A recently published study, commissioned by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) investigates the suitability of existing Cumulative Effects Assessment (CEA) methods relative to the requirement to adopt a standardised approach to CEA in support of marine plan development.

The report concludes with a set of recommendations for carrying out CEAs at a marine plan-level

The most positive finding was identifying CEA methods that provide meaningful outputs where there is sufficiently robust data and information underpinning the assessment. Secondly, there are robust risk assessment approaches that can provide greater confidence in impact assessments where there are shortfalls in data. The study stops short of recommending a single, preferred CEA methodology, due to the need to better define the requirement driving each CEA to ensure the most appropriate method is applied.

Recommendations include to:

• Define what CEA is needed for: define the context, the questions and the guiding principles, and what outputs are required to meet end user needs.
• Design and adopt an approach that supports the implementation of CEA as a process that can draw upon multiple CEA methodologies to address specific questions, while also providing consistency, coherence, and transparency.
• Enable a modular approach that can adapt to emerging technological advances.
• Agree the baseline to permit iterations and incremental improvements, and to enable a common baseline from which to bind together marine plans.
• Develop capacity among practitioners, institutions, and users to deliver consistent CEA across marine planning and delivery.

A key recommendation is that a common plan-level CEA framework is adopted, for which a ‘toolbox’ of methods can be identified and periodically updated, with methods selected according to the context and needs of a specific CEA.

For the JNCC report click here