ADVANCING WATERSHED CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT: LESSONS FROM THE SOUTH SASKATCHEWAN RIVER WATERSHED, CANADA

Abstract

Watersheds are under increasing pressures from the cumulative environmental effects of human actions. Reviews of recent practice suggest that cumulative effects assessment and management (CEAM) has failed to capture the full range of stressors to Canada's watersheds. Indeed, the limitations to CEAM have been well documented; yet, there has been limited constructive evaluation to help explain why CEAM has failed to advance. In this paper we examine the underlying challenges to the assessment and management of cumulative effects in a watershed context. Based on lessons emerging from the South Saskatchewan watershed, Canada, challenges to CEAM in watersheds include stakeholder understanding and interpretation of cumulative effects; limitations in the scale of current EA practices in watersheds; data challenges; the lack of established thresholds for watershed effects; and lack of clarity regarding watershed science and regulatory capacity. The merits of a watershed-based approach to CEAM to help address these challenges to practice are explored.