Cumulative Effects
An important part of the Assessment Process for the Community Access Road is understanding cumulative effects.
Cumulative effects are the overall changes to the environment, health, social and economic conditions caused by the Project’s impacts, combined with the impacts of other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future activities. This also includes the assessment of combined effects of different parts of the Project happening at the same time, like multiple emissions and discharges, to understand how they add up or interact.
There are three key concepts relating to cumulative effects that need to be understood. These include:
- Temporal Overlap: When one activity happens at the same time as another activity;
- Spatial Overlap: When one activity happens in the same area as another activity; and
- Reasonably Foreseeable Projects: The last concept relates to projects that you can reasonably anticipate for consideration in the cumulative effects assessment.
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (Government of Canada, 2017b) requires that each Environmental Assessment of a project take into account any cumulative environmental effects that are likely to result from the project in combination with the environmental effects of other physical activities that have been or will be carried out. An inclusions list was prepared, which considered relevant existing and planned projects. The list was then updated with feedback from Indigenous communities, interested persons and regulators. Each technical discipline reviewed the inclusions list to assess potential effects from other projects and added these to the effects on land, water and people from the Community Access Road. The cumulative effects assessment builds on the results of the effects assessment and will consider the incremental changes that are predicted to have a likely residual adverse effect on a valued component.
In addition, the Cumulative Effects Consultation Report for the Marten Falls First Nation (MFFN) Community Access Road Project has been prepared to fulfill the Terms of Reference requirement for additional consultation and engagement with Indigenous communities, interested persons, and government agencies related to the development of the cumulative effects assessment. In fulfilling these requirements, consultation and engagement centred around the cumulative effects assessment work plan, methodology, results, and impact management measures throughout the Assessment Process.
Understanding Cumulative Effects
Part of the Environmental Assessment / Impact Assessment process for the Community Access Road involves understanding cumulative effects and how multiple activities, past, present and future, may combine to impact the environment. The Community Access Road considers how overlapping activities in time and space, along with reasonably foreseeable projects, may interact with the effects of the Project.
