ID: 1552
Presenting Author: JUAN CARLOS PAEZ ZAMORA
Session: 684 - Cumulative Effects Assessment: does it make a difference?
Status: approve
Even though the concept of Cumulative Impact Assessment and Management (CIAM) is as old as that of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), it is relatively recently that it has been required by some lo
Cumulative impact assessment and management (“CIAM”) is often cited as one of the most difficult challenges to ensure both the environmental and social approval of projects, as well as to meet the
requirements for their financing. This is made even more complicated by the fact that in most countries there is no clear legal mandate on the need to evaluate cumulative impacts nor a uniform established practice that allows professionals in the public and private sectors to carry out these types of assessments in a systematic way. Additionally, there is an even greater and more pressing problem: the absence of effective collaboration frameworks between different stakeholders to manage these types of impacts. With the pending need for massive investment in infrastructure in the short and long term, the management of the cumulative impacts of individual investment projects is essential to maintain the future sustainability of the region’s complex ecological and social systems. But who needs to do them (the authorities or the project sponsors?) and, more importantly, who must implement their results seem to be fundamental questions to be answered.
Therefore, are CIAMs performed by the authorities necessarily the same as those to be carried out by the project sponsors? If not, what is the difference?
Juan Carlos Páez is a civil engineer with a master's degree in Infrastructure Planning. He has been a project manager and environmental auditor certified in ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. He has more th