Scoping
The practice of scoping - attempting to assess what changes are likely to affect an area - is the first stage in the formal process of environmental impact assessment (EIA). This is a technique used by professional ecologists to anticipate large-scale environmental change and is a legal requirement in the planning process for a major development in many countries. Scoping simply tries to derive a list of elements that need to be considered in the assessment process, such as waste disposal or water resources.
EIA is certainly outside the scope (!) of an introductory course on ecology, but simply thinking about the key ecological and economic features of a landscape will help you to see the wider picture and the different demands we make on a landscape. Working together with other people to help identify these elements will also help to broaden your thinking.
For those who wish to learn more about the process of scoping itself, the paper by Snell and Cowell (2006) provides a useful critique. This goes beyond an introduction (for this, see any one of several textbooks on EIA), but it will provide an overview for those requiring more insight into setting the limits of planning for environmental change.
- Snell T., Cowell R. 2006. Scoping in environmental impact assessment: balancing precaution and efficiency? Environmental Impact Assessment Review 26, 359-376.
- Glasson J., Chadwick, Therivel, R. 1999. Introduction to environmental impact assessment. (2nd edn). Spon, London.
