The discretionary power of the environmental assessment practitioner

Discretion is an essential and unavoidable element of most decision-making and is thus often closely related to the judgment exercised by politicians and practitioners alike. It is evident that discretionary power can be executed in different ways, leading to different results. Therefore, it also has a significant influence on the effectiveness of the environmental assessment (EA) as examined in recent environment impact assessment (EIA) and strategic environment assessment (SEA) literature. However, limited attention has been given to the practitioners' role and how they exercise their discretion, while the effectiveness and implementation of decisions has been a recurrent theme in EA literature. This article explores the connections between discretion and some of the fundamental ideas behind how EIA and SEA function in our societies.