Professional Practice and Ethics

Question 1

EA as a profession

Answer 1

• no certification program, just programs or courses in college
  -EA professionals come from different disciplinary backgrounds
  -guidelines followed in the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA)

Question 2

under the IAIA, how many levels of EA practitioners are there? what are they called

Answer 2

1. Practitioner- 2 years exp in IA
2. Senior Practitioner- 5 yrs exp in IA and public participation, begin mentoring
3. Lead Practitioner- 10 yr exp, active mentor

Question 3

under the IAIA, how many levels of EA asministrators are there? what are they called

Answer 3

1. Administrator: 2 yrs exp
2. Senior Administrator: 5 yrs exp
3. Lead Administrator: 10 yrs exp

Question 4

What are the possible conflicts of interest that can arise as an EA professional?

Answer 4

• $$gain, proponent pushes for project approval
  -less exp professionals are more valued that experienced ones
  -insider trading if you have knowledge on decision making
  -cutthroat consulting/competition can lead to unethical decisions
  -personal connections to project

Question 5

The effectiveness of the EA and its future

Answer 5

-The effectiveness of an EA is only as good as the people who are involved in it.

-Policy makers, the legal system, the EA practitioners and decision makers- all play an important part in the process.

-As environmental conflicts increase, there is a trend to move towards more comprehensive approaches

Question 6

what tools and techniques are implemented in each step of an IA?

Answer 6

Primary data collection field techniques:
-Physical (Soil, water and air)
-Biological
-Social

Statistical techniques:
-Probability models
-Working with data sets and simulation models

GIS: mapping spatial boundaries