ENV201 W 1 - 8

WEEK 1 — FOUNDATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

  • Environmental management focuses on decision-making about human interactions with the environment.

  • Environmental management involves trade-offs between environmental, social, and economic goals.

  • Environmental management operates under uncertainty, complexity, and conflict.

Socio-ecological systems

  • Socio-ecological systems are systems where human and ecological components are interconnected.

  • Human actions affect ecosystems, and ecosystem changes affect human systems.

Sustainability

  • Sustainability means meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Sustainable development

  • Sustainable development integrates environmental protection, social well-being, and economic development.

Models of sustainability

  • The three-legged stool model treats environment, society, and economy as equally important.

  • The nested systems model places the economy inside society and society inside the environment.

Weak sustainability

  • Weak sustainability assumes natural capital can be substituted with human or manufactured capital.

  • Environmental damage is acceptable if compensated elsewhere.

Strong sustainability

  • Strong sustainability assumes some natural capital is irreplaceable.

  • Certain ecosystems must be protected regardless of economic trade-offs.

Wicked problems

  • Wicked problems have no single definition or solution.

  • Wicked problems involve uncertainty, complexity, change, and conflict.

  • Environmental problems are considered wicked problems.

WEEK 2 — ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT & ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

Ecosystem management

  • Ecosystem management is a holistic approach to managing ecosystems.

  • Ecosystem management considers entire ecosystems rather than single species.

  • Humans are considered part of ecosystems.

  • Ecosystems are dynamic and complex.

  • Management occurs across multiple spatial and temporal scales.

  • Ecosystem management involves values and choices.

Ecosystem services

  • Ecosystem services are benefits that humans receive from ecosystems.

Types of ecosystem services

  • Provisioning services include food, water, timber, and raw materials.

  • Regulating services include climate regulation, flood control, and water purification.

  • Cultural services include recreation, aesthetic value, and spiritual benefits.

  • Supporting services include soil formation, nutrient cycling, and habitat provision.

Importance of ecosystem services

  • Ecosystem services help justify environmental protection.

  • Ecosystem services make environmental benefits visible in decision-making.

Banff National Park

  • Banff illustrates conflicts between conservation, tourism, and development.

  • Single-species management caused unintended consequences.

  • Management shifted toward ecosystem-based approaches.

  • Banff shows the importance of cumulative impacts.

WEEK 3 — ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT & RESILIENCE

Traditional management

  • Traditional management assumes certainty and predictability.

  • Traditional management often fails in complex environmental systems.

Adaptive management

  • Adaptive management treats policies as experiments.

  • Adaptive management emphasizes learning by doing.

  • Adaptive management involves ongoing monitoring and adjustment.

Adaptive management cycle

  • Set goals

  • Implement policy

  • Monitor outcomes

  • Evaluate results

  • Adjust management

Passive adaptive management

  • Passive adaptive management uses one strategy and adjusts over time.

  • Passive adaptive management involves lower risk and lower learning.

Active adaptive management

  • Active adaptive management tests multiple strategies simultaneously.

  • Active adaptive management generates more learning but higher risk.

Conditions for success

  • Clear objectives

  • Effective monitoring

  • Institutional flexibility

  • Willingness to change decisions

  • Long-term commitment

Resilience

  • Resilience is the ability of a system to absorb disturbance and recover.

  • Resilience focuses on adaptation to change.

Difference between resilience and sustainability

  • Sustainability focuses on long-term maintenance.

  • Resilience focuses on response to shocks.

Columbia River Basin

  • The Columbia River Basin illustrates large-scale adaptive management.

  • Multiple stakeholders and jurisdictions complicate management.

  • Adaptive management had partial success.

WEEK 4 — GOVERNANCE & STAKEHOLDERS

Governance

  • Governance refers to how decisions are made and implemented.

  • Governance includes governments, institutions, laws, and informal rules.

Governance continuum

  • Top-down governance involves centralized decision-making.

  • Shared governance involves collaboration among actors.

