Abstract
The outcomes of environmental impact assessment (EIA) influence millions of hectares of land and can be a contentious process. A vital aspect of an EIA process is consideration of the accumulation of impacts from multiple activities and stressors through a cumulative effects assessment (CEA). An opportunity exists to improve the rigor and utility of CEA and EIA by incorporating core scientific principles of landscape ecology into EIA. With examples from a Canadian context, we explore realistic hypothetical situations demonstrating how integration of core scientific principles could impact EIA outcomes. First, we demonstrate how changing the spatial extent of EIA boundaries can misrepresent cumulative impacts via the exclusion or inclusion of surrounding natural resource development projects. Second, we use network analysis to show how even a seemingly small, localized development project can disrupt regional habitat connectivity. Lastly, we explore the benefits of using long-term historical remote sensing products. Because these approaches are straightforward to implement using publicly available data, they provide sensible opportunities to improve EIA and enhance the monitoring of natural resource development activities in Canada and elsewhere.
Highlights
What are cumulative effects?Individually, human activities can have minimal effect on the environment
Government has not provided the ministry with clear direction or the powers necessary to manage cumulative effects when deciding on natural resource use
The Government of B.C. has not provided the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations with clear direction or the powers necessary to manage cumulative effects when deciding on natural resource use
Summary
British Columbia is actively pursuing economic growth through the development of natural resources, most notably in the mining and liquid natural gas (LNG) sectors. The term cumulative effects refers to changes to the environment caused by the combined impact of past, present and potential future human activity. The ministry is working to improve cumulative effects management by developing an assessment framework, but how the Government of B.C. and natural resource ministries will use it to inform and support development decisions across the natural resources sector is not clear. How government and the ministry will use the Cumulative Effects Framework assessments in the decision-making process for future natural resource development proposals has not yet been determined. This is concerning because if the assessments are to be of value, they must inform and support decisions about if and how development should proceed. CHANGES TO THE ENVIRONMENT caused by the combined impact of past, present and potential future HUMAN ACTIVITIES
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