Improving cumulative effects assessment in Alberta: Regional strategic assessment

Johnson, Dallas; Lalonde, Kim; McEachern, Menzie; Kenney, John; Mendoza, Gustavo Adolfo Angulo; Buffin, Andrew; Rich, Kate

doi:10.1016/j.eiar.2011.01.010

Cited by 40 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As we have argued, the proper functioning of RCEA will require detailed knowledge of the current state of the region and an assessment of cumulative effects implications of future regional human activities. However, like in other basins/regions (Johnson et al 2011) the Environmental Impacts Assessment (EIA) system in Chile is focused on a project to project evaluation, not fulfi lling the necessities of RCEA and therefore evidencing a change in the strategies to assess the combined possible impacts of existing and future activities. In addition, each project is subjected to a specifi c monitoring requirements, that even for similar projects are quite different in the number and type of parameters, timing and general design (number of parameters, number of sites/sampling stations type of endpoint, biological monitoring etc.…”

Section: Regional Cumulative Effects Assessment and Environmental Impmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional Cumulative Effects Monitoring Framework: Gaps and Challenges for the Biobío River Basin in South Central Chile

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sustainable watershed management in the world is an issue that has taken much importance and attention in terms of quality and availability of water for all users in the basin. The economic growth experienced by Chile in recent years has led to increased stress on aquatic systems, especially in the Biobío river basin. The Biobío basin has faced with multiple expansions for hydroelectric power, and at the same time providing sources for competing demands from urbanization, industry, agriculture and irrigation, forestry, aquaculture, tourism, recreation, and it is a regional domain of indigenous peoples. There is a growing unease about the current process of managing single developments with Environmental Impacts Assessment (EIA). Assessing the impacts of all these threats to freshwater ecosystem is challenging. The Biobío offers an opportunity to make advances in a number of important areas for regional watershed management, including national standardization requirements for effects monitoring and for the development of a regional database. For Biobío river basin, development of such a conceptual framework requires several steps that include identifying: the scope (basin and/or subbasin) and setting (physiographic/geopolitics governance); threats to the system (past present and future); regional resource users and public services, and natural variation and gradients within the system. In these review we state what kind of pilot studies would be required to help design a Regional Cumulative Effects Monitoring Framework and must establish key design criteria including what species (species differential sensitivity) and parameters (level of organization), the magnitude of change we wish to detect and monitoring frequency are necessary to ensure sustainable management of the Biobío river basin. KEYWORDS:Regional Cumulative Effects Monitoring, Biobío River, biological monitoring, philosophical approach. RESUMENLa gestión sustentable de las cuencas hidrográfi cas en el mundo es problema que ha tomado una gran relevancia y atención, en términos de calidad y disponibilidad de agua para todos los usuarios de las cuencas. El crecimiento económico experimentado por Chile en los últimos años ha llevado a un aumento en el estrés a los sistemas acuáticos continentales, especialmente la cuenca del río Biobío. La cuenca del rio Biobío ha enfrentado un gran aumento en el desarrollo de hidroeléctrico, y al mismo tiempo ha tenido que proveer los recursos para demandas hídricos que compiten entre si, como son la urbanización, agricultura e riego, forestal, acuicultura, turismo, recreación, así como ser parte del territorio de los pueblos originarios. Existe una creciente inquietud sobre el proceso actual de gestión de proyectos individuales con procesos individuales de Evaluación de Impactos Ambientales (EIA). La evaluación de los impactos de todas estas amenazas a los ecosistemas dulceacuícolas es un reto no menor. El río Biobío ofrece una oportunidad para avanzar en una serie de áreas importantes para la gestión regional ...

show abstract

Section: Regional Cumulative Effects Assessment and Environmental Impmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional Cumulative Effects Monitoring Framework: Gaps and Challenges for the Biobío River Basin in South Central Chile

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A review of 50 UK environmental impact statements (EISs) by Cooper and Sheate (2002) also revealed that the CEA studies in the projects examined were centered on VECs. But while the central role of VECs in both project-based IA and its corollary, CEA (Canter & Ross 2010;Johnson et al 2011), has long been established, surprisingly little research has been done to examine the principles, processes and rationales applied to VEC selection. This is in spite of the fact that CEA performance reviews have emphasized the importance of good scoping (of which VEC selection is a core determinant) (Bérubé 2007;Canter & Ross 2010;Senner 2011), and that various authors have pointed out that VEC selection is a key problem area in IA practice (e.g.…”

Section: Why Study Valued Ecosystem Component Selection?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Numerous authors have described procedural and substantive shortcomings of CEA including: ill-defined scope, scale and methodologies (Benson 2003;Duinker & Greig 2006;Gunn & Noble 2011Morgan 2012); inadequate data to support analysis and conclusions (Cancer & Kamath 1995;Johnson et al 2011;Noble & Gunn 2013); superficial interpretations of the nature of cumulative effects (Canter & Ross 2010;Duinker & Greig 2006;Folkeson et al 2013) and gaps between predicted and actual cumulative effects (Johnson et al 2011). The anxiety over CEA performance is just one facet of a broader and deeper concern for IA effectiveness worldwide; something that has been called into question by a past president for International Association for Impact Assessment (Fuggle 2005) as well as IA academics and practitioners (e.g.…”

Section: Why Study Valued Ecosystem Component Selection?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Selection of valued ecosystem components in cumulative effects assessment: lessons from Canadian road construction projects

Olagunju

Gunn

2015

Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…A recent federal government report (Noble, 2013) also identifies multiple regional frameworks across Canada focused on various aspects of CE assessment, management and monitoring. With release of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (2009) guidance on strategic assessment, regional frameworks for CE have gained considerable momentum, including in Alberta's oil sands (Johnson et al, 2011), in British Columbia's Elk Valley (see www.elkvalleycemf. com), and in Ontario's mineral-rich "ring of fire" (Chetkiewicz and Lintner, 2014).…”

Section: Status and Impact Of Current Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cumulative Effects Research: Achievements, Status, Directions and Challenges in the Canadian Context

Noble

2015

J. Env. Assmt. Pol. Mgmt.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper reflects on the state of cumulative effects research in Canada and future directions and challenges. The assessment and management of cumulative effects has been an enduring theme in the impact assessment literature, and scholars have consistently identified the challenges to assessing and managing cumulative effects under regulatory, project-based impact assessment. Current research on cumulative effects is focused largely on the development of frameworks and methodologies to advance cumulative effects assessment and management from individual projects to broader regional scales, and on developing the science and tools for assessing and monitoring cumulative effects. Ensuring that scholarly research continues to shape cumulative effects practice in the future requires that scholars not only attempt to improve practice under current existing regulatory processes, but also push the boundaries to ensure that decision processes also evolve so as to be accommodating of new and innovative approaches to cumulative effects at regional scales. This requires interdisciplinary approaches and sustained research funding, both of which present practical challenges to scholars, and research programmes that are developed in collaboration with industry, governments and communities.

show abstract

Improving cumulative effects assessment in Alberta: Regional strategic assessment

Cited by 40 publications

References 1 publication

Regional Cumulative Effects Monitoring Framework: Gaps and Challenges for the Biobío River Basin in South Central Chile

Regional Cumulative Effects Monitoring Framework: Gaps and Challenges for the Biobío River Basin in South Central Chile

Selection of valued ecosystem components in cumulative effects assessment: lessons from Canadian road construction projects

Cumulative Effects Research: Achievements, Status, Directions and Challenges in the Canadian Context

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About