Developing an Approach to Cumulative Effects Assessment in the Moose River Basin
Environmental Information Partnership; Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources; Environment Canada
ESSA was engaged to identify and recommend approaches or models suitable for assessing cumulative environmental effects resulting from development activities in the Moose River Basin, with particular emphasis on the aquatic ecosystem. In the first phase of the project, we conducted a comprehensive review and synthesis of the state-of-science understanding of cumulative effects assessment (CEA) concepts, theory, and methodologies.
The resulting summary document served as background material for the second phase of the work in which ESSA’s project team facilitated a three-day workshop which brought together expertise in the areas of CEA, the Moose River Basin, aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and land-use planning. Experts from federal and provincial government agencies, First Nations, industry, private sector consultants, and academia were present. The workshop succeeded in identifying a number of important considerations (approach, resources, data needs) for both project-specific (analytical) and basin-wide (planning) CEA, as well as sketching out a procedural framework for CEA in the Moose River Basin.