Cumulative Effects Research: Achievements, Status, Directions And Challenges In The Canadian Context

This paper reflects on the state of cumulative effects research in Canada and future directions and challenges. The assessment and management of cumulative effects has been an enduring theme in the impact assessment literature, and scholars have consistently identified the challenges to assessing and managing cumulative effects under regulatory, project-based impact assessment. Current research on cumulative effects is focused largely on the development of frameworks and methodologies to advance cumulative effects assessment and management from individual projects to broader regional scales, and on developing the science and tools for assessing and monitoring cumulative effects. Ensuring that scholarly research continues to shape cumulative effects practice in the future requires that scholars not only attempt to improve practice under current existing regulatory processes, but also push the boundaries to ensure that decision processes also evolve so as to be accommodating of new and innovative approaches to cumulative effects at regional scales. This requires interdisciplinary approaches and sustained research funding, both of which present practical challenges to scholars, and research programmes that are developed in collaboration with industry, governments and communities.