The need to strengthen the role of environmental and health considerations in decision-making processes is increasingly recognized by the Canadian government and industry-based organizations. Integrating human health into environmental assessments (EAs) at the earliest stage is critical for identifying and managing potentially adverse effects. The World Health Organization states health depends on our ability to understand and manage the interaction between human activities and the physical and biological environment. We have the knowledge for this but have failed to act on it. In light of this shortfall, the primary objectives of this research are to evaluate the scope of health within EA, and to evaluate the state-of-practice with regard to the incorporation of human health impacts into the EA process within Canadas Northern natural resource sector. The adopted methodology combines both a mail-out questionnaire survey of practitioner and administrator experiences with EA across the North, as well as semi-structured interviews with health professionals. The results confirm the importance of human health integration in northern EA; however, in practice, human health or human health impacts are receiving inconsistent and superficial treatment with very little agreement as to the scope of health issues in EA. Project-based assessments are often limited to the investigation of the biophysical impacts and neglect to consider the social and cultural effects, and broader determinants of health. In cases where broader social health issues are addressed, attention seems to be limited to those impacts for which the proponents have direct control over, notably employment and business opportunities. Subsequently, the performance of northern EAs is often less than satisfactory, and improvements are required in the EA process to correct this. Barriers to effective integration were found to include an incomplete understanding of the scope of health in EA; difficulties identifying causal links between project actions, environmental change and human health; the absence of standardized procedures; as well as economic and temporal barriers. Adapting the EA process to the specific needs of the North, including local culture and customs, and diverse knowledge systems is therefore necessary for EA practice to be successful. The research results contribute to a larger project to increase the understanding and effectiveness of health and EA systems, with specific attention on the Canadian North.

<p>To achieve a sustainable development, impacts onbiodiversity of urbanisation, infrastructure, land use changesand other developments must be considered on a landscape andregional scale. Landscape ecology can provide a conceptualframework for the assessment of consequences of long-termdevelopment processes like urbanisation on biodiversity on alandscape scale, and for evaluating the impacts of alternativeplanning scenarios. The aim of this study was to explore theeffects of habitat quality, quantity and connectivity on forestbird diversity in an urban-rural gradient. The purpose of theanalyses was to develop knowledge and methods for integratingbiodiversity issues in planning and assessments in anurbanising environment, on landscape and regional scales.</p><p>The study area was situated in and around Stockholm, thecapital of Sweden, covering the city centre, suburbs andperi-urban areas. Data on breeding forest birds were collectedthrough bird censuses in an urban-suburban gradient. In orderto embrace also the peri-urban areas for a more completeurban-rural gradient, data on two fragmentation-sensitiveforest grouse species were obtained through a questionnaire tohunters in the whole study area. Response variables in theanalyses were forest bird species richness and diversity,relative species richness and occurrence of single sensitivespecies like selected sedentary forest birds, including theforest grouse species, and red list species. Habitat quality,quantity and connectivity were analysed using available data onabiotic conditions, including urban disturbances, andvegetation in geographical information systems. In addition, afield study on vegetation structure and composition wasperformed in a subset of the smaller sample sites.Relationships between the response variables and habitatquality, quantity and connectivity were explored usingstatistical methods like multivariate statistics and regressionmodelling. Further, for some models, spatial dependencies werequantified and accounted for. When habitat models wereretrieved, they were used for spatial predictions of habitatsuitability. They were also applied on future planningscenarios in order to predict and assess the impacts onsensitive species. In the urban-rural gradient, the foreststructure and composition changed, so that in more urban areas,coniferous forest on rich soils, wet forests and wetlandsbecame less abundant and more scattered. Sensitive birdspecies, tied to these habitat types, were shown to besensitive to habitat fragmentation caused by urbanisation.Large, well-connected habitat patches and aggregations ofsuitable habitat in the landscape had a higher probability ofoccupancy when compared to other patches. For the forest grousespecies, effects of car traffic added to the explanation oftheir distribution. By contrast, deciduous forest was stillquite common in predominantly urban areas, due to both latechanges in land use and a history of human preferences. Certainred listed bird species tied to deciduous forest did not seemto be affected by isolation, and also occurred in suitablehabitats in some highly urbanised areas. Furthermore, relativespecies richness in the urban-suburban gradient was related tomulti-layered deciduous forest habitats with a large amount ofdead wood. Such habitats were associated with natural shorelineand with old pastures and parks. From the derived statisticalmodels, describing the relationships between sensitive speciesand environmental variables, predictive habitat maps could becreated for the present situation and for planning scenarios.The predictions of the impacts on habitats of sensitive speciesmade it possible to quantify, integrate and visualise theeffects of urbanisation scenarios on aspects of biodiversity ona landscape scale.</p>

