Murray B. Rutherford

Towards a new supraregulatory approach to environmental assessment in Northern Canada

In some jurisdictions in northern Canada, co-managed environmental assessment (EA) processes, such as that of the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (MVEIRB), have been adopted. In these same jurisdictions, Aboriginal communities are increasingly negotiating private agreements with mining project proponents as a means of managing impacts and ensuring that local communities secure benefits from the developments. This paper offers a formal assessment of the MVEIRB EA process, to determine whether the rise of private agreements might be attributable partly to deficiencies in the EA process. While the MVEIRB EA process excels in its use of traditional and local knowledge, and its fair and rigorous decision-making process, significant deficiencies remain, as the EA process does not adequately consider benefits, provide project-specific follow-up, or build trust and capacity among stakeholders. We argue that these deficiencies help to explain the rise of supraregulatory agreements; we suggest further research to assess their effectiveness for achieving positive outcomes.

College and University Environmental Programs as a Policy Problem (Part 1): Integrating Knowledge, Education, and Action for a Better World?

The environmental sciences/studies movement, with more than 1000 programs at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, is unified by a common interest—ameliorating environmental problems through empirical enquiry and analytic judgment. Unfortunately, environmental programs have struggled in their efforts to integrate knowledge across disciplines and educate students to become sound problem solvers and leaders. We examine the environmental program movement as a policy problem, looking at overall goals, mapping trends in relation to those goals, identifying the underlying factors contributing to trends, and projecting the future. We argue that despite its shared common interest, the environmental program movement is disparate and fragmented by goal ambiguity, positivistic disciplinary approaches, and poorly rationalized curricula, pedagogies, and educational philosophies. We discuss these challenges and the nature of the changes that are needed in order to overcome them. In a subsequent article (Part 2) we propose specific strategies for improvement.

College and University Environmental Programs as a Policy Problem (Part 2): Strategies for Improvement

Environmental studies and environmental sciences programs in American and Canadian colleges and universities seek to ameliorate environmental problems through empirical enquiry and analytic judgment. In a companion article (Part 1) we describe the environmental program movement (EPM) and discuss factors that have hindered its performance. Here, we complete our analysis by proposing strategies for improvement. We recommend that environmental programs re-organize around three principles. First, adopt as an overriding goal the concept of human dignity—defined as freedom and social justice in healthy, sustainable environments. This clear higher-order goal captures the human and environmental aspirations of the EPM and would provide a more coherent direction for the efforts of diverse participants. Second, employ an explicit, genuinely interdisciplinary analytical framework that facilitates the use of multiple methods to investigate and address environmental and social problems in context. Third, develop educational programs and applied experiences that provide students with the technical knowledge, powers of observation, critical thinking skills and management acumen required for them to become effective professionals and leaders. Organizing around these three principles would build unity in the EPM while at the same time capitalizing on the strengths of the many disciplines and diverse local conditions involved.

A methodology for evaluating environmental planning systems: a case study of Canada.

Sustainable environmental management is contingent on having an effective environmental planning system. A new methodology for designing and evaluating environmental planning systems is described and applied to a case study evaluation of the Canadian environmental planning process. The methodology is based on eight international best practice principles for environmental planning and 45 indicators. The research illustrates the benefits of the evaluation methodology in identifying how to improve environmental planning systems to achieve desired results. The methodology is applicable to a wide variety of jurisdictions.

Zoning in national parks: are Canadian zoning practices outdated?

Zoning is a common tool in protected areas, especially for visitor management purposes. Parks Canada has a long-established national zoning framework for all national parks. At the operational level, planners use this framework to spatially delineate each park into areas with varying levels of ecological integrity and human activity. After Parks Canadas recent major restructuring, and a new streamlined management planning process embedded in ecosystem management, it is important to examine if, or to what extent, zoning is effective in advancing the agencys goals. We interviewed Parks Canada employees about their perspectives on zoning. In their perception, the rigid definition of zones, fundamental differences between southern and northern parks, and the coexistence of the historical zoning framework with modern management policies constituted major challenges at the national or constitutive level. At the operational level, they were concerned about a status quo bias in zoning, purposeful delays in implementing zoning, and the absence of explicit evaluation of park zoning processes and outcomes. Zoning remains a necessary, albeit not central, component of the management planning process, but provides only crude spatial direction for core management activities. The relevance of zoning for other parks, and for sustainable tourism strategies is discussed.

Good practices for environmental assessment

Environmental assessment (EA) has emerged in the last five decades as one of the primary management tools that governments use to protect the environment. However, despite substantial theoretical development and practical experience, there are concerns that EA is not meeting its objectives. This article develops a set of good practices to improve EA. An integrated list of proposed good practices is developed based on a literature review of impact assessment research and related fields of study. The practices are then evaluated by surveying experts and practitioners involved in EA of tar sands (also known as oil sands) development in Canada. In all, 74 practices grouped under 22 themes are recommended to improve EA. Key unresolved issues in EA requiring future research are identified.

Profiling Farmers’ Preferences about Drought Response Policies Using a Choice Experiment in the Okanagan Basin, Canada

Farmers can play a crucial role in water management during water shortages, yet little is known concerning the preferences of farmers for various options in drought response planning. In this paper we demonstrate the use of a discrete choice experiment to investigate the preferences of farmers about options for drought response policies in the Okanagan region of British Columbia, Canada. In the choice experiment, three policy instruments were varied across possible drought response plans: mandatory reductions in water supply, reallocation of entitlements to available water, and opportunities for water trading. Results show that participating farmers, as a whole, were more likely to accept drought response plans with moderate levels of mandatory water reductions, water allocations according to the sensitivity of crops to water loss, and opportunities for water trading between farmers. When analyzed according to the primary crop cultivated, grape growers were more likely to prefer drought response plans with opportunities for water trading between all water users, whereas ranchers were more likely to prefer drought response plans that feature high levels of mandatory water reductions. We contrast our findings with preconceptions about farmers’ preferences concerning water use policies. We also discuss broader implications of the research, including the usefulness of choice experiments for informing the development of effective drought response policies.

A Method for Evaluating Environmental Assessment Systems

This paper outlines a method for evaluating environmental assessment (EA) systems called the environmental assessment system evaluation method. The method consists of five steps: (1) develop an initial list of good practices based on a literature review; (2) validate and adjust the practices by surveying experts and stakeholders; (3) describe the EA system; (4) use the good practices to evaluate the EA system through surveying EA participants and reviewing relevant documentation; and (5) identify changes to address deficiencies. The method provides a comprehensive and transparent evaluation that identifies strengths and weaknesses and means of improvement. The evaluation method is tested by applying it in a case study evaluation of the EA system for bitumen development in Canada.