Viewpoint

C u l t u r a l I m p a c t s o f E n v i r o n m e n t a l A s s e s s m e n t

I Peter Jacobs

Peter ]acobs has served as Chairman of the Public Review Phase oJ the Lancaster Sound Regional Study in the Canadian Arctic and is Chairman o] the Kativik Environmental Quality Commission responsible ]or the review o] the social and physical impacts oJ development projects in Northern Quebec. He is Chairman oJ the Environmental Plan- ning Commission o] IUCN and ProJes- sot oJ Landscape Architecture at the Universitd de Montreal.

T w o U n i t e d N a t i o n s D e v e l o p m e n t Decades (1960-1980) have come and gone, yet very little development has been achieved in those countries where the vast majori ty of the popula t ion is poor and rural-based.

In the last decade, the Human Environment Conference was held in S tockholm fol lowed by the H u m a n Habitat Conference held in Vancouver. The United Nations Environment Pro- gramme (UNEP) was launched as was U N E S C O ' s I n t e r g o v e r n m e n t a l Pro- gramme on Man and the Biosphere. All of these wor ld-wide p rog rams were designed, in part, to support economic development on a "sound ecological basis." Yet, within the framework of rural-based action, nature conservation is viewed frequently as a means of reducing the very resource base upon which the rural communi ty depends for its survival.

The World Conservation Strategy In 1980, the World Conservation Strategy (WCS) was prepared by the International

Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in col- laborat ion with UNEP, the World Wild- life Federation (WWF), the Food and Agriculture Organizat ion (FAO), and UNESCO. The subtitle of this bold at- tempt to synthesize the development and environment decades is perhaps more s i g n i f i c a n t t han the t i t le l Liv ing Resource Conservation /or Sustainable Development proposes a symbiotic rela- t i onsh ip between two concepts pre- viously considered as incompat ib le - - conservat ion and development . T h e WCS states quite succinctly that: "The vicious circle by which poverty causes ecological degradation which in turn leads to more poverty can be broken only by development. But if it is not to be

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self-defeating, it must be development that is sus ta inable- -and conservation helps make it so."

The development process is a dynamic one, and in some cases we learn, after the fact, that a development pro- posal may have unan t i c ipa t ed and extremely positive effects. The provision of family-sized biogas plants in China resulted in reduced incidence of stomach disorders; a positive impact on environ- mental health directly l inked to a pro- gram to provide energy. The reverse is equally possible. In Northern Quebec, successive manipu la t ion of rivers that flow into the James Bay region may not create significant impacts on the basis of success ive a n d i n d e p e n d e n t i m p a c t sudies. However, the accumulative im- pact on marine life and the human settle- ments that depend on the harvest of this life may be significant.

In fact, the WCS stresses the evolu- tionary nature of use a l locat ion--uses that may need to be modified in the l ight of events, new knowledge, and changes in perceived needs, aspirations, and values. It is precisely these changes that render any static model of the environmental p lann ing process ineffective with respect to the problems of renewable resource conservat ion--par t icular ly in the face of poverty and starvation. Further, within the context of the environmental plan- ning process, the increased use of envi- ronmental impact statements and their assessment is a two-edged sword. There is the very real risk that impact statements and their assessment may be perceived as not only necessary but suHicient to deal with the integration of environmental concerns within development proposals. There are some fundamental reasons why environmental impact assessments were never intended to represent the sum total of environmental concerns. 1. The development proqess is not static.

Development concepts are modified dur ing implementat ion and even later dur ing use, long after environmental impact studies have been written and assessed.

2. The extent of development impacts is not necessarily l imited to the study area. Frequently, a development pro- ject has major impacts on the settle- men t p a t t e r n and b i o l o g y some distance from the physical site speci- fied .in the impact statement.

3. Development impacts do not necessar- ily occur within the l imited time span required for project implementat ion, even when those impacts occur within the study area under examinat ion. Insofar as no impact statement can cIaim to be exhaustive, uncertainty, surprise, and the unforeseen must be dealt with beyond the time limits nor- mally associated with an environ- mental impact assessment.

4. The very concept of information, par- ticularly information related to the environment as a bio-cuhural milieu, is necessarily selective and frequently manipula ted to suit the objectives of the most powerful actors involved.

For these reasons alone, it seems clear t ha t adaptive environmental manage- ment must extend beyond impact state- ments to embrace policy issues at one end of the environmental p lann ing spec t rum. and continuous moni tor ing and revision of goals and development projects at the other end. Only within such a context can an appropr ia te means of achieving the sustainable use of renewable resour- ces be developed. The WCS proposes the fol lowing objectives in this regard: to maintain essential ecological processes and l i fe -suppor t systems on which h u m a n su rv iva l a n d d e v e l o p m e n t depend; to preserve genetic diversity on which the funct ioning of many o f the above probesses and life-support systems depend; to ensure the sustainable utili- zation of species and ecosystems that sup- port mil l ions of rural communit ies as well as major industries.

These objectives can be considered performance criteria against which a via- ble env i ronmenta l p l a n n i n g process must be designed. They also constitute critical components of any assessment of

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the environmental impacts of develop- ment. But environmental p lanning and environmental assessment are cultural ly bound as are the solutions to poverty and shelter that derive from them.

