An imperative for change: Towards an integrative understanding

Abstract

Concern about cumulative effects and impacts is not new, and considerable research and practical effort has been directed to improving both assessment processes and understandings. Despite progress in the understanding, research, and measurement of cumulative impacts, there are increasing numbers of cracks apparent in both processes and outcomes. These include concerns about the limited spatial and temporal scale of assessments, the inadequacies that arise when environmental, social, and health impacts are reviewed separately or are translated into regulatory or legislative frameworks that become highly prescribed and legalised, and the limitations of focusing only on large mega-projects to the exclusion of the many small projects and activities that occur much more routinely, and often in the same areas. Despite considerable experimentation and evolution, current approaches to impact assessment (spanning environmental, social, and health dynamics) are all found to be wanting, especially in relation to cumulative concerns. In this Chapter we draw upon the lesson of Justice Thomas Berger’s Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry in the 1970s, to describe a relational and integrative imperative for change that demands a fundamentally new approach to impact assessment. We argue for a revolutionary change, guided by lessons from the past, towards a more integrative and regional cumulative impacts assessment framework.