detail; the analysis will lead to a conclusion about a useful combination of SIA and social LCA for the assessment of large infrastructure projects.
The discussion and conclusions will be performed on a methodological and also on a practical, case study level based on the project.