Environmental Management: Principles and practice

Adaptive environmental assessment and adaptive environmental
assessment and management
Impact assessment generally adopts a static, ‘snapshot’ approach, yet causal
relationships are often not constant, e.g. monetary units may be devalued, the
environment may alter, decision-making objectives may change, attitudes of people
shift; such an approach can therefore be ineffective. There is also a risk that a one-
off impact assessment could discourage planners from adequate monitoring. There
is thus a need to ensure that assessment is continuous or repeated regularly (Holling,
1978; Gilmour and Walkerden, 1994). Two approaches have evolved: adaptive
environmental assessment (AEA), and adaptive environmental assessment and
management (AEAM). These are broader than mainstream EIA, and have a bias

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towards coping with uncertainty. In addition, AEAM seeks to integrate environmental,
social and economic assessment with management.
AEAM was pioneered by Holling and colleagues (Holling, 1978), Environment
Canada, the University of British Colombia, Vancouver (Canada), and the Austrian-
based International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). The Holling
approach was applied to the Obergurgl Valley (Austria), starting in 1974, by a
UNESCO (Man and Biosphere Program)/IIASA/University of British Columbia team.
It uses a series of carefully designed research periods followed by multidisciplinary
modelling workshops which include science and social science experts, planners,
managers, resource users and locals. The workshops develop alternative scenarios
and management strategies which are then compared to arrive at the best problem-
solving approach. The workshops seek to ensure that the assessment team and
participants continually review efforts to predict and model policy options for decision
makers, and also provide a bridge for different disciplines and competing perceptions.
The end result is a computer-based systems model that can be tested and tuned until
it supports adaptive management and can help identify indirect impacts (Jones and
Greig, 1985).
AEAM can be useful where baseline data are poor. It also encourages and
facilitates multidisciplinary assessment. However, it can be demanding in terms of
research expertise and time for completion. Some see AEAM as particularly
supportive of sustainable development (Grayson et al., 1994).