The relevant science that underpins assessment is rated in the table below with respect to the limitation placed on five key areas of environmental assessment practice. A three-part rating scale is used, from "very limiting" to "not limiting". Key points include:

• mitigation and monitoring are the two areas where the underlying science is seen as least technically limiting;
• the underlying science is judged to be very limiting in terms of identifying cumulative effects (by 53% of respondents) and monitoring these changes on an ecosystem basis (by 55% of respondents); and
• one-third of respondents consider the state of the science is very limiting, and 53% believe it is somewhat limiting on their ability to make accurate predictions.

Table: State of the Science To what extent does the state of the relevant science limit the ability of practitioners to do the following?
	Very Limiting	Somewhat Limiting	Not Limiting
Makes accurate predictions/ forecasts	24%	53%	9%
Custom designs successful mitigation measures	12%	58%	24%
Establishes monitoring schemes that are able to detect significant development-induced effects	19%	48%	26%
Identifies the cumulative effects of development proposals	53%	33%	9%
Monitors cumulative changes on an ecosystem or regional basis	55%	32%	7%

Source: Barry Sadler, Environmental Assessment in a Changing World: Evaluating Practice to Improve Performance, June 1996, chapter 4.

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