ABSTRACT
In previous chapters, attention focused upon change; surprise, turbulence and conflict; looking to the future; sustainability; the ecosystem approach; and learning organizations as well as adaptive management. For all of these matters, alternatives exist and choices must be made. In resource and environmental management, people have relied heavily on environmental impact assessment as a tool to help in assessing alternatives and in making choices. More recently, life cycle analysis has emerged as another tool or method. In this chapter, each of these is examined. However, before doing that, Section 7.2 indicates the importance of being able to recognize different perspectives, and understanding that regardless of the assessment method applied, different conclusions can be drawn.
