Addressing Cumulative Effects through an Indigenous-led Assessment Process

Abstract

Cumulative effects assessments are often expected to include an analysis of environmental and social effects despite a relative lack of clarity around how include a broad spectrum of social and cultural impacts. In Canda, these expectations are evolving in part in response to the need to consider the impacts of development on Indigenous communities, and the emergence of Indigenous-led Led Impact Assessment. Led by a team from the Tŝilhqot’in National Government and the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Environmental Assessment Research, this project explored how to improve processes for assessing cumulative effects drawing from an Indigenous-led approach. We identify six guiding principles, and discuss how they are integrated in the Tŝilhqot’in Nation’s evolving Impact Assessment and Cumulative Effects Assessment processes.

Full text

Environmental Management
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-024-02084-z
Addressing Cumulative Effects through an Indigenous-led
Assessment Process
Lauren M. Arnold 1●Kevin Hanna1●Cynthia Fell2●JP Laplante2
Received: 28 August 2024 / Accepted: 27 October 2024
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2024
Abstract
Cumulative effects assessments are often expected to include an analysis of environmental and social effects despite a
relative lack of clarity around how include a broad spectrum of social and cultural impacts. In Canda, these expectations are
evolving in part in response to the need to consider the impacts of development on Indigenous communities, and the
emergence of Indigenous-led Led Impact Assessment. Led by a team from the Ts
ilhqot’in National Government and the
University of British Columbia’s Centre for Environmental Assessment Research, this project explored how to improve
processes for assessing cumulative effects drawing from an Indigenous-led approach. We identify six guiding principles, and
discuss how they are integrated in the Ts
ilhqot’in Nation’s evolving Impact Assessment and Cumulative Effects Assessment
processes.
Keywords Cumulative effects assessment ●Indigenous-led impact assessment ●Impact assessment ●Cumulative social
effects
Introduction
Environmental and social impacts from multiple develop-
ment projects and human activities combine and interact
with each other across space and time. Such cumulative
effects are an often-cited motivation for improving envir-
onmental management, but putting Cumulative Effects
Assessment (CEA) into practice, particularly as part of
project-based Impact Assessment (IA), has been difficult.
Several challenges have been noted repeatedly over four
decades of international research and practice, including
lack of clarity around defining cumulative effects (Blakley
and Russell 2021), inadequate data and information,
inconsistent or limited guidance or leadership and capacity
to conduct CEA (Blakley and Russell 2021), and weak
connections to decision-making and planning at the project
and broader landscape levels (Blakely 2021; Willsteed et al.
2023).
In many international contexts, and certainly in Canada,
cumulative effects are also a particularly important issue for
Indigenous communities confronted with industrial devel-
opment on their territories, and the resulting impacts on
their environmental and social systems and ability to exer-
cise their rights and protect their interests (Muir 2022).
Within Canada there has been a gradual recognition of
Indigenous rights in IA and an evolution of best practice to
include Indigenous participation and knowledge, though the
nature of that participation and the extent to which Indi-
genous knowledge is meaningfully included in assessment
and decision-making is often questioned (Mantyka-Pringle
et al. 2017; Moore et al., 2017; Sandlos and Keeling 2016).
Understanding cumulative impacts and the legacy of
impacts on Indigenous peoples, their lands, rights, and lives
is often a priority for Indigenous Nations, and also often a
central part of public debate and discussion around projects
(Arnold et al. 2022a; Booth and Skelton 2011; Kunkel
2017; Ross 1990; Tollefson and Wipond 1998).
Indigenous-led IA approaches, which are designed and
carried out by Indigenous governing bodies according to
their own values and priorities, are becoming increasingly
common across the country. There is a diversity of models
and practical implications for Indigenous-led IA. In case
*Lauren M. Arnold
lmarnold@student.ubc.ca
Cynthia Fell
impactassessment@tsilhqotin.ca
1Centre for Environmental Assessment Research, University of
British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada
2Ts
ilhqot’in National Government, Williams Lake, BC, Canada
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