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is used as a policy tool in the management of offshore oil and gas. As offshore oil and gas exploration continues to advance further into Arctic regions, questions of how SEA fits into petroleum policy frameworks, its process, and its effectiveness arise. This thesis adopts a historical institutionalist approach to explain SEA in Norway’s offshore oil and gas sector, discussing lessons to be learned from the Norwegian case, as well as the applicability of SEA in similar Arctic governance regimes. The thesis identifies three main lessons: First, Norway’s management of Arctic offshore hydrocarbon resources is a reflection of its distinct path of political development, particularly its emphasis on reaching consensus on sensitive political issues. Second, from the onset, Norway had the economic and political means to develop the institutional capacity and international experience required to manage an international offshore oil and gas operation. Third, the combination of these factors allowed Norway to adopt an incremental approach towards the advancement of its petroleum development, enabling decision-makers to adopt the principles of strategic environmental assessment into the policies that govern Norway’s offshore resources.

The demand for environmental assessments on buildings and energy consumption is increasing as well as the energy performance requirements for buildings. At the same time it is increasingly common with self-producers of heat and electricity generation. The main purpose with this master thesis is to investigate how time resolution affects the environmental assessment of energy consumption in office buildings connected to district heating (DH). Environmental assessments were done with both attributional LCA and consequential LCA with system expansion. Fortum´s DH system in Stockholm was analyzed and district heating production was simulated in a Matlab-model. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the production were calculated. The heat demand of the office Gångaren 16 in Stockholm was simulated in IDA ICE. Thereafter the environmental impact in terms of GHG emissions was calculated with data from the assessment of the DH production. The results show that the highest time resolution that should be used for environmental assessment of energy consumption in buildings connected to DH is daily average values, regardless of LCA perspective. Moreover, sufficient results are achieved with yearly average values with attributional LCA. The results for consequential LCA with system expansion show that daily and yearly average values are not sufficient. Since peak production is temperature dependent rather than time dependent it is recommended that DH peak production is environmental assessed by temperature in future work.

Thesis (Sc.D.)--Boston University. PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The Healthy Public Housing Initiative-Environmental Assessment Survey (HPHI-EAS) is an interviewer-administered instrument that measures indoor environmental residential conditions of multi-unit public housing developments on area, building, and apartment levels. It also collects information on household health status for respiratory and allergy conditions as well as experienced symptom over the preceding 30 days by the survey respondent. The aim ofthis study is to assess the validity and reliability attributes of the HPHI-EAS. Statistical analyses include principal component factor analysis, internal consistency estimations, Wilcoxon Rank Sum test, and correlation analyses related to construct validity. Results showed support for the validity and reliability of 7 separate exposure and health dimensions. Numerous scales were generated so that these more sensitive indices could be substituted into future associational analyses exploring the relationship between deteriorating housing conditions and health. The Healthy Public Housing Initiative-Environmental Assessment Survey (HPHI-EAS) was administered to 238 residents in two separate multi-unit US public housing developments. Analysis focused on resident reports of exposure to water damage, condensation, and mold as well as symptoms experienced in the preceding 30 days. Patterns of water damage, moisture, and mold in renovated and un-renovated housing were examined by comparing frequencies of occurrence and chi-square statistics. Four separate logistic regression models for each symptom outcome examined the ability of these four indices to predict symptom outcomes. Un-renovated housing had significantly more home dampness than housing having received exterior roof, building envelop, insulation, and plumbing repair. Sources of leaks contribute differently to deteriorating housing conditions. Outside source leaks are more associated with the development of mold in a residence. Water damage, moisture and mold exposures significantly increase the odds of sick building type symptoms and upper respiratory track problems. Controlling sources of leaks and preventing mold growth in multi-unit buildings would significantly improve the health of both asthmatic and non-asthmatic residents. / 2999-01-01