Cultural Impacts of Environmental Assessment

That environmental impact assessments are cultural ly bound and thus not neces- sarily appl icable or appropr ia te to other cultures without substantial revision is perhaps less evident than the idea that adapt ive env i ronmenta l managemen t must extend beyond env i ronmen ta l impact assessment. There are, however, some key premises that continue to sus- tain the idea of environmental impact assessment. These include but are cer- tainly not l imited to:

The premise that the environ- mental impacts o[ a proposed project can be predicted, once predicted that they can be assessed, and once assessed that they can be mitigated; [urther, the process is essentially objective and subject to scien- ti/ic validation. Yet, the issues we face range well beyond the presumed objectiv- ity of science operat ing within a poli t i- cally motivated system. The issue of national energy self-sufficiency'in Can- ada for example, raises questions such as those posed by Justice Berger dur ing the MacKenzie Valley pipel ine debate: "Who should run the industrial machine and who should reap the benefits? How much energy does it take to run the industrial machine? Where is the machine going? And what happens to the people who live in the path of the machine?"

The premise that the costs and benefits associated with project pro- posals can be distributed equitably either through project design or through mit- igating measures. Yet, dur ing publ ic review of the proposed development of year round sh ipp ing routes through Lan- caster Sound in Northern Canada, the social costs associated with northern development were clearly perceived to be borne primari ly, if not exclusively, by residents of the region, and more specific-

ally by the lnui t . The economic benefits woud be shared, however unequally, by the residents of the South.

The premise that all actors in- volved, be they agents o] change, review- ers, or those aIIected directly or indirectly by a project proposal, are prepared to react constructively and to abide by the "rules o I the game." The Inuit who par- ticipated in the publ ic review phase of the Lancaster Sound Study were most elo- quent in defining one of their essential goals for the future: the maintenance of life style options. Key strategies in achiev- ing this objective focused on full partici- pat ion in the planning, management, and decision making processes that will directly affect those who live within the region. Yet, this strategy is not in the "rules of the game" as currently defined by the Canadian Government.

Beyond these three premises, one of the most fundamental characteristics of environmental p lann ing is the intel- lectual and cultural setting that supports

�9 the process. For instance, we assume that public issues ai'e terminated and resolved by majori ty votes, frequently by elected representatives; the Inuit seek consensus on those issues that affect them most pro- foundly. Decisions based on adversary positions are distinctly different from those based on consensus. The process of achieving consensus requires more time, is highly part icipatory, and involves those responsible for implementing a decision as well as those who will be directly affected by such a decision.

Even such an "objective" variable as time may be perceived in remarkably different ways. Industry and government are convinced that expeditious decisions are required if Canadians are to achieve energy self sufficiency and a favourable standing in the world market place. The Inuit move to a different rhythm. "It takes people time to change their living habits." Time is also essential if weare to understand the concerns of the Inuit, if we are to perfect the technology necessary to support our development proposals and to safeguard the environment of the

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North. In the South, time is conceived as l inear and sequential, whereas northern time tends to be cyclic and repetitive, responsive to the ebb and flow of seasons and of a storehouse of traditions and myths.

Our concept of space is equally bound by our cultural heritage. In the South, space has been divided and sub- divided since the first mil i tary engineers from Europe set foot on North American soil over four hundred years ago. Land use p lann ing history and theory relies heavily on the premise that different spa- ces can and should be used for different activities. Allocat ing exclusive uses to speficic spaces is a familiar part of the Canadian urban experience. But what of a region where the normal dist inction between land and water does not apply for most of the year, and where spectacu- lar seasonal differences in dis tr ibut ion and use patterns of the region's wildlife are found? Can we design appropr ia te p lann ing methods and techniques to take these differences from our southern per- ception of space into consideration? Once the North has been experienced, the idea of dividing it into separate and dis- crete zones .seems, somehow, hopelessly inappropriate .

The very manner by which we deal wi th i n fo rma t ion is also cu l tu ra l ly bound. The acquisi t ion of data, its treat- ment, and the conclusions which we reach on the basis of this data are unlikely to be universally accepted. The problem is compounded when it is generally ac- cepted that there are impor tant gaps in our understanding even within carefully defined sectors of scientific enquiry.

The scientific approach that dis- aggregates complex systems in order to gai n an understanding of their function- ing is very different from the holistic manner in which Inui t knowledge of the North is acquired. To what extent can we integrate centuries of Inui t observation of nature with the information derived from scientific research? Nor can scientific information be considered as the only viable matrix for the expression of envi-

ronmental values. In many oral and tra- d i t iona l cul tures, the most forceful expressions are those associated with art, poetry, and drama.

The celebration of culture and change has always been an integral part of people 's at tempt to guide their own future. Tha t a l imited stock of renewable resources constrains this future is amply illustrated in the IVorld Conservation Strategy. Environmental p lanning and assessment--sensitive to the goals and objectives of those whose survival is both physically and cultural ly at s take--must guide the decisions about the use of re sources through creative solutions to the integration of conservation and develop- ment.

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STOCK, BOSTON/j.R. Hoiiand

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