Environmental Assessment at a Crossroads
DATE: October 21st – 22nd, 2009
LOCATION: Ontario Science Centre, Ontario
OVERVIEW:
Environmental Assessment at a Crossroads was designed to convey that environmental assessment professionals find themselves in an operating environment of unusual uncertainty.
The factors contributing to this uncertainty include:
- how to consider climate change in EA;
- the pressure to speed up EA processes in Ontario;
- anticipated Federal Government reforms to EA that will emerge from the review in 2010;
- the duty to consult Aboriginal Peoples and their interest in extended consultation processes;
- the push for more attention to the social environment and especially to health impacts; and,
- the desire of professionals to retain what they view to be the essential integrity of best practices in EA and SEA.
