Session Description
Countries' laws about impact assessment derive largely from UN conventions and associated decisions across decades. These include the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment (1972), World Heritage Convention (1972), Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in the Transboundary Context (1991), the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro (UNFCCC, CBD and UNCCD) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).
As Conventions and decisions multiply and mature new tools to understand impact have emerged, including the Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and Taskforce on Nature Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). Originating in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris meeting these are driven by the financial risk of failing to manage impact.
There is a risk and an opportunity created by these decisions and conventions. There is a risk that key powers and impact may be diluted by multiple and conflicting decisions. There is also an opportunity to amplify the legacy of impact assessment and for practitioners on impact assessment to ‘raise the bar’ in how people and the environment are protected from unintended impacts of development and other economic activity.
This session will explore the legacy of impact assessment, how it has been amplified by impact assessment practitioners, and where it might evolve to.
The session seeks to highlight case studies of impact, and to encourage practitioners and academics to think broadly about Ka mua, ka muri: Looking back for the future of impact assessment.
Session Summary
This session will explore the legacy of impact assessment, how it has been amplified by impact assessment practitioners, and where it might evolve to. It draws on the UN Conventions as the 'conditions precedent' for impact assessment, emerging trends and instruments including TNCD and TNFD.
Proposed By
no
Session Chair
Kimberley Swords
Riffle Advisory & UQ-Oxford Leadership Academy
Australia