What is Regional Assessment?
Regional assessment broadly refers to any impact assessment that adopts a regional scale of impact analysis. Regional assessment often combines science and Indigenous knowledge (IK) with social, cultural, economic and environmental considerations to evaluate change trends and inform future decision making about the conservation and/or development of a region, and ideally, project approvals within that region. For an assessment to be ‘regional’ it must be focused on a system and its complex biogeophysical relationships; typically an ecological system like a sub-watershed. Regional scale impact analysis usually involves attention to cumulative effects: multiple pathways of environmental change, multiple stressors, multiple valued components (VCs) and multiple indicators of VCs. At the broadest level, the goal of RA is to ensure VC sustainability and regional ecosystem health as development proceeds. This contrasts with impact assessments focused primarily on evaluating the impacts of a single project on VCs in a localized project area, often with limited attention to regional context or interactions. Regional assessment is possible under the Canadian Impact Assessment Act, but is also frequently practiced in non-regulatory contexts.
Lessons Learned, Best Practices and Critical Gaps in Regional Environmental Assessment: A Synthesis of Canadian and International Experience
Funder: Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (Knowledge Synthesis Grant)
Regional assessment (RA) is a core component of ‘next-generation’ impact assessment legislation in Canada. However, there is limited research identifying the most promising policies and practices to support RA implementation and its contribution to evidence-based decisions. This project reviews RA cases completed across Canada since 2000 to understand the state of practice, how cumulative effects are addressed and emerging lessons.
What Makes an Effect Cumulative?
Funder: Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada (Explore Grant)
There is ongoing uncertainty about what makes an environmental effect ‘cumulative’, which limits the effectiveness of cumulative effects assessment (CEA) practice. The goals of this project are to (i) develop a consolidated typology of cumulative environmental effects and processes of accumulation; and (ii) develop a list of criteria that more clearly distinguish the class of effects known as cumulative from other, non-cumulative types of effects.
Cumulative Effects in Pictures: Indigenous Perspectives
Funder: Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada (Exchange Grant)
This project develops visual aids to depict cumulative effects from an Indigenous perspective. The work is done in partnership with a Tribal Council in southern Saskatchewan representing II First Nations whose traditional lands and waters are impacted by agricultural development, urbanization, oil and gas development, major pipeline projects, climate change and more.