State-of-the-Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment

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Every community across the United States faces impacts on their health and well-being from a wide range of sources including pollution of air, water, and soil and extreme events such as wildfires and other natural or human-caused disasters. Impacts may be heightened by factors such as unaffordable housing, limited or no access to healthcare, poverty, and unemployment. Cumulative impact assessment (CIA) is a tool to help environmental and other relevant decision-makers consider multiple factors in evaluating priorities and potential changes in policies or regulations, with a focus on improving health and well-being.

In response to a request from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this report provides recommendations on the state of the science of CIA and on fostering its application at the community, state, regional, tribal, and national levels. On the basis of input gathered in a number of public meetings, the report recommends EPA expand its CIA framework in important conceptual ways, including to encompass multiple dimensions of health and well-being. Further, the factors that undermine health and well-being (stressors) should be distinguished from those that promote health and well-being (resources).

State of the Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment lays out an expanded, five-step process for cumulative impact assessment that is driven by ongoing meaningful engagement and includes a final step of monitoring and evaluation of decisions implemented. This report's authoring committee applied its recommended five-step process to eight case studies across different contexts and scales - including the region in Louisiana known as "cancer alley"; a tribal population in Colorado; the train derailment and chemical fire in East Palestine, Ohio; the Los Angeles, California wildfires; and the replacement of lead service lines across the nation - concluding that the recommendations can increase the effectiveness of actions to improve health and well-being.

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276 pages · 7 x 10 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99446-2
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-60061-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/29182

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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. State of the Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine assembled the ad hoc Committee on State-of-the-Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment to convene state-of-the-science workshops and develop a consensus report to advise the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on further developing the scientific foundation underlying the practice of cumulative impact assessment. This proceedings provides a summary of a workshop series that the committee convened as part of its information-gathering activities. The series included a community-engaged workshop in New Orleans, Louisiana; a virtual Town Hall with members of the community and Tribal liaison group from across the United States; and a Tribal engagement event in Aurora, Colorado. This proceedings has been prepared by the workshop rapporteurs as a summary of what occurred during the workshops.

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76 pages · 7 x 10 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-09923-4
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-09925-0
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/29094

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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. State of the Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment: Proceedings of a Workshop Series. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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Communities often face overlapping stressors like pollution, climate change, and social inequities that combine to create more significant health risks and environmental challenges than any single factor alone. Cumulative impact assessments can help scientists and communities understand the impacts of multiple environmental stressors by accounting for the totality of exposures and their cumulative effects over the life course, providing a scientific basis to help guide more equitable and effective decision-making to improve public health, well-being, and environmental resilience.

To understand best practices for cumulative impact assessments and inform future activities, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine assembled an ad hoc committee to convene state of the science workshops and develop a consensus report to advise the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on further developing the scientific foundation underlying the practice of cumulative impact assessment. The committee held its first public workshop, State of the Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment: Workshop 1, on October 15, 2024, to gather information for developing their eventual consensus report. The workshop brought together participants from academic and private research organizations, non-governmental organizations, and government agencies in an online forum to discuss fundamental concepts and methods pertinent to cumulative impact assessment. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop.

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11 pages · 8.5 x 11 ·
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-73497-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/29058

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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. State of the Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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