  • Bottom-up governance involves local or community control.

Stakeholders

  • Stakeholders are individuals or groups that affect or are affected by decisions.

  • Stakeholders may include governments, NGOs, communities, and industry.

Benefits of stakeholder inclusion

  • Improves decision quality

  • Increases legitimacy

  • Builds trust

  • Reduces conflict

Costs of stakeholder inclusion

  • Power imbalances

  • Increased time and cost

  • Capacity limitations

  • Conflict

Timing of inclusion

  • Early inclusion allows meaningful influence.

  • Late inclusion often results in tokenism.

Dzanga–Sangha

  • Dzanga–Sangha conservation excluded local communities.

  • Exclusion weakened long-term governance outcomes.

Conflict resolution

  • Top-down approaches include political and judicial mechanisms.

  • Bottom-up approaches include negotiation and mediation.

WEEK 5 — CO-MANAGEMENT & SHARED GOVERNANCE

Co-management

  • Co-management involves shared authority between governments and non-government actors.

  • Co-management often includes Indigenous communities.

Weak co-management

  • Government retains most decision-making power.

  • Community involvement is limited.

Strong co-management

  • Decision-making power is shared or delegated.

  • Communities have meaningful authority.

Benefits of co-management

  • Incorporates local and traditional knowledge.

  • Improves legitimacy and compliance.

  • Reduces conflict.

Challenges of co-management

  • Power imbalances

  • Differing values

  • Capacity constraints

  • Slower decision-making

Indigenous co-management

  • Recognizes Indigenous rights and knowledge.

  • Addresses historical exclusion.

  • Supports environmental justice.

WEEK 6 — ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EIA)

Environmental Impact Assessment

  • EIA is a decision-making process used before project approval.

  • EIA identifies, predicts, evaluates, and mitigates environmental impacts.

When EIA is used

  • Projects

  • Activities

  • Policies and plans (strategic EIA)

Types of impact assessment

  • Environmental

  • Social

  • Ecological

  • Technological

EIA process

  • Proposal

  • Screening

  • Scoping

  • Impact assessment

  • Mitigation

  • Decision

  • Implementation and monitoring

Best practices

  • Legal foundation

  • Public participation

  • Consideration of cumulative impacts

  • Monitoring and enforcement

Limitations of EIA

  • Political influence

  • Data uncertainty

  • Weak monitoring

Rafferty–Alameda Dam

  • Court decision strengthened EIA requirements.

  • All environmental impacts must be considered.

WEEK 7 — COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS & LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT

Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA)

  • CBA compares monetary costs and benefits of policies.

  • CBA is used for regulations and policy decisions.

CBA steps

  • Assign monetary values

  • Discount future costs and benefits

  • Compare totals

Discounting

  • Discounting converts future values into present values.

  • High discount rates reduce the importance of future impacts.

Strengths of CBA

  • Encourages efficiency

  • Allows comparison of options

Limitations of CBA

  • Ethical concerns

  • Difficulty valuing nature and life

  • Favors present over future

Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA)

  • LCA evaluates environmental impacts of products from cradle to grave.

LCA stages

  • Resource extraction

  • Manufacturing

  • Transportation

  • Use

  • Disposal or recycling

Strengths of LCA

  • Identifies hidden impacts

  • Avoids impact shifting

Limitations of LCA

  • Data intensive

  • Does not include social impacts

WEEK 8 — ACCOUNTING TOOLS & VALUATION

Accounting tools

  • Accounting tools measure overall environmental impacts.

  • Accounting tools support monitoring and evaluation.

Examples of accounting tools

  • Ecological footprints

  • GHG inventories

  • Triple Bottom Line accounting

Decision tools vs accounting tools

  • Decision tools evaluate specific choices.

  • Accounting tools measure aggregate impacts.

Valuing nature

  • Monetary valuation can support decision-making.

  • Not all environmental values can be monetized.

Ecological footprint

  • Measures land and water required to support consumption.

  • Does not capture toxicity or ecosystem health well.