6/4/2023 0 Comments Environ monit assessLes méthodes employées comprenaient un examen des programmes de surveillance à l’échelle régionale se basant sur une analyse des mandats de surveillance des agences, des rapports de performance et des examens de programmes externes, à cela s’ajoutent des discussions avec des informateurs clés de programmes ou d’agences de surveillance afin de corroborer les résultats. Dans le cadre de cette revue, on examine l’histoire et l’évolution de la surveillance environnementale dans la région du cours inférieur de la rivière Athabasca en Alberta au Canada et les effets favorables et contraignants des dispositions institutionnelles. Cependant, les programmes de surveillance mis sur pied pour soutenir la science des effets cumulatifs sont des initiatives souvent de courte durée ou non liés à la planification de l’utilisation des terres et à la prise de décisions réglementaire. La surveillance environnementale régionale à long terme, jumelée à la surveillance à plus court terme et effectuée localement suite à l’émission de permis, est fondamentale à l’identification, à la compréhension et à la gestion efficace des effets environnementaux cumulatifs. Regional monitoring programs require, at a minimum, clear vision and agreed-upon monitoring questions that are of scientific and management value, meaningful and balanced stakeholder engagement, and a clear governance process to ensure credibility and influence of monitoring results on decision making. This has generated significant uncertainty about the stability of institutional arrangements to support long-term environmental monitoring, and tensions between the need for scientific autonomy for credible science whilst ensuring the pursuit of monitoring questions that are relevant to the day-to-day needs of regulatory decision makers. Monitoring has been episodic, reflecting shifting priorities and competing mandates criticized by stakeholders based on concerns about transparency, credibility, influence over decision making and characterized by short-lived commitments by the agencies involved. Results show that monitoring to support cumulative effects understanding in the Lower Athabasca has advanced considerably, especially since the mid-1990s, but its relevance to, and impact on, cumulative effects management and decision making has been stifled by institutional arrangements. Methods involved a review of regional-scale monitoring programs based on an analysis of monitoring agency mandates, performance reports, and external program reviews, supplemented by discussions with monitoring program or agency key informants to triangulate results. This paper examines the history and evolution of environmental monitoring in the Lower Athabasca region of Alberta, Canada, and the enabling and constraining influences of institutional arrangements. However, monitoring programs that emerge to support cumulative effects science are often short-lived initiatives or disconnected from land use planning and regulatory decision making. Long-term regional environmental monitoring, coupled with shorter-term and more localized monitoring carried out under regulatory permitting processes, is foundational to identifying, understanding, and effectively managing cumulative environmental effects.
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