In the past few years several procedures for evaluating impacts have been proposed. None of these has, however, succeeded in clarifying the problem in its entirety. Therefore we have attempted a new approach, based on graphs of coherence, which can potentially improve the performance of existing procedures. Constructing graphs of coherence permits the systematic identification of the body of diverse relationships which exist between the development project and the principal components of the environment (pollution, energy, human and natural resources, etc.). Following the establishment of an integrated forestry complex (sawmill and kraft bleached pulp mill) on the Chamouchouane River, which flows into Lake St John (Quebec, Canada), the technique developed was applied to an elaboration of repercussions on the survival of the lake species Salmo salar ouananiche. As a first step, the project and the potentially impacted environment were decomposed into independent elements, whilst in the second step, the graph of coherence was constructed by establishing the relationships between the different elements. For preliminary conclusions, the graph of coherence (which may be considered as a tool for describing impacts) gives a schematic representation of the multiple interrelations between the actions undertaken for the establishment of the integrated forestry complex and the environment impacted. It thus permits the rapid identification of the most serious repercussions (avoidance effect, presence of phenols, contact time, etc.) on the survival of the species Salmo salar ouananiche.
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Jul 30, 2016
Open Access