ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the objectives and a procedure usually followed in formulating alternatives and provides guidance about the use of social information in this process. It seeks to illustrate the complementarity between alternative formulation, the assessment of proposed alternatives, and the development of mitigation and enhancement measures. The formulation of alternatives process may include a substantial public involvement component or it may be an internal activity, with little or no public involvement. The formulation of alternatives usually includes the following overall objectives: Identifying, at a general level, the major environmental and socioeconomic effects, both positive and negative, which might occur for each alternatives and assessing the probable acceptability of the alternatives to the various stakeholder group. After analyzing the environmental and socioeconomic effects of each alternative, it should be possible to point out major problems that could prevent or hinder their implementation.
