Looking up,down, and sideways: Reconceiving cumulative effects assessment as a mindset |
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| Institution: | 1. Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada;2. Marine & Environmental Law Institute, Dalhousie University, Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, 6061 University Ave., Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada;3. School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, 6100 University Ave., Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada;1. The Danish Centre for Environmental Assessment, Aalborg University, Rendsburggade 14, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark;2. The Danish Centre for Environmental Assessment, Aalborg University, A.C. Meyers Vænge 15, 2450 Copenhagen, SV, Denmark;1. The University of Saskatchewan, Global Institute for Water Security, School of Environment and Sustainability, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5B3, Canada;2. The University of Saskatchewan, Toxicology Centre, School of Environment and Sustainability, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5B3, Canada;3. The University of Saskatchewan, School of Public Health, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5B3, Canada;4. Cardiff School of Geography and Planning and Sustainable Places Research Institute, Glamorgan Building, Cardiff University, King Edward VII Ave, Cardiff, CF10 3WA, Wales, UK;5. Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, Zuckerman Institute for Connective Environmental Research, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK;6. Department of Environment & Natural Resources, Government of the Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, NT X1A 2L9, Canada;1. Department of Geography and Planning, and School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan, 117 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5A5, Canada;2. Department of Geography and Planning, University of Saskatchewan, 117 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5A5, Canada;1. Aalborg University, Denmark;2. CEG-IST, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal;1. Escola Politécnica, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Mello Moraes, 2373, 05508-900 São Paulo, Brazil;2. Shell International Exploration & Production BV, Netherlands |
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| Abstract: | Despite all the effort that has gone into defining, researching and establishing best practices for cumulative effects assessment (CEA), understanding remains weak and practice wanting. At one extreme of implementation, CEA can be described as merely an irritant to the completion of a project-specific environmental assessment (EA). At the other extreme, the conceptual view is that all effects in EA should be deemed cumulative unless demonstrated otherwise. Our purpose here is to consider how we might reconceive CEA as a mindset that is at the heart of absolutely every assessment of valued ecosystem component (VEC) to ensure that we understand the relative contributions of various stressors and can decide when cumulative effects may foreclose future activities due to impacts on VECs. Conceptually, we ground the CEA mindset in the context of three lenses that must all be functioning and working together for the mindset to be operative: a technical lens; a law and policy lens; and a participatory lens. Our arguments are based on a review of the CEA, strategic effects assessment (SEA) and regional effects assessment literatures, an examination and consideration of Canadian EA and SEA case practice, and our combined professional experiences. Through using the Bay of Fundy in Canada as a case example, we establish the concept of the CEA mindset and an approach for moving forward with implementation. |
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