News Archive
SIA-Mercosur
The Draft Overall Final Report for Phase 1 of the Preliminary Trade SIA EU-MERCOSUR is now available. Download SIA-Mercosur reports here.
There will be an ad hoc civil society meeting to discuss the final reports (overall and sectoral studies) in Brussels on the 19th of July. Visit DG Trade for details.
Please submit any comments on the reports by the 31st of August, 2007
SIA-EMFTA
The first and second reports for Phase 3 are now available from the SIA-EMFTA website.
Phase 2 Final Report is also available in French, Arabic and English.
Clive George and Colin Kirkpatrick attended the Annual Meeting of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) in Seoul on 4-8 June 2007, and presented papers to the sessions on Trade Impact Assessment.
Clive George's role as co-Chair of the Trade Impact Assessment Section (with Bernice Goldsmith) has now been taken on by Rachel McCormick. Colin Kirkpatrick is joint editor (with Carys Jones) of the IAIA's journal, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal.
Jennifer Franz attended a three day Comprehensive Training Course on Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Belfast (May 21-23, 2007) run by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland.
Colin Kirkpatrick is a member of the Expert Advisory Panel for the DFID-World Bank Research Programme on Better Regulation for Growth. The Panel had its first meeting in London on 21-22 May 2007.
Clive George was invited to present on Stakeholder Involvement and Participation in the Evaluation of Sustainability at the EASY-ECO European Training Course in Brasov, Romania on 18 May 2007. See here for more information on the Easy-Eco European Conferences and Training Courses.
Clive George was invited to present the Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) of the EMFTA to the Circle of Mediterranean Parliamentarians for Sustainable Development (COMPSUD), Corfu, 3 May 2007.
Jennifer Franz attended the first of six meetings of the Evaluation Network Project in Berlin (10-11th of May) (led by Ecologic and Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IOW).) The Network combines expertise from a large consortium of European research institutions active in the field of sustainability and policy evaluation.
T. Iwanow and C. Kirkpatrick presented a paper on trade facilitation and export performance at the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE).
C. Kirkpatrick and C. George delivered a workshop on Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) for the Government of Slovakia.
C. Kirkpatrick attended a regulatory reform meeting organised by CUTS in New Delhi.
C. Kirkpatrick participated in an experts group meeting on trade policy and Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Netherlands Commission for Environmental Impact Assessment.
Impact Assessment and Sustainable Development: European Practice and Experience Edited by C. George and C. Kirkpatrick, is now available through Edward Elgar. This is Volume 2 in the Evaluating Sustainable Development series. The volumes comprise selected papers presented at the five international EASY-ECO conferences organised by a consortium of seven leading European universities and research institutes. See EASY-ECO for further details.
H. Jalilian, C. Kirkpatrick and D. Parker "The Impact of Regulation on Economic Growth in Developing Countries: A Cross-Country Analysis" in World Development Vol 35(1) p. 87.
C. George "Sustainable Development and Gobal Governance" in the current issue of The Journal of Evnironment and Development.
T. Iwanow and C. Kirkpatrick, "Trade Facilitation, Regulatory Quality and Export Performance" Working Paper 19/2007.
IARC is pleased to be part of a European network of research institutions active in the field of sustainability and policy evaluation. In total, 10 institutions will constitute the network, including: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels; Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) in Milan; the Institute for European Environmental Policy IEEP, the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD)in Warsaw; the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM)in Amsterdam; the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP)in Bilthoven; the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI); the Centrum for Evaluation at the University of Saarland (CEVAL) and the Vienna University of Economics. The proposal covers a three-year period during which time workshops, a summer school for young researchers and an evaluation conference will take place. See the Social ecological research website for further details.
IARC Working Paper Series
New working papers are now available.
Easy-Eco 2006
IARC members attended the second Easy-Eco Conference in Saarbrucken Germany, 11-14 October, 2006. The conference was a great success and further information on the Easy-Eco Conference and Training series can be found here
Mercosur
Phase One is now underway and is due for completion in March 2007. The Inception Report (Consultation Draft) was submitted to the European Commission on 6th July 2006. A Civil Society meeting was held in Brussels on 18th July 2006. Comments received on the Inception report during the consultation period are available Click here for details
New Members of Staff
IARC is delighted to invite two new members to the Centre: Jennifer Franz and Tomasz Iwanow. Jennifer and Tomasz are currently working on two projects within IARC:
-Impact Assessment (Trade SIA) of the Association Agreement under negotiation between the European Community and Mercosur
-Regulatory Processes and the Use of Impact Assessment in collaboration with the European Network for Better Regulation
SIA Final Reports: Global Overview of the WTO Doha Development Agenda and the Fisheries Sector
The Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) Final Reports for the Global Overview of the WTO Doha Development Agenda and for the Fisheries Sector have been submitted to the European Commission on 12 May 2006 and are now available as "consultation drafts" A public meeting (Civil Society dialogue) to discuss the draft reports was held in Brussels on 16 June 2006
Find out more and download the reportsFurther information and registration details for the Public Meeting
New Publications: Journal articles
Two journal articles authored by IARC staff members have been recently published in international peer-reviewed journals:
Kirkpatrick, C., George, C. and S. Scrieciu (2006) "Trade liberalisation in environmental services: why so little progress?", Global Economy Journal, Vol. 6, Issue 2 (May, forthcoming) (electronic journal: www.bepress.com/gej/).
