Checklists generally consist of a list of environmental parameters that might be affected by an activity (see example below). The list may or may not be separated based on stages of a project, such as planning, construction, and operation. The more comprehensive a checklist is, the wider the range of environmental parameters that will be considered in an assessment.
Checklists allow for the highlighting of effects anticipated from an activity. Effects may be merely noted or flagged on a checklist, or some form of scoping can be incorporated by using a hierarchy of symbols to indicate magnitude of effect. The latter practice is dangerous, however, as the criteria for measurement are not accurate or explicit.
Checklists are also useful because they can be designed for a specific project, or a generic checklist can be developed for a region.
Checklists represent the simplest method of impact analysis. They DO NOT, however, have most of the characteristics that are important in assessing effects. They serve to identify effects, but do not lend themselves to impact measurement or impact interpretation. In addition, despite their simplicity, checklists, in and of themselves, are not particularly useful in communicating effects to decision-makers and the public because of the need for accompanying detailed documentation.
Perhaps the biggest disadvantage to checklists is their simplicity. Most do not depict interactions except to attach an effect to the activity, but not usually to a specific action. Some checklists have been designed to depict first-order, or primary, effects, but they ignore secondary, tertiary and cumulative effects, altogether. This factor compromises the usefulness of checklists, except perhaps as a means of highlighting important environmental aspects of an activity.
Thus, checklists are most useful in conjunction with other methods, wherein a checklist would be used to identify significant effects and another method used to analyse them.
Example of a Checklist
Potential Environmental Effects of a Transportation Project
| Category |
Stage of Project |
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| Planning and Design | Construction | Operation | |||||||||||||||
| I |
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| II |
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| III |
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