Dealing with conflict in environmental impact assessment Development applications often generate conflict because people have different needs and view points. Managing this conflict is very important in the environmental impact assessment process. When a development is proposed that may be controversial or generate conflict, it is important to appoint an environmental assessment practitioner with experience in dealing with large or controversial projects. The role of the environmental assessment practitioner is to address and facilitate the concerns and needs of all role-players in a project, being the client, the interested and affected parties and the environment. This is not always easy and environmental assessment practitioners often get blamed for being biased toward the client. A professional can, however, not be guilty of being overly friendly to developers, or that person will develop a reputation that may affect his or her career.It is crucial to be honest throughout an environmental impact assessment, as hiding away or skewing information immediately raises suspicion. Loosing the trust of the interested and affected parties early in the process is not a good idea. A thorough public participation process with enough opportunity for people to engage in the process and to understand the application is worth a lot.Project cost is often limiting public participation, at the detriment of the project. Saving money here can become costly at a later stage. Clients are well advised to allow the environmental assessment practitioner with enough leeway to undertake a thorough public participation process. For highly controversial projects, an independent public participation specialist may be the solution to appease the irate public.Regardless of the amount of public participation, some projects just stay controversial. In such situations it is important to look at the underpinning needs and rights. For instance, the public has aright to a clean, healthy environment. Air pollution is therefore not acceptable and sufficient mitigation or avoidance must be applied. On the other hand, a developer may have certain rights,such as the right for agricultural activities on a farm or the right to build a house on a residential erf. The public cannot withhold the landowner from performing these rights. Their concerns should be accommodated as much as possible to make the development acceptable, but it is not always practical, and some impacts may have to be accepted. Multicriteria Decision Making is a less used tool in impact assessment that is useful to facilitate conflict resolution. It is most useful when specialists involved in a project cannot come to agreement. Industrial engineers are specialists at this and can help to determine priorities and weights to assess various issues objectively.Saving money on public participation and conflict resolution in impact assessment is therefore a bad business decision that may become costly when the project is held up or an appeal succeeds. Try to obtain issues from the public early in the process and listen to these issues.