The role and functioning of environmental

assessment:
Case studies in causality.

Mat Cashmore (mat.cashmore@sol.slu.se)

Lecturer in Environmental Management, UEA.
Research Fellow, Swedish EIA Centre, SLU.
Research context and methodology:
An empirical investigation of causation in
highly politicised development contexts.
The environmental assessment
paradox

“Colonization” of decision-making: widespread implementation,

reinforced by recent emphasis on evidence-based decision-
making.
Concern about effectiveness: limited influence on consent and
design decisions in practice.

“Sustainable spatial planning needs to be everything

EIA is not.” Benson, 2003.

But are our measures of effectiveness appropriate?

January 23, 2010

Progressing the research agenda.

Research goals.
The principal aim of the research was the advancement of theory
on the role and functioning of EA. This was undertaken by
simultaneously investigating multiple emerging priorities in the field
of EA, including:

theoretical limitations of EA.

an evolving understanding of its contribution to sustainable
development.
the paucity of rigorous empirical research.
debate about its societal role.

January 23, 2010

Understanding causation:
A critical realist perspective.

Causation in EA.
Mechanisms and outcomes through which it contributes to
sustainable development.
c1 e1
p1, p2, p3
X c2 e2
l1, l2, l3
c3 e3
S

Object X, Necessarily Under Will

having possessing causal specific produce
structure S powers (p) and conditions outcome
liabilities (l) (c) ex

= Necessary relation = Contingent relation

January 23, 2010

‘Conventional’ model of causation:
Speaking truth to power.

Causal Specific contingent

powers: conditions:
Consideration of Outcome:
Analysis of Informed
Object: consequences alternatives;
EA Use of accepted decision-
and making
publication of scientific methods;
results Value neutrality;
Timeliness; etc.

Key: Necessary relation

Contingent relation

January 23, 2010

Development of models of causation:
Institutional reform in an NGO.

January 23, 2010

Methodology.

Purposefully selected case studies.

Active selection of cases thought to possess a high
capacity to contribute to theory development. Results are
not generalisable.

Content analysis of EA-related documentation.

Semi-structured interviews with stakeholders.

January 23, 2010

Case 1:
Mines stabilisation.

January 23, 2010

Case 1:
Mines stabilisation.

Project characteristics.

Stabilization of 80-90% of an estimated 400,000 m2 mine

void.
Development falls within a UNESCO World Heritage Site
and affects a candidate Special Area of Conservation.
Organised and highly politically active local community.
Budget of £155 million (1,962 mill SEK).

January 23, 2010

Case 2:
Offshore wind farm.

Project characteristics.

30 turbines, some 7km from land.

Close proximity to a candidate Special Area
of Conservation, a Special Protection Area
and a Special Marine Area.
Essentially a novel form of development in
the UK at the time, with a high level of
political support.
Budget of more than £100 million (1,267 mill
SEK).

January 23, 2010

Purposefully selected case studies:
Case 3: Land remediation.

January 23, 2010

Case 3:
Land remediation.

Project characteristics.

Excavation of waste from the site of a former chemical

weapons establishment.
Construction of a landfill site (~50,000m2)
Deep-seated community anger about activities carried
out and the secrecy surrounding these activities.
Budget of £15-20 million (190 mill+ SEK).

January 23, 2010

Research findings.
Influence on consent and design
decisions.

The conventional causal model.

No incidences were identified where analyses of potential
environmental effects played an instrumental role in design
and consent decisions.

“I can read it [EA documentation] and I can make my own

assessment. That’s fine. But if it comes out that this is
absolutely fine for the community, but they don’t want it or
don’t like it, that’s what I’m there for”.

Local Politician and Decision-maker.

January 23, 2010

Influence on consent and design
decisions.

Advocacy not rationality.

EA was actively recruited in all cases essentially in an advocacy
manner through the employment of various conciliatory mechanisms.

Political support Public support Acceptable design Adequate participation,

and assessment openness, trust, etc.

Support of case Support of statutory Acceptable design and Adequate mitigation and
officer consultees assessment analytical rigour

January 23, 2010

Contribution to sustainable
development.

Additional relevant outcomes.

The research identified a range of additional outcomes that
environmental assessment contributed to which were
considered of relevance to sustainable development.

Learning outcomes.
Governance outcomes.
Development outcomes.
Attitudinal and value changes.

January 23, 2010

Contribution to sustainable
development.

Additional transformative potentialities:

Mainstreaming a sustainability ethos.

Social learning
Policy learning

Attitudinal changes
Technical learning

Value changes
Scientific learning

Profile of environmental Institutional reform

issues

January 23, 2010

Complexity in causation.

Chains of interacting causal mechanisms.

Causal mechanisms affecting outcomes indirectly
through their influence on contingent conditions.
Pervasive influence of ‘external’ factors.

January 23, 2010

Conclusions.

Environmental assessment theory and our expectations of it.

Theory on environmental assessment’s contribution to

sustainable development needs to be reformulated.
Reform expectations about the theory-practice nexus: theory as a
knowledge base that aids the reflexive contextual design of
environmental assessment.
“[in policy appraisal] we struggle, experiment, learn and (for the
most part) edge forward” (Owens and Cowell, 2001).

January 23, 2010

Publications

Cashmore, M., A. Bond, and D. Cobb, (2008)

The role and functioning of environmental assessment: Theoretical
reflections upon an empirical investigation of causation.
Journal of Environmental Management, 88, 1233-1248.

Cashmore, M., A. Bond, and D Cobb, (2007)

The contribution of environmental assessment to sustainable
development: Towards a richer empirical understanding.
Environmental Management, 40 (3), 516-530.

January 23, 2010