6 - Assessing Impact Flashcards
What are the 3 main things to predict?
- Project impacts on the environment
- Environment impacts on the Project
- Cumulative effects
What are environmental impacts also referred to as?
Environmental Risks
What are the 5 impacts of the environment on a project?
- Temperature
- Water levels
- Precipitation Patterns
- Storm Severity
- Sensitivity to change
What are 5 things to know when predicting impacts of a project?
- Understanding of proposed project.
- Outcomes of similar projects
- Past, present, or approved projects
- Interacting environmental & socio-economic components
- Receptors response to change
What is a Receptor?
A component of the natural or human environment that is measurably affected by the project and which forms an endpoint of a given effect pathway
True or False: There is no single set of methods, laws or regulations that prescribe HOW impact predictions should be made.
True
Practices are currently moving beyond predicting _________ components to more _________ concepts.
individual, holistic
What are 3 key components of addressing Impact?
- Accuracy & Precision
- Analogue Approaches
- Expert Judgement
What does accuracy refer to in Impact Methods?
… the extent of a system-wide bias in a prediction, or the closeness of a predicted value to the true or actual value
What does Precision refer to in Impact Methods?
… the level of preciseness of exactness associated with an impact prediction.
What are 3 key benefits of using Analogue Approaches for Impact Methods?
- Learning from a similar project and past project experiences
- Drawing upon similar projects
- Challenging in transferring outcomes from one context to another
Expert Judgement for Impact Methods involves what 3 considerations?
- No standard by which judgement is integrated into an EA
- No specific criteria as to what constitutes an expert
- Good expert judgement will be substantiated with evidence, explicitly in its uncertainties including confidence levels and assumptions.
What are 4 main types of Modelling and Extrapolation of Impact Methods?
- Balance Models
- Statistical Models
- Spatial Models
- Simplification
What do Balance Methods use?
They identify inputs and outputs for specified components and outputs for an environmental system
What methods do Statistical Models use?
They use extrapolations or trend analysis based on assumptions about fundamental relationships or correlations underlying an observed phenomenon.
What do Spatial Models use?
They use geographic information systems to overlay approaches or potential outcomes.
Distinguish between “environmental change” and “environmental effect”:
Environmental change refers to alterations in the environment over time, while environmental effect pertains to the specific consequences of a project or action on the environment.
Identify three types of impacts that need to be predicted in an environmental assessment (EA):
- Project on the environment
- Environment on the project
- Cumulative effects
Explain the challenges of using analogue approaches for impact prediction:
- Contextual differences
- Limited availability of comparable projects
- Difficulty in transferring outcomes
Describe the key elements of an effective expert judgment in an EA:
- Evidence substantiation
- Clear articulation of uncertainties
- Confidence levels and assumptions
- Transparency in the expert’s qualifications
Define “threshold-based maximal allowable effects levels” and provide an example:
… they are pre-determined limits on the acceptable level of change caused by a project.
For example, a project may stipulate that noise levels will not exceed a certain decibel limit at nearby residences.
Explain the concept of the hierarchy of mitigation and list the levels within it.
The hierarchy of mitigation prioritizes impact management strategies. It includes: Avoidance then mitigation, restoration, and offsetting/compensation.
Provide two examples of mitigation measures for a hypothetical road construction project.
- install sediment fences to minimize erosion and sedimentation and
- implement a traffic management plan to reduce noise and disruption for nearby residents.
Differentiate between “offsetting” and “compensation” in the context of impact management:
Offsetting involves creating or restoring equivalent environmental values at a different location to compensate for unavoidable impacts, while compensation typically involves financial or other benefits to those affected.
