17 June 2025, Apia, Samoa – Pacific environmental practitioners, government officials, and development specialists engaged in a regional dialogue addressing critical challenges facing social and cultural impact assessment across Pacific Island Countries and Territories.
Held on 11 June 2025, the webinar, titled "Challenges in Social Impact Assessment in the Pacific: Lessons and Best Practices," brought together participants across the Pacific and beyond including, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and the United States, demonstrated the urgent need for enhanced social and cultural considerations in development planning across the Pacific region.
"Social impact assessment is not just important – it is essential," said Mr Vainuupo Jungblut, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), Environment Monitoring and Reporting Adviser, who opened the session. "When development projects come to our shores, whether they are infrastructure developments, tourism projects, mining operations or renewable energy installations they don't just impact the physical environment, they touch the very heart of who we are as Pacific peoples. Today, we're bringing together experienced voices to share honest insights about the challenges we face and, more importantly, the practical solutions that can help us do better.”
The session featured two expert presenters who addressed different but complementary aspects of impact assessment. Rebecca Roebuck, Director of Social Impax, identified seven common mistakes in Social Impact Assessment (SIA) practice across the Pacific, emphasising the critical importance of understanding informal land rights, customary uses, free and prior informed consent and local power dynamics in community engagement.
"Social impact assessment is context specific," Ms Roebuck explained during her presentation. "What might work in one project might not work in another. The Pacific is an incredibly diverse region with different countries, and even within countries, there's tremendous diversity. Too often, I've seen assessments that apply generic international templates without understanding local nuances, or consultation processes that fail to engage with traditional governance structures.”
Professor Elise Huffer from the University of the South Pacific's Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies made a compelling case for treating Cultural Impact Assessment (CIA) as a distinct discipline separate from Social Impact Assessment.
"Culture is a world of its own, and it is huge," Professor Huffer emphasised. "What often happens is that people confuse culture and social, they think if we've done a social impact assessment, we've been inclusive of culture. No, culture covers a whole range of things within communities. When you conduct an EIA, you should also do a cultural impact assessment, they should be systematic but separate, because culture gets subsumed under social otherwise."
The webinar highlighted significant variations and complexities in approach across the region. Participants noted that while Papua New Guinea includes CIA as part of comprehensive Environmental and Social Impact Assessments, other countries like Fiji currently only conduct archaeological impact assessments under 1940s legislation.
Palau emerged as a regional leader, with a rigorous system requiring cultural resource assessments for all developments through its Bureau of Cultural and Historic Preservation.
The interactive discussion revealed several key themes that resonated strongly with Pacific practitioners. Participants emphasised the critical importance of Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) principles in Pacific contexts, where 80-90% of land and marine resources fall under customary ownership. The session also identified significant policy and legislative gaps across the region. As Professor Huffer noted, "Really good cultural impact assessments that I've seen are mostly in countries slightly outside of our direct region. We really do not have legislation or even policies to guide cultural impact assessments in most of the Pacific."
Participants from Solomon Islands and other countries highlighted challenges in balancing international donor requirements for comprehensive documentation with the need for simple, practical tools that communities and practitioners can use.
The discussion also explored how increasing digital connectivity across the Pacific creates new opportunities for engagement while also introducing risks such as online harassment and misinformation about projects.
The webinar demonstrated an appetite for continued Talanoa on these issues. Mr Ivan Diarra, PNEA Technical Officer, noted the exceptional level of engagement. ”There will be many more opportunities for discussion on these topics as we have noted the increasing interest to dive deeper into practical activities and case studies from across the region.”
Participants put forth some key recommendations during discussions, around developing separate but systematic approaches to CIA alongside EIA Assessments and strengthening policy and legislative frameworks to support both SIA and CIA in Pacific contexts. Building regional capacity through sharing of practical case studies and examples and improving coordination between environment and culture departments in government were highlighted as key areas for improvement.
Mr Puta Tofinga, SPREP Environmental Assessment and Planning Officer, summarised the session's significance " It is time that we think about Social Impact Assessment differently. EIA is evolving, and we should also improve our processes with it. Perhaps Social Impact Assessment should be a standalone process by itself rather than embedding it in the Environmental Impact Assessment process."
The webinar represents a part of SPREP's broader commitment to supporting environmental and social risk management across the Pacific region, reflecting growing recognition that sustainable development in the Pacific must balance economic growth with environmental protection and cultural preservation.
About PNEA
The Pacific Network for Environmental Assessment (PNEA) is a regional platform that supports capacity building and knowledge sharing for environmental impact assessment practitioners across Pacific Island Countries and Territories. PNEA provides access to tools, resources, expert networks, and training opportunities to strengthen environmental assessment practice in the Pacific region.
To learn more about the PNEA and the support provided through the network, contact Ivan Diarra, PNEA Technical Officer (ivand@sprep.org) and Puta Tofinga, Environmental Assessment and Planning Officer (putat@sprep.org