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News and Events

1-2 April 2009
SIA Workshop in Australia
The Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining in partnership with ACMER is hosting a 2-day workshop on “Innovations in Social Impact Assessment and Monitoring for the Resources Sector” in Brisbane, Australia, 1-2 April 2009. Sessions are tailored for a practitioner audience, and will highlight innovations in policy and industry frameworks, theory and practice. More information on the workshop (including a list of speakers and registration details) can be found here.

24-26 March 2009
Biodiversity Workshop in China
“Impact Assessment, Biodiversity and the Extractive Industries” will be held 24-26 March 2009 at the Kempinski Hotel in Beijing, China. The workshop is free to attend, but you must register by 2 March.

IAIA is collaborating with the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) on this event. Other organizers are the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) and the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM).

14 January 2009
Invitation to submit paper and poster abstracts
The Internatioanal Association for Impact Assessment is inviting abstracts for the 29th Annual Conference on Impact Assessment to be held in Ghana on 17-22 May. The theme is:

How do you promote human well-being and protection of ecosystems when evaluating proposed development Policies, Plans, Programs, and Projects?

Human well-being depends on ecosystem services. Impact assessment aims at ensuring a healthy environment, ultimately leading to improved human well-being. This conference will assess the relevance of human well-being in impact assessments. IAIA09 will involve you in discussions with experts from around the globe focusing on how impact assessment assures:

   * Healthy environment
   * Human well-being
   * Sustainable development
   * Protected ecosystems
   * Quality of life 

To download a Preliminary Program or for information on paper submission, registration, sponsorship and more, click the IAIA09 Accra, Ghana or contact impact@iaia.org.

Welcome to the EIA Wiki

This EIA Wiki provides an online platform for the international community to engage in knowledge building on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

We invite everyone to login and help build knowledge on EIA. Once you have a login you can start creating, editing, or sharing content on the EIA Wiki. For more information please visit to the Welcome page.

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What is EIA?

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a tool used for aid decision making regarding the significant environmental consequences of projects, developments and programmes.

EIA helps the stakeholders with the identification of the environmental, social and economic impacts of a proposed development before a decision is taking on whether or not to proceed.

This normally includes consideration of the need for the project as well as possible alternatives (i.e. siting, designs and layout), and the no-development option.

EIA e-Course Module

EIA Course Module

The EIA e-Course Module is an open educational resource developed by the United Nations University in collaboration with RMIT University and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Economic and Trade Branch for educational and capacity building programmes with an interest on environmental assessment. The e-Course Module is an instructional learning module providing further information on EIA practice and an in depth analysis of the EIA methodology.

Featured Article

International Environmental Agreements

International Environmental Agreements have a significant impact on the institutionalization and implementation of EIA in Practice.

UN Convention on Biological Diversity

There are numerous international environmental agreements of relevance to the application of EIA. They are divided into two broad categories: green and brown lists. The green list refers to international agreements related to the conservation of the natural environment and includes the Convention on Biological Diversity. The brown list includes those agreements designed to control pollution, for example, the Framework Convention on Climate Change.