Session Description
Environmental and social impact assessment has traditionally relied on defining baseline conditions, predicting future outcomes, and measuring project effects against a stable point of reference. Yet climate change, biodiversity loss, evolving land use, and shifting social conditions are transforming the environments and communities we assess. If conditions are already changing, what is the baseline, and how do we evaluate project effects against it? Aligned with the IAIA27 theme, Ka mua, ka muri, this Pecha Kucha session will bring together diverse perspectives on one of impact assessment’s most pressing challenges: understanding and assessing change in a rapidly evolving world. Through a series of short presentations, speakers will share experiences, lessons learned, innovative methods, and emerging practices from different regions, sectors, and disciplines. Presentations will explore topics such as:
• How baseline conditions are defined when environmental and social conditions are continuously changing.
• The role of historical records, Indigenous knowledge, monitoring data, and new technologies in understanding change over time.
• Scenarios, models, and adaptive assessment approaches used to improve our ability to anticipate future conditions.
• Identifying project-related effects when broader environmental and social trends are influencing outcomes.
By drawing on lessons from the past while exploring approaches for the future, this session will encourage diverse viewpoints and rapid exchange of ideas. Discussion will highlight practical strategies for maintaining the relevance, credibility and effectiveness of impact assessment in an increasingly dynamic world.
Session Summary
Drawing on the IAIA27 theme Ka mua, ka muri, this session challenges participants to consider rapid shifts in our natural environment – what are baseline conditions, how do we reliably make predictions of the future, and how to measure project effects in changing world.
Session Chair
Erin Boyle
Seabridge Gold
Canada