The science behind infrastructure decisions

Barbara Pedersen is a scientist with over 20 years’ experience in environment planning and specialist areas such as coastal planning. With a Master of Science from the University of Western Australia, she is the WA chair of the Environmental Planning Chapter of the Planning Institute of Australia. In 2012, Pedersen joined global infrastructure consultancy Parsons Brinckerhoff as a principal environmental consultant based in its Perth office. Here she explores the increasingly complex role of scientists in infrastructure delivery.

Scientists have an increasingly significant and complex role in infrastructure delivery. As our population expands, we are quickly using up all the ‘easy’ spaces to live and, thus, locate our infrastructure. As we push development into new areas with remnant bush, our environmental impacts become greater. As a result, we must pay more attention to where and how we place and develop necessary infrastructure such as roads, wastewater treatment plants or gas pipelines.

This is highlighted in Perth, Western Australia, in a region of globally significant biodiversity where we have new developments fitting into a landscape with few remaining areas of bushland. Scientists provide useful input to help assess the environmental impacts and ecological modelling to guide infrastructure approvals for such developments. This is particularly important in areas where we have habitats for critically endangered species, such as the black cockatoo species.

You have worked in this field since the 1980s, how have scientists’ roles changed?

Government agencies, both state and federal, are under increasing pressure to demonstrate the scientific validity behind their decision-making. This means, as scientists, we are much more involved in providing independent scientific guidance and validation.

We know more about the risks and long-term consequences - both in financial cost and impact upon people and the environment - of our infrastructure investments. There is an increasing focus on the long term with more strategic and integrated assessments.

The interplay of environmental impacts and the growing complexity of legislation mean that scientific assessments are more onerous than in the past. This is necessary as we must consider project site level information, regional information, population studies and background studies - combining many inputs into the decision framework.

How well do infrastructure developers and scientists work together?

Generally, we now recognise that we cannot approach projects site by site and we know our infrastructure efforts can significantly affect natural systems. Thankfully, this has led to a much more coordinated conversation around future development than in the past. There is also an Aboriginal concept coming to the fore; look after country and country will look after you.

In the Perth and Peel regions, infrastructure service providers (water, power, ports, utilities, etc) are coming to the table to declare their development intentions for the next 20 years. By pooling this information and our resources we can be much more strategic and, together, review the viability and impact of the combined development footprint. So, for example, we can plan shared infrastructure corridors and prepare bigger areas of offsets for affected species across a region rather than on a site-by-site basis.

Where do you see growing opportunities for scientists in infrastructure?

Unless scientists have a pure research focus they must understand how business works, as has always been recognised in sustainable decision-making. Scientists now work more closely with economists to provide confidence in decision-making. As a scientist, if you understand how financial decisions are made and how to work with many different stakeholders you have a greater opportunity to share and influence the infrastructure conversation.

If you look at particular industries, in oil and gas infrastructure for example, there is a strong drive to understand the impacts of climate change over the life cycle of infrastructure assets. These companies make big investments to get the science right - or as close as possible. Scientists in this field are using 1-in-10,000-year events to forecast ocean waves and swells and their potential impact on structures during the design of offshore oil rigs and pipelines. This is done with good reason, as this infrastructure has to withstand the test of time and changing climatic conditions.

The insurance industry is a growth area for scientists mainly because this industry is coping with how to cover its risks following substantial increases in payments related to extreme weather events.

There is also a growing niche for scientists willing to assist government auditing processes and to check that infrastructure project outcomes meet project objectives. This is important work as it verifies that we are heading in the right direction and making the right investment decisions. This is where economists and scientists can work together to influence balanced societal decisions about infrastructure required for our future prosperity in every sense of the word.

Background:
10-18 August 2013 is National Science Week - this celebration of science is an opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of Australian scientists to the world of knowledge - and to encourage others to get involved in the profession.