Peter R. Mulvihill

Expanding the scoping community

Abstract This article, written from a Canadian perspective, examines the prospect of expanded and improved scoping through more explicit attention to scenario-based input and better use of communication technology. Key challenges and issues surrounding scoping are discussed. The potential relationship between scoping and scenario-based input is explored. Applications of scenario elements and techniques are discussed with reference to examples of project-oriented and strategic EA in Canada. The full potential value of using scenario techniques in scoping is unclear at this point but appears promising and worthy of increased experimentation.

Institutional requirements for adaptive EIA: The kativik environmental quality commission

Abstract The need for adaptive approaches to environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been well-argued in recent years (Holling 1978; Jacobs and Kemp 1987; Fenge 1985; Fenge and Rees 1987). Holling (1978) has advocated EIA systems which are designed and implemented in such ways that they may adapt to continual uncertainty and take advantage of surprise, thus converting problems into opportunities. Canadian EIA researchers have criticized current EIA processes for their lack of effectiveness, efficiency and fairness, the infrequency and inconsistency of their application and their lack of integration with other processes such as planning, regulation and monitoring (Gibson and Patterson 1985; Gibson et al. 1987, Gibson 1988; Fenge 1985; Fenge and Rees 1987; Lang and Armour 1981; Rees 1981). This paper is devoted mainly to exploring the potential for these, and other common shortcomings of EIA, to be addressed through more adaptive approaches.

Disaster incubation, cumulative impacts and the urban/ex-urban/rural dynamic

Abstract This article explores environmental impacts and risks that can accumulate in rural and ex-urban areas and regions and their relation to urban and global development forces. Two Southern Ontario cases are examined: an area level water disaster and cumulative change at the regional level. The role of disaster incubation analysis and advanced environmental assessment tools are discussed in terms of their potential to contribute to more enlightened and effective assessment and planning processes. It is concluded that conventional approaches to EA and planning are characteristically deficient in addressing the full range of impacts and risks, and particularly those originating from pathogens, dispersed and insidious sources. Rigorous application of disaster incubation analysis and more advanced forms of EA has considerable potential to influence a different pattern of planning and decision making.

STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND ADVANCED RENEWABLE ENERGY IN ONTARIO: MOVING FORWARD OR BLOWING IN THE WIND?

This article explores the Canadian province of Ontarios approach to environmental assessment and SEA to electricity issues, its efforts to adapt these processes to facilitate the rapid development of renewable energy sources, and the potential contributions that an SEA approach might have made to these efforts. The provinces experience may carry useful lessons for other jurisdictions considering the interplay between environmental assessment processes and strategies designed to move energy systems in the direction of greater sustainability.

A Conceptual Framework for Environmental history in Canada's North

A librarys worth of books has been written on the history of northern Canada, most of them narratives, and most of which feature the environment, either as a main protagonist, or at least as a bit player. But with a few honorable exceptions, of which Jamie Bastedos highly readable book on the Northwest Territories is a recent example, none have analyzed it., There are substantial bodies of both historical and environmental literature pertaining to Canadas north, but the two fields have yet to be combined into a mature and coherent tradition. The formal environmental history of Canadas north is still very much in the developmental stage. This article proposes and discusses critical factors and themes-a preliminary conceptual framework-to be considered in the development of approaches to environmental history in Canadas north. The proposed conceptual framework consists of five elements: i) analysis of existing prominent approaches to environmental history and how they may be adapted to the northern context; 2) discussion and analysis of defining characteristics and prevailing myths about the Canadian North; 3) discussion and analysis of the Turner and Metropolitan theses as they relate to northern environmental history; 4) overview and analysis of major northern environmental trends and events; 5) introduction of four interrelated themes for northern Canadian environmental history. The proposed framework is more selective than comprehensive. Our intent is to review some of the major recurring concepts relating to the Canadian North, and venture some ideas for discussion by environmental historians.

Fostering Sustainability in Headwaters Country: Using Bioregional and Social Capital Strategies in Support of Sustainability

Abstract Many of Canadas ex-urban and rural areas face a daunting array of sustainability challenges. In developing effective sustainability strategies, these areas must rely heavily upon local resources and capacities and existing social capital. Part of the solution for these areas may lie in multi-stakeholder collaborative approaches built on sustainability principles and strategies. These include the engagement and mobilization of civil society networks; the cultivation of strategic partnerships among key stakeholders in civil society, the private sector and government; and long-term local programmes of research, education and advocacy that are supportive of sustainability. This article describes and analyses a Canadian case study—Dufferin County, part of the Headwaters Country region in southern Ontario—in which a multi-stakeholder, civil society based approach to fostering sustainability is currently unfolding. The ideological and theoretical underpinnings of the initiative are explored, key process-oriented and substantive challenges to the approach are analysed and action research strategies are discussed.

Emerging dynamics of environmental governance in northern post-productivist regions

ABSTRACT The northern, resource-dependent regions of Canada have long faced distinctive social, economic, and environmental challenges and vulnerabilities. However, these regions and communities increasingly find themselves in a transitional and post-productivist context – the implications of which are largely unclear. Therefore, research is needed to identify the current and emerging challenges facing such regions and how environmental governance and planning must adjust to meet these challenges. We utilise the case study of the Northeast Superior region of Ontario to identify and analyse the dynamics developing in post-productivist, resource-dependent regions and what the implications may be for environmental governance. Several key themes and issues that emerged include an increasingly pluralistic context, new regionalism and north–south tensions, First Nation initiatives and power imbalances, and northern identities which are tied to ideas of historical resource-dependence, remoteness, and intimate and complex links to the landscape, all of which inform environmental governance and sustainability debates. As a result, the Northeast Superior case provides insight into these ongoing dynamics which encompass individuals, government, industry, organisations, and the landscape, with the resultant lessons being transferable to initiatives in other northern, remote, and circumpolar regions.