| Home |
Scoping Paper for the Process of Integrated Impact Assessment
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND KEY MESSAGES
Integrated Assessment (IA) has been identified as a desirable approach to
impact assessment. It
is intended to improve the impact assessment process to benefit the assessment
of proposed
policies, plans and projects and, ultimately, contribute towards more sustainable
development.
This background paper provides a very brief synopsis of integrated assessment,
and proposes a
generalised approach to the process of integrated assessment. This
approach is intended only to
serve as a starting point. The paper has been prepared in advance of
a a workshop to further
explore and apply integrated assessment. The development of integrated
assessment should be
sufficiently flexible to permit a diverse range of, and possibly different,
future integrated
assessment processes, as needs, complexities, contexts and challenges will
vary considerably. It
is hoped that this paper will serve that purpose and stimulate the creative
expertise of workshop
participants to further advance the process and application of integrated
assessment.
At this early stage in the evolution of an IA, the process to be followed
must closely resemble
that of other assessment processes - incorporating flexibility for future
evolution, complexity of
systems, and participation, both professionally and with the public.
Data and data collection, a
‘language’ that enables cross-fertilisation and cooperation between different
disciplinary
perspectives and worldviews, and appropriate tools and methods will need
to accommodate a
diversity of needs. The human environment is a key driving force for
environmental change and,
accordingly, for consequences that affect and influence people and communities.
Thus Health
Impact Assessment (HIA), Social Impact Assessment (SIA), and Environmental
Impact
Assessment (EIA) all have important contributions to an IA. True to the concept
of integration,
complexity and holism, it is proposed that the development of a process for
IA be complete from
the outset, avoiding the temptation to integrate only individual elements
of the impact
assessment process, such as HIA and SIA, or SIA and EIA.
Finally, a shift in worldviews may be needed to transgress the barriers of
conventional impact
assessment. At the same time, there are many experiences, tools, models,
and benefits of
conventional impact assessment approaches that can help catalyse these transformations.
Let us
not overlook their important contributions in our efforts to make the impact
assessment process
a more effective sustainable development tool.
|
