Thomas Gunton

The role of collaboration in environmental management: an evaluation of land and resource planning in British Columbia

Recent literature on land-use planning proposes the use of innovative collaborative planning (CP) models to resolve planning disputes. This paper uses a participant survey based on 25 evaluative criteria to evaluate an application of CP to land-use planning in British Columbia, Canada. The results show that CP is an effective means of resolving environmental conflict and produces significant additional benefits such as improved stakeholder relations, skills, and knowledge. The case study evaluation also identifies the keys to successful CP management including factors related to process design and external circumstances.

Natural Resources and Regional Development: An Assessment of Dependency and Comparative Advantage Paradigms

Abstract The role of natural resources in regional development is the subject of a debate between dependency theorists, who argue that natural resources impede development, and comparative-advantage theorists, who argue that resources can expedite development. This debate is assessed by a case study analysis of the impact of resource development on a regional economy. The case study uses a model to estimate the comparative advantage of the resource sector. The results show that natural resources have the potential to provide a significant comparative advantage relative to other economic sectors by virtue of generating resource rent, which is a surplus above normal returns to other factors of production. The case study also shows that there are considerable risks in resource-led growth, including the propensity to dissipate rent and increase community instability by building surplus capacity. These risks are amenable to mitigation because they are largely the result of poor management of resource development. The case study demonstrates that the most productive analytical approach for understanding the role of natural resources in the development process is a synthetic approach, which combines the insights of the dependency and comparative-advantage paradigms into a unified framework. It also demonstrates that the concept of resource rent, which has frequently been ignored in development theory, must be reintegrated into the unified framework to improve the understanding of the role of natural resources in the regional development process.

Collaborative Planning in Complex Stakeholder Environments: An Evaluation of a Two-Tiered Collaborative Planning Model

An innovative model of collaborative planning that delegates responsibility for plan preparation to a two-tier stakeholder process to accommodate the special position of aboriginal groups is evaluated based on a participant survey using 25 evaluative criteria. The two-tier collaborative model was comprised of one negotiating table involving all stakeholders and First Nations that sent recommendations to a second negotiating table comprised of only First Nations and government. The two-tier model was used to develop a plan for the internationally significant Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia, Canada. The two-tier process reached a consensus agreement resulting in significant changes to land use and regional governance structures in the study area. Overall, the results show that a two-tier model can help collaborative planning be successful in complex stakeholder environments involving significant differences in values, culture, and legal entitlement.

Evaluation of the assessment process for major projects: a case study of oil and gas pipelines in Canada

Over the next several decades, oil and gas production in Canada is expected to increase to meet growing demand in the United States and the Asia Pacific Region. Currently, eight major pipeline projects are being proposed in Canada to transport increased oil and gas production to market. This paper reviews potential impacts of the pipeline projects and develops a methodology for evaluating the current regime for assessing and managing project impacts based on best practices criteria. The results of the evaluation show that only three of 14 best practices criteria are met. The most significant deficiencies are: lack of clear decision-making criteria and methods; absence of decision-making processes that contain a legal obligation to provide compensation to those negatively affected by a project and ensure project benefits are equitably distributed; and no provision for comparative evaluation of competing projects. This paper identifies improvements required in environmental assessment and planning processes.

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.

Energy rent and public policy: an analysis of the Canadian coal industry

Abstract This paper analyses issues in resource rent through a case study of the Canadian coal industry. A model of the coal industry is constructed to estimate the magnitude of rent and distribution of coal rent between government and industry over the 30-year period from 1970 to 2000. Disaggregation of results by coal sector shows that rent varied widely, with one sector generating substantial rent and other sectors incurring large losses. The pattern of development of the coal sector followed what can be termed a “rent dissipation cycle” in which the generation of rent in the profitable sector created excessively optimistic expectations that encouraged new entrants to dissipate rent by developing uneconomic capacity. The analysis also shows that the system used to collect rent was ineffective. The public owner collected only one-third of the rent on the profitable mines and collected royalty revenue from the unprofitable mines even though no rent was generated. The case study illustrates that improvements in private sector planning based on a better appreciation of resource market fundamentals, elimination of government subsidies that encourage uneconomic expansion and more effective rent collection are all needed to avoid rent dissipation and increase the benefits of energy development in producing jurisdictions. The study also illustrates that estimates of rent in the resource sector should disaggregate results by sector and make adjustments for market imperfections to accurately assess the magnitude of potential rent.

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.

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.