Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management

The need to advance the assessment of cumulative environmental effects beyond the individual project, to the broader regional scale and strategic tier, is well argued. However, regional strategic environmental assessment (SEA) frameworks that facilitate cumulative effects assessment (CEA) at this scale and tier have been slow to evolve. The need for such frameworks is now at the forefront of Canadian environmental assessment. This paper examines current and recent attempts at regional, and strategic-type assessment frameworks to integrate and assess cumulative environmental effects. Based on lessons from practice and interviews with practitioners and administrators, we observe that assessing cumulative effects in a regional SEA context is most effective when there is a shared regional vision about the future state of environment and development; the development of regional environmental targets, thresholds and indicators takes precedent over cumulative impact prediction; strategies can be translated into operational terms and mandates; the assessment is sensitive to key decision windows; and CEA is recognised to be more than simply the "adding up" of environmental effects. Regional SEA is the most appropriate framework within which to address cumulative effects, if the primary goal is to influence the nature and pace of conservation and development in support of regional sustainability.

Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is one of the key requirements for sustainable production and consumption, but while the Canadian chemical industry has been very successful in reducing emissions to water and air, and while non-CO₂ greenhouse gas emissions have been minimised as well, reduction of CO₂ emissions has been less successful. The industry itself forecasts that further reduction of CO₂ emissions will be minimal. On the other hand concerns about global warming are increasing, while at the same time the chemical industry increases its commitment to sustainability. Determining the carbon footprint of a chemical plant and of its products will help to identify more emissions reduction possibilities and is a necessary step for the further reduction of the chemical industry's environmental impact.

Carbon footprint determination is a corporate goal for AkzoNobel, an international coatings and specialty chemicals company, but the carbon footprint is not yet established for many products, and the information available from the chemical industry is scarce. This paper presents a case study of AkzoNobel's Saskatoon Plant and its attempt to calculate and analyse the carbon footprint of the plant and its main products which are used in the potash industry.

Cumulative effects assessments have been defined as environmental assessments done well. However, socioeconomic studies within the EIA process seldom adequately address cumulative effects. One of the reasons for this is that the socioeconomic tools used in the EIA process have not been evaluated and, where necessary, updated to address cumulative effects. This article evaluates current and potential tools, from a variety of paradigms, including economic, industrial ecology and systems theory. An unexpected result was that traditional economic appraisal techniques such as CBA performed quite well against identified criteria. In addition, a number of other newer techniques were also found to be suitable. The article concludes with recommendations on how to practically address cumulative effects in socioeconomic studies.

Besides other approaches, interviewing main actors (decision-makers, consultants, developers) can provide valuable information about their subjective attitude as well as indicate probable weak areas and help in formulation of strategy for further research and EIA system development. This paper considers results of the survey conducted in Estonia in early 2008 as a part of national EIA system analysis. The survey covered main actors' contentment with different aspects such as EIA legislation, public participation, EIA outcomes, experts' qualification and impartiality, etc. As evidenced by what they have pointed out, the EIA system leaves much to be desired. All actors seemed to be worried about the low effectiveness of EIA. Deficiencies in public participation were also brought forward. Decision-makers trusted consultants' qualifications, but many of them felt that consultants were biased. However, the obtained results did not indicate any correlation between expert bias and contentment with EIA outcomes, perceived by decision-makers.

Rivers provide us with general life support, water supply, transportation, waste assimilation, and a wide array of recreation and tourism activities. However, due to undervaluation of the functions of rivers and river ecosystems, rivers of the world have been overexploited or degraded. To tackle the problem of undervaluation, this study measures the benefits of Ping River quality improvement using the contingent valuation method (CVM). The study estimates the lower-bound and higher-bound annual benefits gained by the residents of Chiang Mai District from the river quality improvement as 42,453,000 THB (1.25 million USD) and 102,835,317 THB (3 million USD), respectively. Moreover, in an attempt to explain the determinants of willingness to pay (WTP) statements, it was found that both behavioural and attitudinal factors affect WTP positively. The study also found distance decay, where WTP statements decreased with increased distance. And rather interestingly, male respondents tend to pay more than their female counterparts. Two other socioeconomic factors which affected WTP positively and significantly are education, partly because it can lead to a well paying and stable job, and normally raises the awareness of citizens towards environmental conservation, as well as income.