Guidelines for Integrated Environmental Assessments of Urban Areas
3.1
Stage 1: Start up
Assessment and reporting are complex tasks that will not produce the expected results unless they are carried out with the needed time and energy devoted to it. This requires that the mandates and capacities to carry out this task are considered as part of the core infrastructure of social organizations, a responsibility often of government. The mandate should be clearly backed by laws and regulations. Civil society and other stakeholder groups must be given a leading role along with to the local administration. This will create synergies and provide the public with different points of view. The starting points are diverse: while some cities have experience with scientific research, systematic gathering of data and planning and information on the environment may be well developed and organized, in other cities information may be scattered and more difficult to organize. Local coordination team The role of the coordination team is to manage and coordinate the entire process. This includes engaging the wider expert community; gathering, analyzing and interpreting data; and organizing peer review. The selection of effective technical partners is crucial for the process. Criteria for selection may include the following: • experience in integrated environmental assessment; • high public profile and recognized leadership capacity; • good relationship with the local authority; • capacity to dialogue with different stakeholders from both the public and private sector; • ability to build consensus on key environmental issues;
Collaborating institutions and other stakeholders Another important step in the process is to identify the stakeholders to be part of the process. They can be institutions and/or individuals: • whose interests are affected by environmental problems or • whose decisions have environmental effects; • who possess information, resources or expertise required for policy formulation and strategy implementation; and • who control key mechanisms (e.g., funding) for policy and strategy formulation and implementation. It is important that all participants understand the need for a long-term commitment. The assessment and integrated report are tools to facilitate communication between science and politics. The GEO Cities assessment may lead the way to a continual dialogue between the interested stakeholders and society in general. In order to keep an active relationship with collaborating institutions, it is important to keep in mind the following: • identify a contact person for the duration of the process; • establish a clear definition of their role and responsibilities; and • keep the contact person regularly informed about progress and seek out his/her views on key decisions. The number of participants should be relatively limited in order to allow for a smooth handling of the process.
• experience in organizing and facilitating workshops.
Chapter 3
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