This Social Impact Assessment survey of the West to East Gas Pipeline is a joint product of the United Nations Development Programme and the China International Center for Economic and Technology Exchange (CICETE). The work involved six national consulting institutions and NGOs, provincial and county statistics bureaus, the State Statistics Bureau, and a team of national and international consultants.

The current report documents the methodologies and survey process, findings, recommendations and lessons learned. The main finding of the report is that there is a solid opportunity to develop a preventive strategy based on consultations with local communities, residents and local government officials. We found that local residents were supportive but worried. Peoples’ support needs to be maintained. The way to do that is to supply full and prompt information, to engage and to listen to peoples’ views, and to take action with them to increase benefits in order to avoid the potential negative impacts of the project, before they occur.