An integrated assessment is a policy-relevant, science-based assessment. It provides a framework to examine trade-offs involved in sustainable use of ecosystem services for human well-being.

Key Message - Integrated Assessment It is only by understanding the complex links among ecosystem services and the various constituents and determinants of well-being at various levels and over the short and long term, that we begin to inform policy-making in a constructive and meaningful manner.

Integrated assessment will be a key instrument in understanding the links between human well-being and ecosystem services in the UNEP-led poverty-ecosystem project. IISD will play an instrumental role in providing technical expertise in helping design the local level integrated assessments in seven African countries.