This thesis develops and applies an integrated method of environmental assessment that couples a geographic Information system (GIS) to Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA), using bioenergy combustion and CHP sites as a case study. A literature review to identify the gaps in knowledge with respect to spatial MCA and GIS-based approaches to support decision-making and sustainability assessments shows the need for an approach to identify suitable locations for Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants using bioenergy combustion and to analyse spatial aspects. CHP plants can improve the efficiency and sustainability of bioenergy generation because they are capable of producing and utilising both electrical and thermal energy. Identifying suitable locations for these, typically decentralised, plants is crucial but challenging because proximity to both feedstock supply and heat demand has to be considered. The thesis develops and applies a novel GIS-based approach to identify suitable locations for CHP bioenergy plants and to analyse spatial aspects. This work stands out as the principal novel contribution of the research presented in this thesis. The science-based technical assessment can be integrated in a formal and structured decision support framework (DSF) which could aid environmental decision-making. There is no single right way to conduct a decision-making process because every process is limited by resources and timelines. The environmental assessment case study described in this thesis uses a modified version of the MCA framework proposed by the Department for Communities and Local Government (2009). The GIS-based approach is integrated in this DSF to couple GIS to MCA. Additionally, specific attention is given to reviewing and selecting sustainability aspects (covering Criteria and Indicators) and MCA methods. These processes are also integrated in the DSF and can be seen as being part of the problem structuring phase of the DSF used in the research presented in this thesis. It is shown how the DSF is applied to assess alternatives for centralised and decentralised generation in a research case study region. By applying the different stages of the DSF, including the GIS-based approach, the selection processes and a selected MCA method (Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)), it can be concluded that the decentralised alternatives should be preferred in the research case study scenarios if regional sustainable bioenergy generation wants to be archived. In the first scenario, the second alternative (A2) clearly dominates with an overall score of 71.82% (A1: 28.18%). However, the results are relatively close in the second scenario (A3: 56.62%, A4: 43.38%), which is mainly due to the similarity of the alternatives in the scenario. The sensitivity analyses show that the rankings of alternatives do not change in both scenarios unless major criteria weight variations or performance adjustments are made.

The lack of early integration with the planning and decision-making process has been a major problem in environmental assessment. Traditional project-based environmental impact assessment has inadequate incentives and capacities to incorporate critical environmental impacts at a broader temporal or spatial scale. While many applications have been geared towards implementing project-level environmental assessments, comparatively little research has been done to determine how to incorporate strategically critical environmental impacts into local planning. Although the principles of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) are not yet required in local planning in the United States, these principles create a theoretical framework for local environmental assessment. The objective of this study is to examine the ability of local plans to integrate and implement the key SEA principles. This study focuses on increasing the understanding of how and where to integrate environmental impacts into the local planning and decision-making process by converting the principles of SEA into specific planning tools, policies, and implementation strategies. This study develops a protocol with 112 indicators to measure the strengths and weaknesses of integrating strategic environmental assessment into local comprehensive land use plans. A random sample of 40 California local comprehensive land use plans and associated planning processes is evaluated based on this plan quality evaluation protocol. Statistical analysis and multiple regression models identify the factors affecting the quality of plans with respect to their ability to assess environmental impacts. The results identify the relative strengths and weaknesses of the ability of local jurisdictions to integrate the SEA principles. The results show that many strategically important environmental issues and tools are rarely adopted by current local plans. The regression analysis results further identify the effects of planning capacity, environmental assessment capacity, public participation and contextual variables on environmental assessment plan quality. The findings extend established planning theory and practice by incorporating strategic environmental considerations into the existing framework of what constitutes a high quality local land use comprehensive plan and suggest ways to improve plan quality.

