From regulatory hurdle to development tool: Strengthening environmental and social impact assessment in infrastructure planning in Uganda

The thesis examines how effectively Uganda's Environmental and Social Impact Assessment system works in infrastructure planning. Although ESIA is meant globally to support sustainable development, the study says it often acts in Uganda as a procedural obstacle rather than a development tool. It investigates governance failures that marginalise social issues and weaken fair outcomes in major projects. Four sub-questions address legislative and administrative adequacy, recurring social impacts, causal governance links, and possible reforms. The research uses a mixed-methods, multi-sector case study, combining document analysis with fieldwork in tourism, small-scale gold mining, and road infrastructure. It finds neglect of health risks, displacement, livelihood loss and gender-based violence, worsened by split duties, weak enforcement, corruption, political interference.