The Scope and Focus of Cumulative Effects and Regional Assessment

• Author: Jill Blakley, Bram Noble, and Jason MacLean
• Pages: 241-256

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The Scope and Focus of Cumulative Eects

and Regional Assessment

Jill Blakley, Bram Noble, and Jason MacLean

A. INTRODUCTION

The assessment of cumulative environmental eects has been a require-

ment for project proponents since impact assessment legislation was

rst introduced in Canada in 1995. Simply dened, cumulative eects

assessment (CEA) is a systematic process for identifying, analyzing,

and evaluating the cumulative eects associated with a project.1 The

goals of CEA are somewhat more complex, but the overall thrust of

practice within a regulatory context is to support project-based impact

assessment and decision making. In principle, this is achieved by deter-

mining whether or not valued components of the biophysical or social

environment likely to be impacted by a proposed project are also likely

to be impacted by the eects of other known past, present, or future

developments or disturbances in the project’s regional environment.

A requirement for CEA has been included in each version of federal

impact assessment legislation in Canada, but it is also routinely prac-

ticed in the context of non-regulatory, regional assessments and land

use planning initiatives. Although the performance of CEA in Canada

and abroad has tended to receive more criticism than praise, the need

for eective CEA processes has never been stronger. This is due in part

1 “Canada-Wide Denitions and Principles for Cumulative Eects” (2014), online (pdf):

Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment www.ccme.ca/les/Resources/enviro_

assessment/CE%20Denitions%20and%20Principles%201.0%20EN.pdf.

      242

to a growing awareness of novel, complex, and connected global risks

(sometimes called “Anthropocene risks”2) and an increased policy and

legal focus on issues such as climate change, ocean acidication, loss of

biodiversity, freshwater pollution and shortages, and Indigenous rights.

Canada’s Impact Assessment Act (IAA)3 carries with it an expectation

that CEA would be both strengthened for project-based reviews and

more connected with both regional and strategic environmental assess-

ments. This chapter examines the provisions for cumulative eects and

regional assessment under the IAA in light of established standards and

suggests actions needed to ensure eective implementation through

regulations, policies, and guidance. In Section B, we summarize what

the IAA says about cumulative eects and regional assessment. In Sec-

tion C, we evaluate these provisions with respect to internationally

peer-reviewed literature and other established guidance for good-prac-

tice cumulative eects and regional assessment. Finally, in Section D,

we discuss both opportunities and challenges to strengthen implemen-

tation of the IAA, concluding that several steps can be taken to do so. In

Chapter 17, we explore provisions for strategic environmental assess-

ment more closely.

B. THE IAA’S CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ASSESSMENT AND REGIONAL

ASSESSMENT SECTIONS

The Act contains several sections that directly mention both cumulative

eects and regional assessment. The CEA-related provisions include

the purposes of the Act4 and the factors to be considered in impact

assessment.5 Cumulative eects are also indirectly referenced in the

denition of “environment” in the IAA.6 Provisions related to regional

assessment include the Act’s preamble, the purposes of the Act, section

6(1)(m), and sections 92 and 93(1), which outline the role of the federal

2 Victor Galaz, “Anthropocene Risks: Social Scientists Need to Step Up to the Challenge”

The Guardian (12 November 2014), online: www.theguardian.com/science/political-

science/2014/nov/12/anthropocene-risks-social-scientists-need-to-step-up-to-the-

challenge.

3 SC 2019, c 28, s 1.

4 Ibid at s 6(1)(m).

5 Ibid at s 22(1)(a)(ii).

6 Ibid at s 2.