Making Global Integrated Environmental Assessment And Reporting Matter

This report focuses on the first two elements.

How do we take stock of the state and direction of the world’s environment, and what can we learn from the experience? Among the myriad detailed narratives about the condition of the planet, the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) reports—issued by the United Nations Environment Programme—stand out as the most ambitious. For nearly three decades the GEO project has not only delivered iconic global assessment reports, but through its multitude of contributors has inspired hundreds of similar processes worldwide from the regional to the local level. This book provides an inside account of the evolution of the GEO project from its earliest days. Building on meticulous research, including interviews with former heads of the United Nations Environment Programme, diplomats, leading contributing scientists, and senior leaders of collaborating organizations, the story is told from the perspective of five GEO veterans who all played a pivotal role in shaping the periodic assessments. The GEO’s history provides striking insights and will save valuable time to those who commission, design and conduct, as well as critique and improve, assessments of environmental development in the next decade.

While economic and other social science expertise is indispensable for successful public policy-making regarding global climate change, social scientists face trade-offs between the scientific credibility, policy-relevance, and legitimacy of their policy advice. From a philosophical perspective, this book systematically addresses these trade-offs and other crucial challenges facing the integrated economic assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Based on John Dewey’s pragmatist philosophy and an analysis of the value-laden nature and reliability of climate change economics, the book develops a refined science-policy model and specific guidelines for these assessments of climate policy options. The core idea is to scientifically explore the various practical implications of alternative climate policy pathways in an interdisciplinary manner, together with diverse stakeholders. This could facilitate an iterative, deliberative public learning process concerning disputed policy issues. This volume makes novel contributions to three strands of the literature: (1) the philosophy of (social) science in policy; (2) the philosophy of economics; and (3) debates about the design of scientific assessments, including the continuous IPCC reform debate. This work is thus interesting for philosophers and other scholars reflecting on the science-policy interface, but also for assessment practitioners, climate policy-makers, and economists. The science-policy approach developed in this volume has already influenced the recent socio-economic IPCC assessment.

This unique volume brings together key writings from experts drawn from the first ten years of the Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), launched in 1999 as a forum for encouraging better linkages between environmental assessment and management tools. The book is structured around four themes that focus on the characteristics of tools that influence their ability to link together effectively: The Nature of Tools; The Nature of Decision-Making and Institutional Context; The Nature of Engagement and The Nature of Sustainability. Edited and introduced by William Sheate, founding and present editor of JEAPM, the book provides an analysis of what makes for successful linking of assessment and management tools, supported by theoretical and practical examples. Key authors include Roland Clift, David Gadenne, Robert Gibson, Neils Faber, Thomas Fischer, David Lawrence, MNns Nilsson, Bronwyn Ridgway, and Frank Vanclay. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: The Evolving Nature of Environmental Assessment and Management: Linking Tools to Help Deliver Sustainability (10,216 KB). Contents: The Evolving Nature of Environmental Assessment and Management: Linking Tools to Help Deliver Sustainability (W R Sheate); The Nature of Tools: Choices for EIA Process Design and Management (D P Lawrence); The Project Cycle and the Role of EIA and EMS (B Ridgway); A Framework for Tool Selection and Use in Integrated Assessment for Sustainable Development (W De Ridder et al.); The Nature of Decision-Making and Institutional Context: A Systemic Framework for Environmental Decision-Making (R Van Der Vorst et al.); Decision Making and Strategic Environmental Assessment (M Nilsson & H Dalkmann); The Nature of Engagement: In It Together: Organizational Learning Through Participation in Environmental Assessment (P Fitzpatrick); Social and Environmental NGOs as Users of Corporate Social Disclosure (L Danastas & D Gadenne); The Nature of Sustainability: Organisational Sustainability: A Case for Formulating a Tailor-Made Definition (D J Kiewiet & J F J Vos); Beyond the Pillars: Sustainability Assessment as a Framework for Effective Integration of Social, Economic and Ecological Considerations in Significant Decision-Making (R B Gibson); and other papers. Readership: Natural scientists, social scientists, engineers, businesses and consultants interested in sustainability."