KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT AGENCIES: A STUDY IN QUÉBEC, CANADA

Luis E. Sánchez () and Pierre André
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Luis E. Sánchez: Department of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Mello Moraes, 2373 05508-900 São Paulo, Brazil
Pierre André: Department of Geography, Université of Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), 2013, vol. 15, issue 03, 1-32

Abstract: Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a knowledge intensive activity that benefits from a highly structured approach to knowledge management (KM). In a survey of KM initiatives in two Québec government agencies, the Environmental Assessment Department and the Environment Public Hearings Bureau, knowledge repositories were mapped and officers were invited to reply to a questionnaire enquiring about the knowledge repositories' usefulness. Their perception about knowledge creation within each agency was assessed. Three drivers were identified that have steered the implementation of KM initiatives: (i) successive managers' understandings that EIA does create knowledge; (ii) a concern with consistency and reproducibility of recommendations; (iii) improving agencies' efficiency, alongside one additional incentive: curbing the deleterious effects of staff turnover. So far an unmet challenge is making sense of a great deal of data and information obtained in the follow-up phase of the EIA process and transforming it into knowledge used to improve both efficiency and effectiveness of an agency's work.

Keywords: Environmental impact assessment; knowledge management; organizational learning; Canada; environmental agencies; efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1142/S1464333213500154

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