Social impacts are impacts on the livelihood of people and the services the natural environment provides to people.

Examples of social impacts include:

• Resettlement
• Losing assets or land, including gardens
• Impacts on health and safety
• The unsustainable use of natural resources
• Using resources in a manner that conflicts with existing uses
• Affecting the ability of people to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change
• Generating noise
• Generating odour.

See our guidelines for some more specific examples of social impacts.