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Impact Assessment

Impact assessment is the process of identifying the future consequences of a current or proposed action. It is used to ensure that projects, programmes and policies are economically viable, socially equitable and environmentally sustainable. Work under the Convention seeks to support efforts to adequately reflect biodiversity considerations in impact assessments. Guidance developed under the Convention helps to decide which aspects of biodiversity may need to be monitored and how to carry this out in a cost-effective way.

Highlights

What's new?

  • Just published: Biodiversity in Environmental Assessment – Enhancing Ecosystem Services for Human Well-Being by Roel Slootweg, Asha Rajvanshi, Vinod B. Mathur and Arend Kolhoff more >>>

  • Under the title "Impact Assessment and Responsible Development for Infrastructure, Business and Industry" the 2011 Annual Conference of the International Association for Impact Assessment
    (IAIA 11, Puebla, Mexico, 28 May – 4 June 2011) will consider the consequences to ecosystems, cultural heritage and human well-being of decisions taken by infrastructure developers, industry executives and managers, financial agents and business leaders.

  • The International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) has prepared a multilingual glossary of impact assessment, which is available to its members on the IAIA website. more >>>

NEW

The Capacity Building in Biodiversity and Impact Assessment (CBBIA) toolkit has been posted. It assembles material elaborated by stakeholders in a number of regions, particularly southern Africa, south and south-east Asia, Central America and the Small Island Developing States. For example, a draft manual for EIA practitioners and reviewers in South Asia with best practice guidance for biodiversity-inclusive impact assessment is now accessible.

A brochure with the voluntary guidelines on biodiversity-inclusive impact assessment and additional background information has beeen prepared in collaboration with the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA), the Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) and other relevant organizations.

French and Spanish language versions have been produced as part of the CBD Technical Series.

IAIA '10

The 30th Annual Meeting of the International Association for Impact Assessment took place from 6 to 11 April 2010 in Geneva, Switzerland. It focused on the role of impact assessment in transitioning to the Green Economy. Papers, posters and recordings from the conference are accessible here.

Impact Assessment

The establishment of energy-demanding and polluting industries, such as aluminum production, requires careful planning and consideration of the environmental impacts.

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  • United Nations
  • United Nations Environment Programme