Citizen Involvement In Sustainability-Centred Environmental Assessment Follow-Up (original) (raw)
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Increasing citizen participation in sustainability-centred environmental assessment follow-up
2004
This paper reports on research into ways to strengthen the follow-up stage of environmental assessment. Lessons are drawn from three case study communities where citizen efforts have been integral to environmental monitoring, assessment and management initiatives. Common problems and strategies from the case studies are identified and implications for environmental assessment practice are discussed. Finally, recommendations from the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve 10-year review are examined in the context of emergent themes to identify ways in which this research can be applied to the development of management strategies for biosphere reserves.
This paper discusses contemporary issues surrounding the efficiency of environmental assessment (EA) and the effectiveness of community engagement with focus on Canadian practice in the last two decades. Based on a review of the EA literature, we provide a brief overview of the benefits of effective engagement in EA processes. We then identify and discuss three enduring challenges to effective engagement amidst increasing pressures for a more efficient EA process, namely capacity, streamlining of EA processes, and the timing of EA and engagement in the resource development process. The paper concludes with key recommendations to ensure community engagement as a platform for enhancing increased inclusivity in environmental decision making. The paper is part of a special collection of brief discussion papers presented at the 2014 Walleye Seminar held in Northern Saskatchewan, which explored consultation and engagement with northern communities and stakeholders in resource development....
2015
This paper discusses contemporary issues surrounding the efficiency of environmental assessment (EA) and the effectiveness of community engagement with focus on Canadian practice in the last two decades. Based on a review of the EA literature, we provide a brief overview of the benefits of effective engagement in EA processes. We then identify and discuss three enduring challenges to effective engagement amidst increasing pressures for a more efficient EA process, namely capacity, streamlining of EA processes, and the timing of EA and engagement in the resource development process. The paper concludes with key recommendations to ensure community engagement as a platform for enhancing increased inclusivity in environmental decision making. The paper is part of a special collection of brief discussion papers presented at the 2014 Walleye Seminar held in Northern Saskatchewan, which explored consultation and engagement with northern communities and stakeholders in resource development.
Public Involvement in Environmental Assessment: The Case of the Nonparticipant
Environmental Management, 2002
Public involvement is recognized by legislators, practitioners, academics, nongovernment organizations and, most importantly, affected communities, as a fundamental component of environmental assessment (EA) processes. Experience with public involvement in EA has proven, however, that despite good intentions, there are formidable barriers to participation. This paper examines this issue, largely through a case study of a new Can$120 million hog processing facility in Brandon, Canada. Primary data were collected in three phases, using multiple methodological techniques, including document review, qualitative interviews, and a mail questionnaire. Results included a diverse list of barriers to involvement, grouped into two primary categories: structural and individual. A significant structural barrier was a belief that becoming involved would not make a difference as the ultimate decision in the case was a foregone conclusion. An important individual barrier was that people did not know about the EA. Finally, the results indicated that lack of interest was not an important reason for nonparticipation.
Community Engagement for Adaptive Management in Environmental Assessment Follow-up Final Report
2011
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (the Act) recognizes that unanticipated adverse environmental effects may arise during the implementation of projects. For that reason, the Act requires the design and implementation of follow-up programs for all projects assessed by comprehensive study or panel review, and requires that such a program be considered for projects assessed by screening. The Act also ties follow-up programs to the concept of adaptive management of environmental effects. In 2008, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (the Agency) included "adaptive management" as one of its research priority themes. Our research project set out to assess the potential for community-based environmental monitoring (CBEM) to play a role in environmental assessment (EA) follow-up programs designed with the goal of adaptive management. It was assumed that CBEM could be useful to EA follow-up because adaptive management requires a continuous stream of relevant information to support management decisions. Our research set out to assess whether CBEM could reliably provide such information. The research first undertook an extensive review of the scholarly and grey literature on CBEM. Then, the researchers prepared online surveys to elicit responses from key personnel in municipalities and environmental organizations. They also surveyed projects that had gone through comprehensive studies or panel reviews. They invited 1,725 municipalities, 273 environmental organizations, and 139 projects in total, to respond to the online survey. Unfortunately, the response rates were extremely low. After two rounds of invitations, they had received only 21 responses from municipalities, 36 responses from CBEM organizations, and 5 responses from projects. Nevertheless, we determined that we had identified a sufficient number of organizations to move on to the selection of cases for the 10 in-depth case studies that would form the main data collection effort. Our researchers contacted candidate groups by telephone and e-mail and selected the 10 CBEM groups we judged to be most successful. Researchers made field visits to 9 of the 10 groups, which allowed them to collect additional documentation and conduct face-to-face interviews with staff and volunteers. The on-site research materials include 92 recorded interviews and 14 e-mail exchanges with key informants. For each case study, we developed a short history of the organization. The questions posed to each group covered the basic scale of their monitoring effort, the types of monitoring and types of data that they collected, as well as the data collection techniques and the protocols, guidelines, and kits that they used. In addition, they asked about data quality and consistency, how the data were reported, who received and used the data, and how their data could be made more useful. The final interviews explored how the data influenced the group's decision making; what challenges they faced in working with volunteers, including how they recruited volunteers, why people volunteered for their organization, and how they trained the ones selected. This study demonstrates that there is a well-established and diverse body of literature on CBEM and an active practice of CBEM in Canada. The groups were collecting data on: water quality; benthic macro invertebrates; biodiversity; birds; fish; amphibians; and View publication stats View publication stats
Shifts in Environmental Governance in Canada: How are Citizen Environment Groups to Respond?
Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 2004
During a period when the relationship between government agencies and citizen environmental monitoring activities is shifting, this paper examines the nature of the relationship between government and citizen stewardship, by describing some citizen monitoring initiatives in Ontario, Canada. The authors begin by characterizing the changing nature of environmental governance by focusing specifically on the complexity surrounding the relationship between government administrative reform, demands for improved and increased environmental monitoring, and the role and function of citizens in monitoring activities. Then, building on the experience of one citizen-based environmental organization, Citizens' Environment Watch, as well as on two other local examples, they document possible new forms of collaboration that retain government responsibility while building community authority, knowledge, and power to improve local environmental quality. Suggested remedies include a recognition a...
Losing Its Way: Environmental Impact Assessment in British Columbia, Canada
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Environmental impact assessment is viewed as an integral planning tool with respect to the sustainable development of land and natural resources, as it has the potential to protect the different values held by individuals and groups when done appropriately. This article examines an approach by the Environmental Assessment Office of British Columbia, Canada, regarding the scope of a cumulative effect assessment for the environmental assessment process of a proposed coal mine project that is endangering a threatened herd of caribou relied upon by West Moberly First Nations (an Indigenous group in Canada) for cultural subsistence. A Canadian-based equality framework is used to ground the environmental justice analysis. We conclude that the government's application of its discretionary powers in this case resulted the cultural values of West Moberly being given a diminished level of protection and benefit of the law in comparison to the social values held by mainstream society.