Defining and analyzing cumulative environmental impacts

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

“…Its recognition can be largely attributed to the scientific basis and institutional context of environmental impact assessment (EIA), although views differ as to whether this development is an evolutionary maturation, or a reaction to the shortcomings of more than 20 years of EIA theory and practice. While conceptual frameworks of cunm-]ative environmental change continue to emerge (e.g., Contant and Wiggins 1991, Irwin and Rodes 1992, Stakhiv 1991, theoretical constructs and commonly accepted definitions are still incomplete. Opinions also diverge regarding approaches to the systematic evaluation of cumulative environmental change, or cumulative effects assessment (CEA).…”

Innovation in impact assessment: a bibliometric review and a practical test.

“…Talking about cumulative impacts at project level, Contant and Wiggins (1991) emphasize that major limitation in CIA is the lack of detailed monitoring information on previous development and propose that improving monitoring, aided by GIS and remote sensing techniques, associated with enhanced modeling, can lead to a better cumulative impact analysis.…”

“…Morimoto and Hope (2004) propose a probabilistic model to CBA in order to take into account project uncertainty, resulting in more robust and justifiable results. The analysis of this cluster shows that even though cumulative impact assessment (CIA) or cumulative effects assessment (CEA) has been part of IA since its genesis and its practice is growing out of its infancy (CANTER; ROSS, 2010), a variety of interpretations and treatments of cumulative effects issue still occurs and continue to be a persistent challenge (CONTANT;WIGGINS, 1991;SMIT;SPALING, 1995;KAMATH, 1995;BURRIS;ROSS, 1998;SHEATE, 2002;BRISMAR, 2007;.…”

“…• IA should take into account culture, values and perceptions of stakeholders (SAARIKOSKI, 2000;BOND et al, 2004;TANG et al, 2008); • Necessity to recognize and address uncertainties (GIBSON, 2002;BENSON, 2003;ROSS et al, 2006); • Use of valuation methods in IA (HUNDLOE et al, 1990;MORIMOTO;HOPE, 2004;VENKATACHALAM, 2004;LINDHJEM et al, 2007;HAN et al, 2008;ERIKSTAD et al, 2008); • Systematic treatments of cumulative effects (CONTANT; WIGGINS, 1991;SMIT;SPALING, 1995;KAMATH, 1995;BURRIS;ROSS, 1998;SHEATE, 2002;BRISMAR, 2007;);…”

“…Public participation for integrating human and environment aspects Tywoniuk (1990) Necessity for uncertainties treatment Mcdonald and Brown (1990) Traditional ecological knowledge in IA Yap (1990) Lack of consensus on cumulative impacts Bardecki (1990) Methods for measuring scenic and visual impacts Palmer et al (1990) Social justice in IA Ip (1990) Lack of detailed monitoring information on previous projects Contant and Wiggins (1991) Public participation occurs only in the later stages of the process Gariepy (1991) Fiscal impact analysis in IA Halstead (1991) Lack of data to perform EIA (1991) Jeltes (1991) Lack of in-depth environmental analysis of locational alternative Canelas (1991) Initiation of the EIA processes in earlier phases of a project.…”