COURSE: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT: ASSIGNMENT : Personal reflection on professional ethics in. 1

COURSE: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT:

ASSIGNMENT : Personal reflection on professional ethics in EIA

Detailed assignment description

Length: 1,250 words

Context:

You work for an environmental consultancy, and are responsible for the preparation of one of the

technical reports that is part of an assessment of the environmental impacts of a proposal.

Scenario:

You find that your numeric findings (or other technical analyses) have not been altered, but your

manager altered some key words, e.g. altering “significant impact” to “some impact”, or “is very likely

to occur” to “may occur”. On balance you conclude that the main report and the Executive Summary

misrepresent your conclusions.

Assignment Task:

Reflect on (i) the issues this raises for you personally, (ii) what you would do in this situation, (iii)

what your underlying ethical intuitions are, and (iv) why you think they make sense.

(Codes of conduct for EIA practice should be consulted as one point of reference.)

Background:

Consider what you would do in a such a situation. In your essay, describe the issues this raises for

you, and the approach that you will take. Be realistic about the difficulties. Marks will notbe

awarded on the basis of the stance you take. Rather, they will be awarded for:

1. clarity of analysis,
2. clarity re principles / frames of reference relied on, and
3. reasons given for adhering to those principles and/or frames of reference. !

Questions that may help you reflect on this scenario are:

· How would you feel?

· What options would you contemplate?

· What do you think you would do?

· What principles / values are you relying on, as you weigh up alternative courses of action?

· What do you think good professional ethics imply in cases like these?

These questions are just prompts. They overlap, and they are not a checklist of points to be

addressed. Rather, your task is

· to noticewhat your responses are (both your initial responses, and what they evolve into), when

you imagine yourself in this situation,

· to articulateyour intuitions about what course(s) of action make sense,

· to reflecton your intuitions,

and, if you decide it is appropriate, to revise your approach. !

Essay should articulate the approach you settle on, and give your reasons for taking this

approach.

In addition to consulting Codes of Conduct, some reference to discussions of professional ethics in the research literature, particularly as it relates to planning (including EIA), should be made.