Integrating Indigenous, local and IUCN expertise early in impact assessment strengthens biodiversity assessments, anticipates risks and enables more informed, inclusive decisions.
Lessons from personal impact assessment practice have shown that technical expertise and emerging AI tools alone are insufficient to fully understand biodiversity values, ecosystem dynamics, climate risks, and relationships between people and nature. When Indigenous Peoples, IUCN and local biodiversity specialists are engaged too late, critical knowledge may be overlooked; early involvement helps integrate locally grounded insights, reducing risks of project redesigns, delays, and increased costs.
Drawing on practical experience working on projects in Central Asia and Africa as a biodiversity specialist, as well as ongoing work within WSP to develop operational guidance for engagement with IUCN experts, Indigenous Peoples, and local biodiversity specialists, this presentation explores how diverse knowledge systems can be integrated from the earliest stages of project development. The guidance aims to help teams identify who to engage, when engagement should occur, and how meaningful dialogue can be maintained throughout the assessment.
Project examples illustrate how early collaboration with IUCN specialist networks, local biodiversity specialists and local communities can strengthen biodiversity baselines, identify locally significant values, reduce project risks, and support informed decisions. The presentation also considers the growing use of artificial intelligence, emphasizing that AI cannot replace local knowledge and expert judgement when interpreting complex ecological relationships and rapidly changing conditions.
Beatrice is a Biodiversity Scientist at WSP with expertise in biodiversity assessment and restoration, and experience coordinating technically challenging and complex international projects.