Cumulative impacts and policy
- Most intense where there is a policy/strategy vacuum
Example: water scarcity
- River being used by local communities along it for domestic and agricultural purposes.
- There are oil fields near the communities.
- High levels of water washed and water Bourne diseases
- Often no information about how communities currently use water and what amounts used.
- There is often little knowledge about the likely levels of future usage by oil fields.
- Raises local cumulative impacts - increases in waterborne diseases; increasing cost of water - poverty and inequality.
Example: Climate change
- Global cumulative impact
- More than 150,000 annual deaths at present globally
- Occurring within lifetime of new projects
- Still denial I'm some stakeholders
- Or that that it is not urgent
National climate change impacts likely:
- Increasing water scarcity
- Temperature extremes
- Reduced food supply
- Sea flooding
Ironic that the faster the oil developed the faster key Middle East countries are likely to face sea flooding issues.
Corporate climate change policies on the web:
- Almost all acknowledge the issues of climate change
- Propose mitigation measures
- Say they will monitor and report
- Some have independent evaluation
Should HIA be challenging or complicit
Cumulative impacts poorly managed and there is a policy vacuum around it.