ID: 1675
Presenting Author: Mike Setterington
Session: 623 - Cumulative Effects: Whose Responsibility is it Anyway?
Status: pending
Common sense says it’s a shared responsibility, but a passive, leave-it-to-the-proponent practice prevails in northern Canada.
A proponent-led CEA ensures project accountability for impacts and mitigation, but is often seen as narrow and biased and does not encompass regulatory concerns or Indigenous values. The government is better positioned to lead regional assessments and land-use planning to define environmental capacity and CE thresholds, often in collaboration with Indigenous communities, thereby providing essential context. The best model is integrated responsibility: the government conducts regional assessments, while proponents perform project-specific CEA within this framework, ensuring impacts stay within sustainability limits. This provides the framework for resource management when combining environmental and development goals.
Mike Setterington is a Registered Professional Biologist and environmental assessment practitioner who has worked on major projects in western, northern and Arctic Canada.