Strategic Assessments and Environmental appraisals

A strategic assessment is carried out to foresee general, but significant impacts of proposed activities. This can be opening of new areas to O&G activities, enforcing management regulations like nature protection or restricting/limiting of ongoing activities like fishing, hunting, logging or tourism to specific areas, and the development of new regional infrastructure like major roads, airports and harbours. The management plans for the Barents sea, Norwegian Sea and (upcoming) North Sea is an example of a strategic assessment approach, and the regional EIA's developed by the O&G companies also includes strategic evaluations.

Development and active use of alternative scenarios for future development is another example of a strategic approach to impact assessment within which Akvaplan-niva is experienced.

Environmental appraisals are carried out to identify and describe types and abundances of natural resources within a defined area, and to assess the state of the environment prior to commencement of an activity (see also Pre-entry screening). A full EIA is enforced when the location of a proposed activity has been narrowed down to a manageable number of alternatives, and is often based on the findings of strategic assessments.

Akvaplan-niva has experience in developing strategic assessments and compiling baseline data and information supporting this type of evaluations.

Project examples

An appraisal of the marine environment of Southwest Greenland (62 - 67 deg. N)
Regional EIA for the North Sea: Mapping of fisheries and impacts of petroleum activities
The Barents Sea management plan: Handling of drilling waste and impacts of alternative approaches
Appointing nature protection areas in Nordland County -impacts to aquaculture activities
The management plan for the Norwegian Sea. Effects of external petroleum activity and long range contamination

Contact for more information

Lars Henrik Larsen

Guttorm Christensen

Anita Evenseth

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