Cumulative environmental change: Conceptual frameworks, evaluation approaches, and institutional perspectives

Abstract

/ Cumulative environmental change or cumulative effects may result from the additive effect of individual actions of the same nature or the interactive effect of multiple actions of a different nature. This article reviews conceptual frameworks of cumulative environmental change and describes analytical and institutional approaches to cumulative effects assessment (CEA). A causal model is a common theoretical construct, although the frameworks vary in their emphasis on different components of the model. Two broad approaches to CEA are distinguished: one scientific and the other planning oriented. These approaches should not be interpreted as competing paradigms but rather different interpretations of the scope of CEA. Each approach can provide a distinct but complementary contribution to the analysis, assessment, and management of cumulative effects. A comparison of the institutional and legislative response to CEA in Canada and the United States shows that Canada is following the American example of incorporating the analysis and assessment of cumulative effects into regulatory actions and administrative procedures that also govern environmental impact assessment.

Cumulative effects assessment: theoretical underpinnings and big problems

“…In addition to the subjectivity of decisions made in the CEA process, complexity and uncertainty are fundamental difficulties, commonly invoked to describe, for example, the diversity of biological and physical land-use effects, stressor interactions, spatial and temporal lags between stressors and effects, nonlinear relationships, and positive and negative feedback loops (Spaling and Smit 1993;Therivel and Ross 2007;Seitz et al 2011;Ball et al 2013). In Hegmann and Yarranton's (2011) pessimistic assessment, "even if practitioners employ the most advanced and complex analysis and the best that analytical thought may offer (CEA) still delivers just words and numbers buried within limitations, assumptions and uncertainties" (Hegmann and Yarranton 2011).…”

Cumulative environmental effects of low salinity shrimp farming in Thailand

“…This framework is based on widely accepted EIA procedures and was initially applied within North America, Europe and Australia (Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, 1999; Council on Environmental Quality, 1997; Spaling and Smit, 1993).…”

Best Practice Framework and Principles for Monitoring the Effect of Coastal Development on Marine Mammals

“…Cumulative Impact Assessments (CIAs), the process of systematically analysing, evaluating or predicting cumulative environmental change (Spaling and Smit, 1993), are an integral tool in EIAs. Cumulative impacts can be assessed by either:…”