TIAS Review of Major Global Assessments
Between 2007 and 2009, five major global assessments were released including UNEP’s GEO-4, the OECD’s Environmental Outlook to 2030, the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment, and World Water Development Report. At this time, discussions were also underway for the follow-up to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, published in 2005.
In April 2009, TIAS hosted a workshop in Brussels bringing together 20 invited practitioners/authors who represent the lead agencies involved in these assessments in order to undertake a methodological review of these processes. Based on recommendations that emerged from the TIAS-GWSP Global Assessments workshop in 2007 and the subsequent experts workshop “Methodological Review of Recent Global Assessments” in November 2008, a second experts workshop was held April 2009. The participants from a variety of governmental agencies and international organisations examined how the business of developing, conducting and delivering integrated assessments has evolved.
The results of these three workshops, and in particular the 2009 workshop, were synthesized into an article, Rothman et. al. 2009. How to make global assessments more effective: lessons from the assessment community, published in the journal, Current Opinion in Sustainabilty which is of interest to organizations that undertake and sponsor assessments, and to policy scientists, convention bodies, and others.