Impact assessments and the new Arctic geo-environment

Abstract

This chapter discusses impact assessment on both sides of the Atlantic, focusing on its current use in, and potential for, the Arctic region. There is a large body of information regarding the use of impact assessments, primarily as a tool for environmental analysis, but also in a lesser capacity for multinational collaboration. As a result of climate change, regardless of whether impact assessment as a regulatory mechanism becomes legally enforceable, this instrument has an opportunity for an increasingly useful role in pan-Arctic cooperation. The chapter concludes with a discussion on how impact assessments can be used as a mechanism to view the Arctic and address environmental problems in a new 'geo-environmental' context.