EİA as an administrative procedure and the right of participation

Since the first ages, humanity has used, changed and transformed the environment in which it has lived in order to continue its life. With the technical and technological advances and the Industrial Revolution, the way humanity uses the environment has accelerated. Increasing production and changing consumption habits after the Industrial Revolution caused the environment to be used more intensively as raw material. The natural raw materials around us have been converted into energy, and with this energy, consumer goods have been produced. Carbon emission resulting from energy production, leakage of wastewater resulting from production activities to the soil, uncontrolled release into sea and ocean waters, and oil spills that occur in pipelines, especially on the ocean floors, have caused pollution of the environment we live in. The wastes remaining from the use of the product produced outside of production activities and the packaging consisting of disposable plastics have become an environmental pollutant as much as the wastes generated during production. Nuclear energy production facilities were established in the twentieth century in order to meet the increasing energy needs as a result of the increasing population of the world and the new demands of people, and nuclear wastes, which are very difficult to dispose of, have emerged. The fact that the rate of waste release of these environmental pollutants is much higher than the self-renewal rate of the Earth has resulted in climate crisis such as global warming, thinning of the ozone layer, and rapid melting of glaciers. The climate crisis has brought with it transboundary problems that deeply affect the right to life, such as the loss of biodiversity, drought, food shortages and clean water problems. The danger of not having a living environment for humanity has made the right to environment and the prevention of pollution the most important issue of our age. With the realization that the cost of repairing the results of the pollution of the environment by the pollutants and cleaning the pollution is higher than the cost of preventing the pollution before it occurs at the source, tools have been developed to prevent the pollution before it occurs. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the most effective and important tool developed to prevent pollution before it occurs at the source. EIA is a cooperation process that includes the active participation of administrative authorities, investors, non-governmental organizations and the public by determining the possible damages and pollution that an investment activity may cause to the environment before it takes place, and determining the measures to prevent these results from occurring. The most effective factor in detecting potential damages and pollution is ensuring the active participation of the public in the process. The people living in an environment are the ones who know the environment best and can see the possible results of the investment activity in question. Ensuring the active participation of the people living in the environment where the investment activity will take place in the EIA process is very important for the experts to determine possible damage and pollution and to determine the measures to be taken. The active participation of the public in the decision-making process of the administrative authorities is as important as the detection of possible damage and pollution, as well as the transparency of the decision-making process of the administrative authorities and ensuring democracy. In our study, EIA, which is an effective tool in protecting the environment, and public participation, which is the most important stage of EIA, will be examined and suggestions will be made for effective and efficient participation.