A book by a group of UNBC researchers suggests we need a more collaborative approach to resource development projects.
“The Integration Imperative: Cumulative Environmental, Community and Health Effects of Multiple Natural Resource Developments” explores the impacts of development projects on the environment, communities and human health, especially when multiple projects occur in one area.
Although it sounds technical, the book is geared toward a wide audience.
“We’re providing a reference document, a discussion document, some guidance for decision makers, says Dr. Chris Johnson, one of the authors. “We also wanted to provide a very practical and on the ground perspective to the people who are experiencing these cumulative impacts.”
Johnson says the current way of doing things just isn’t cutting it.
“Conventional approaches for dealing with cumulative impacts really aren’t sufficient. Most of what we do now is on a very site-specific basis and we argue that we need to be thinking at larger spatial scales, thinking about landscapes and regions and watersheds.”
He says there needs to be more consideration of the long term impacts that projects will have.
“To do that we think we need some form of a planning process which will allow people from lots of different backgrounds and interests – community representatives through to various levels of government, First Nations and industry – to sit down and talk about what they want for the place that they’re working and living.”
The book was born out of a two-day public forum that took place at UNBC in January 2014. Johnson says the authors tried to take a wide variety of perspectives into account when assembling it.
The Integration Imperative was edited by UNBC professors Drs. Michael Gillingham, Greg Halseth, Margot Parkes and Johnson.
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