Causal networks in EIA

Using causal maps to support ex-post assessment of social impacts of dams

“…The Social Impact Management approach sees LPW not only as engineering mechanisms but also as processes of social change and conflict, and therefore does not limit the scope of debate and argument to merely technical questions. As the specialized literature (Perdicoúlis and Glasson, 2006;Van Schooten et al, 2003) indicates, the use of causal maps in ex-post assessment makes it easier for us to identify the multiple doi: 10.1016/j.eiar.2015.07.004 19 factors bearing on the causation of the impacts studied. This detailed sequencing of the causal process of LPW impacts (enriched by the tridimensional vision afforded by Social Impact Management) can reveal the existence of intermediate causal elements which would have passed under the radar of other assessment techniques customarily used in SIA (such as impact checklists, which either reduce or eliminate altogether factors mediating between causes and effects).…”

“…All of this means that causal maps represent an especially appropriate tool for applying the contextual, longitudinal and relational analyses required in the Social Impact Management approach. They also possess a series of other advantages, such as simplicity, clarity, abstraction, and aggregation (Perdicoúlis and Glasson, 2006). However, these authors also state that, despite these benefits, in recent years causal networks have been very rarely used in these methodologies.…”

“…Our paper follows the same analytical process, but applied during the ex-post assessment phase. More recently, Perdicoúlis and Glasson (2006) have stressed that instruments derived from causal networks, such as causal maps, are ideally suited to SIA. According to these authors, and these conclusions can be perfectly applied to ex-post assessments, causal maps are especially appropriate in satisfying the underlying principles of impact assessment, that is, transparency, integration, and systematicity.…”

Application of network method as a tool for integrating biodiversity values in Environmental Impact Assessment

“…The main advantage of using network and systems analysis is that it makes explicit the multiple and often complicated nature of impacts resulting from a project (European Commission 1999). This method is considered to be best applied to ecological impacts, i.e., biodiversity and difficult to apply to socioeconomic impacts (Barrow 1997;Perdicoulis and Glasson 2006).…”

The causality premise of EIA in practice

“…Owing to their compact format, impact matrices are likely to be accompanied by some text that interprets and consolidates the information conveyed in the matrix, rather than repeating it, and perhaps discusses the complicated impacts that cannot be communicated in the matrix. c. Causal diagrams come in many types, varying in their conventions of representation, but nonetheless they do not seem to be very popular in EIA practice (Perdicoúlis and Glasson, 2006). Some types are designed to show the effects only in relative terms (e.g.…”