The practice of environmental assessment (EA) in Ontario, Canada and elsewhere has been criticized for resulting in projects that are not necessarily “good” for the environment or society, but simply “less bad.” In Ontario, the ongoing erosion over time of meaningful public involvement in the EA process is seen as a major reason for the degradation of EA practice from something closer to its idealistic purpose of creating “sustainable” development down to its current state, as many have suggested, as an administrative process to ensure legislated minimum requirements (for action or outcome) are met. Nonetheless, the EA process in Ontario continues to offer one of the best legislated processes available for addressing the potential negative impacts associated with public projects in the province. Ontario’s streamlined Class EA process allows for routine, low-impact public projects to proceed without ministerial review so long as certain minimum standards for technical review and public consultation are met. It also includes a mechanism for stakeholders to request ministerial review should a stakeholder believe a substantive or procedural error or oversight has occurred during the study. This mechanism, called a Part II Order request, has been invoked in recent years for multiple reasons in addition to correcting substantive or procedural errors or oversights. This research asks why stakeholders request Part II Orders. Through review and coding of Part II Order request letters from various projects across Ontario, and conducting detailed case studies of projects for which Part II Order requests were made in the Greater Toronto Area, it was determined that the two most commonly-found issues in the Part II Order letters were related to stakeholders feeling distrustful of the proponent or the EA process, and stakeholders feeling as though they were not adequately engaged in public consultation activities for the EA study. The case studies examined these themes in greater detail, and found that these two issues were intertwined with issues of stakeholder power and control. The research findings suggest that EA outcomes can be improved by altering public consultation activities to provide stakeholders with greater control over the decision-making process in a transparent manner so that stakeholders are aware not only of the perspectives of the proponent, but also those of other stakeholders.

The thesis addresses the introduction of a supra-national instrument; a European directive on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) into national contexts of land-use planning in three countries; Sweden, Iceland and England. The directive ”On the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment” was agreed upon by the European Commission on the 21st of June 2001 and was to be transposed to national legislation by 21st of June 2004. The introduction of these requirements meant that the countries needed to make legal adjustments and implement it at the different levels of planning. Many EU member countries, including those studied in the thesis, had some experience of environmental assessment of plans and programmes prior to the introduction of the SEA directive. SEA has as a concept and a tool in planning in national and international debate on Environmental Assessment and planning for the last two decades. Hence, the SEA directive was introduced to an existing context of environmental assessment in planning and the preparation of the directive has drawn on substantial conceptual development and practical experience of strategic environmental assessment in various forms. The aim of this research is to shed a light on the transposition of the SEA directive into a national legal framework and how the introduction relates to the countries’ planning contexts and previous application of SEA-like instruments. In the thesis an overview is given of the way the directive is transposed to the national legal system of the three countries and the existing planning framework is described. The results from the national reviews are analysed in relation to the contents of the directive and the international and Nordic academic debate regarding the purpose and role of SEA, related to the characteristics of the planning system. The research shows differences in the legal and planning contexts to which the SEA requirements have been introduced in the three countries. Despite of those, the legal requirements follow closely the contents of the directive. However, the expectations towards the directive expressed by national officials and politicians, the recommendations in the way the legal SEA requirements shall be implemented, differ between the countries as well as references to other processes; land-use planning and the practices of Environmental Impact Assessment and Sustainability Appraisal. The thesis is the result of a project within the interdisciplinary research programme MiSt, “Tools for environmental assessment in strategic decision making” at BTH funded by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. The project has been carried out at Nordregio, the Nordic Centre for Spatial Development, Stockholm. / MiSt Report 6

The effect of federalism on the development of public policy is a widely debated topic. In terms of environmental policy, this issue assumes greater importance because of the lack of clarity in the constitutional division of powers. It is the purpose of this research to examine environmental impact assessment (EIA) &mdash; one of the higher-profile aspects of environmental policy &mdash; in order to establish how intergovernmental relations in Canada have affected policy and process development in this area. It is hypothesized that unilateral federal action in this policy area contributes to a corresponding increase in the stringency of provincial EIA processes. To test this, a two-step analysis is adopted: first analyzing developments at both the federal and provincial levels from 1985-1995 &mdash; a period which witnessed exceptionally high levels of public concern for the environment and increased federal involvement in EIA &mdash; and second discussing key events and agreements which affected intergovernmental relations and determining whether these related to those developments identified. This research finds that greater federal involvement in EIA was a catalyst for some positive reform at the provincial level, although this result varied significantly between the provinces examined. Based on the evidence gathered, it is concluded that some form of intergovernmental collaboration and competition both have a place in the development of EIA policy and that neither should be pursued as an end in itself.