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Cadmus Presents Cutting Edge Work on Environmental Impact Analysis Systems in AfricaWatertown, Mass. (August 29, 2007) — Environmental Assessment (EA) is a valuable policy and planning tool for sustainable development. Capacity building for and strategic support to EA systems is a key focus of the work of The Cadmus Group’s International Development practice. Members of the practice highlighted recent EA work and lessons learned in several presentations at the 27th Annual Conference of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) held in Seoul, Korea, from June 3 to June 9, 2007. Mark Stoughton, Ph.D., a Cadmus senior associate and co-leader of the practice, discussed the results of an experts’ workshop on the effectiveness and financial sustainability of environmental impact assessment (EIA) systems in Africa held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in mid-April. The 2 day meeting was organized by the Capacity Development and Linkages for Environmental Assessment in Africa (CLEAA)—a pan-African network of EIA institutes and associations—and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Dr. Stoughton served as the senior consultant to CLEAA to develop the workshop vision and agenda. He also facilitated working groups and led the synthesis of workshop recommendations. At the IAIA conference, Dr. Stoughton provided a synopsis of the EIA review and follow-up mechanisms used in African EIA “leader” countries, the agenda for action that emerged from the meeting, and the prospects for implementing that agenda through multilateral, donor and governmental mechanisms. Detailed information about the workshop is available at http://www.encapafrica.org/cleaa_workshop.htm. Dr. Stoughton also discussed the results of a strategic review of Mali’s EIA system and the funding of environmental management activities in that West Africa country. He presented the original assessment framework developed, the findings and recommendations, and the prospects for more sustainable funding mechanisms. Dr. Stoughton led the multinational team that performed the strategic review from January to November 2006. The assessment was a pilot test of a broader CLEAA initiative to provide technical assistance to African EIA systems. Both the CLEAA-ECA workshop and the Mali assessment were funded by USAID. Also at the IAIA conference, Cadmus principal Weston Fisher, who co-leads the practice with Dr. Stoughton, organized and chaired an experts’ forum to share ideas, experiences, and methods for reaching decision makers who may have no previous exposure to impact assessment, but who are in positions of influence and who may control funding for the preparation and review of EIAs and the preparation, implementation, and enforcement of the environmental management plans (EMPs) that result from those assessments. The forum included a dramatization combining actor-experts and a computer animation that illustrated the adverse results not only of inadequate stakeholder involvement and public participation but also of insufficient attention to the EMP. About The Cadmus Group, Inc. Founded in 1983, employee-owned Cadmus (http://www.cadmusgroup.com) helps government, nonprofit, and corporate clients address critical challenges in the environmental and energy sectors. We provide an array of research and analytical services in the United States and abroad, specializing in solving complex problems that demand innovative, multidisciplinary thinking. Among Cadmus’ major practice areas are Drinking Water and Water Quality, Communications and Social Marketing, Energy Services (including energy efficiency and renewable energy), Risk Assessment, Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmentally Sound Design, and Environmental Management. Our staff includes scientists; engineers; statisticians; economists; MBAs; marketing, public relations, and communications professionals; attorneys; information technology specialists; and public policy analysts. Many of our senior consultants are nationally recognized experts in their fields and several serve on high-level U.S. government science advisory boards. |