A new model for selecting valued components in environmental assessment: Lessons from an Indigenous-led cumulative effects management program

Valued components (VCs) are at the core of impact assessment (IA), cumulative effects management (CEM), and other environmental planning and management processes. However, the research that exists on VC selection identifies major conceptual and methodological flaws in the conventional approaches used in most project-based IAs, including poor understanding, inadequate guidance, insufficient engagement with local stakeholders and Indigenous communities, and failure to incorporate local and Indigenous perspectives, knowledge, and values in decision-making. To address these flaws, this paper proposes a new community-based method for selecting VCs, which was developed in the Indigenous-led CEM program of the Metlakatla First Nation (located on the northwest coast of Canada). The new VC selection method is grounded in Indigenous values and informed by Indigenous and local knowledge as well as scientific research. It uses a six-step approach to identify VCs and prioritize them, based on clear decision-making criteria, deliberative community dialogue, and explicit consideration of implementation constraints. The Metlakatla First Nation used this method to identify high-priority VCs for their CEM program, but the method could also be adapted for use in project-based IA and other planning and management processes to improve VC selection. A comparison of the results of the application of the new method in the Metlakatla CEM Program with the results of a recent conventional proponent-led IA of a large industrial project in Metlakatla territory shows that the new method addresses many of the deficiencies in the conventional model and generates a substantially different set of high-priority VCs that better reflect Indigenous values and knowledge.