Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management

Living within the limits imposed by a finite earth may be the predominant challenge of the 21st century; however there is no agreement on what this means economically or politically. Continually increasing population and per capita consumption within a finite environment is a biologic impossibility. Today many of nature's resources are being harvested at rates where growth is uneconomic and damaging to future production.

This paper explores linkages between economics, society and nature as complex adaptive systems in a world of uncertainty. To understand that these self organising systems exist in equilibrium, dependent on feedback loops, is to understand that as humanity destroys system equilibrium we push the entire system to the edge of criticality and perhaps chaos. Consequences of criticality and chaos theory are now thought to follow power laws; wherein the size of any single system disruption is impossible to predict, especially when inter-relationships with other systems are not understood. Understanding the biosphere from a holistic perspective is critical when considering priorities and making wise choices.

Thoughts of some environmental thinkers are reviewed for a perspective on the meaning of true sustainability, where it may lead and how we must redesign human systems to adapt to a sustainable world. The authors believe holism exists; that similarities with other fields of study exist in the environmental issues of today; and, that ideas and solutions may be also found in unexpected places. Although no recommendations are made it is hoped that interest is stimulated in answering the question when are we going to act collectively to address some of the present day myriad issues.

The lack of early integration with the planning and decision-making process has been a major problem in environmental assessment. Traditional project-based environmental impact assessment has inadequate incentives and capacities to incorporate critical environmental impacts at a broader temporal or spatial scale. While many applications have been geared towards implementing project-level environmental assessments, comparatively little research has been done to determine how to incorporate strategically critical environmental impacts into local comprehensive land use planning. Although the principles of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) are not yet required in local comprehensive land use planning in the United States, these principles create a theoretical framework for local environmental assessment. This study builds a theoretical framework for more effectively integrating the principles of strategic environmental assessment into local comprehensive land use plans. The empirical case study results indicate that California local jurisdictions did not fully integrated the SEA principles into their local plans.

The Environmental Assessment (EA) process should involve the generation of testable predictions generated using clearly stated methods and followed by the collection of environmental monitoring data. Follow-up programs should aim to determine the accuracy of the initial predictions. We examined the follow-up process for six oil and gas extraction projects in eastern Canada with respect to assessing batch spill (< 50 barrels of hydrocarbons and synthetic hydrocarbons) predictions. For three projects we compared oil spill frequency predictions to observed data. All three projects exceeded their predicted frequencies and two projects by ratios (actual to predicted) greater than six. Spill histories from earlier projects, clearly exceeding predictions of future projects, are not provided in subsequent oil and gas EAs for the region, when there were opportunities to do so. We provide recommendations on how to strengthen the quality of EAs and increase protection of the marine environment in Canada.

Water harvesting is a must and not an option for Jordan in the near future. The available water resources are limited and barely satisfy the current growing demands. In the basalt aquifer/NE of Jordan, there is a possibility to construct water harvesting ponds to assist the livestock owners in villages and towns in watering their livestock which will ease the pressure on the existing water resources. This research was based on the use of GIS techniques to select the optimum sites for water harvesting ponds within the basalt aquifer. Buffering, Union and arithmetic operations in GIS were all used in analysing the data based on different socio-economic and physical criteria. The outcomes of the GIS analysis resulted in selecting 72 suitable sites within the study area. These sites could be used as a guideline to the decision makers in Jordan when they decided to establish a water harvesting pond in the area. This will save time and money which could be directed to the construction of the actual water harvesting ponds.