Based on the reference manuals developed for the Global Environmental Outlook (GEO) Integrated Environmental Assessment (IEA), training programs have been developed and implemented in a number of countries. The trainings are intended to increase national and regional institutional capacity to produce regular integrated environmental assessments and reports. By drawing directly and indirectly on the GEO methods and framework, the training program is also expected to strengthen UNEP's regional, global, thematic and ecosystem level assessment and reporting efforts.
Capacity Building for Integrated Environmental Assessment and Reporting: Training Manual (2nd Ed.)
In collaboration with UNEP and Ecologistics International Inc., IISD led the development of a training manual on Integrated Environmental Assessment and reporting building on the approach of UNEP's Global Environment Outlook up until GEO-3.
Available in English, French and Spanish, the manual provides content for running an interactive four-day training course aimed primarily at assessment and reporting system planners and practitioners at the national level. By building capacity at the national level, it also aimed at strengthening the basis for assessments at the regional and global scale. Course participants are expected to develop an understanding of establishing and managing an assessment and reporting process, analyzing the state of the environment, assessing policy responses and developing alternative scenarios.
The primary audience for the training is comprised of high-level technical experts in national or state/provincial government agencies who are usually responsible for coordinating the environment or development process, or both. Although the assessment and reporting framework on which the program is based is generic, it is also applicable at lower scales.
The training program has been delivered in various forms in workshops around the world by UNEP, IISD and other GEO Collaborating Centres. Usually, a team of two qualified instructors delivers the training program to a group of about 25 participants. To date the following training sessions have been held:
|
Place |
Date |
Organizer |
|
Manama, Bahrain |
December 1998 |
UNEP and Arabian Gulf University |
|
Accra, Ghana |
May 1999 |
UNEP and IUCN |
|
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago |
November 1999 |
UNEP and UNDP |
|
Libreville, Gabon |
February 2000 |
UNEP |
|
Nairobi, Kenya |
March 2000 |
UNEP |
|
Quatre Bornes |
May 2000 |
UNEP and Indian Ocean Commission |
|
Harare, Zimbabwe |
October 2000 |
UNEP |
| Manama, Bahrain | January 2001 | UNEP Regional Office for West Asia (ROWA) |
| Castries, Saint Lucia | March 2003 | UNEP Regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean |
Training based on the GEO Resource Book (2006)
During 2005 and 2006 UNEP and IISD prepared a major update of the GEO Training Manual that is to be launched in early 2007 as the GEO Resource Book. More information on upcoming training will be available in the near future.
For more information please contact IISD's Director of Measurement and Assessment, László Pintér.