Lee, N. and C. Kirkpatrick (2006) "Evidence-based policy-making in Europe: an evaluation of European Commission integrated impact assessments", Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, Vol. 24 (1): 23-33.
International Conference: "Power, Poverty and Sustainabiltiy: The Role of Impact Assessment"
Colin Kirkpatrick and Serban Scrieciu participated with two papers to the 26th International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) Annual Conference on "Power, poverty and sustainability: the role of impact assessment", 23-26 May 2006, Stavanger, Norway: "Assessing the impact of trade on poverty: is there a case for a "best" single approach?" (Kirkpatrick, C.and Scrieciu. S.) and "How useful are computable general equilibrium models for sustainability impact assessment?" (Scrieciu, S.).
Read the conference papers...
Find out more about the IAIA 2006 Annual Conference...
Research Contract: Trade SIA Study for MERCOSUR-EU Association Agreement
IARC is the lead organisation in the consortium appointed by the European Commission to undertake a trade sustainability impact assessment of the negotiations between the EU and MERCOSUR (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), which have the objective of achieving a greater level of economic cooperation and integration between the MERCOSUR group and the EU. The Framework Agreement will be for two years and the first phase of the work will begin in early 2006. The members of the consortium are: the Impact Assessment Research Centre at The University of Manchester, Copenhagen Economics (Denmark), Ecostrat (Brazil), Chaire Mercosur (France), WISE Consultants (UK), Land Use Consultants (UK), and GRET (France). The consortium institutions will also be working closely with national experts in the four MERCOSUR countries. Further information on the project is available on www.sia-trade.org.
Research Contract: Evaluation of National Strategies for Sustainable Development
IARC has been invited by the OECD to undertake a comparative evaluation of Methodologies for Evaluating National Strategies for Sustainable Development. The study will cover OECD and non-OECD countries' experience and practice.
IARC Memorandum: Making Trade Work for Development: The WTO Hong Kong Ministerial
The IARC recently submitted written evidence to the House of Commons International Development Committee Inquiry on "Making Trade Work for Development: the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial".
Read the IARC submission...
Research Grant: Regulatory Processes and the Use of Impact Assessment
IARC has been awarded a research grant of EUR 92,548 under the FP6 Programme on "Regulatory Processes and the Use of Impact Assessment". The IARC is a member of the European Network for Better Regulation (ENBR) which is led by the Centre for European Policy Studies (Belgium).
SIA Mid-Term Reports: Global Overview of the WTO Doha Development Agenda and the Fisheries Sector
The Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) Mid-Term Reports for the Global Overview of the WTO Doha Development Agenda and for the Fisheries Sector have been submitted to the European Commission on 6 April 2006 and are now available as "consultation drafts".
Find out more and download the reports.
The SIA Mid-Term Reports will be discussed in a Public Meeting organised by the European Commission on Wednesday, 26 April 2006.
Follow this link for further details and registration...
United Nations and League of Arab States Regional Workshop on Trade and Environment Capacity Building
Clive George presented at the recent UNESCWA/UNEP/LAS trade and environment workshop, 25-27 March 2006, Muscat, Oman. The workshop for senior officials of trade ministries and environment ministries in the Arab countries aimed to strengthen their capacity to take fuller account of environmental and social issues in trade negotiations at both regional and global levels.
Find out more about the workshop and download presentations...
Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment Stocktaking Conference
IARC staff members attended the EU SIA Stocktaking Conference organised by the European Commission, 21-22 March 2006, Brussels. The conference aimed to evaluate the work done so far on Trade SIAs, raise the awareness of Trade SIA studies, and provide ideas on improving the way Trade SIAs are carried out and their results fed into policy-making. Colin Kirkpatrick gave two presentations on "Assessing the Impact of Trade SIAs" and "The Latest Changes to the EU Trade SIA Methodology", and Clive George presented "Sectoral Trade SIAs: ready-to-use policy tool or a general pointer?".
Find out more about the EU Trade SIA Stocktaking Conference...
Read the conference paper...
Civil Society Dialogue: Sustainability Impact Assessment of the European Mediterranean Free Trade Area
An ad-hoc Civil Society meeting on the Sustainability Impact Assessment of the European Mediterranean Free Trade Area (SIA-EMFTA) was held in Brussels, 20 March 2006. The SIA-EMFTA study is undertaken in three phases over a period of two years by a Consortium of consultants led by IARC at the Institute for Development Policy and Management. The Final Report of Phase 2 of the SIA-EMFTA was presented and the next steps for Phase 3 were discussed by Clive George and Colin Kirkpatrick.
Follow this link for further information on the Civil Society meeting...
Download documents relevant to the meeting.
UNEP Meeting on Integrated Assessment/Sustainability Appraisal Framework
Colin Kirkpatrick attended the recent UNEP Working Group meeting on Integrated Assessment/Sustainability Appraisal, 14 February 2006, Geneva. The aim of the Working Group is to develop a voluntary framework for sustainability assessment which would assist countries to more fully achieve their national sustainable development goals.
Find out more about this UNEP Working Group Meeting...
SIA Inception Reports: Global Overview of the WTO Doha Development Agenda and the Fisheries Sector
The Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) Inception Reports for the Global Overview of the WTO Doha Development Agenda and for the Fisheries Sector have been submitted to the European Commission on 27 January 2006 and are now available for public consultation.
Follow this link to find out more and to download the reports.
International Conference: 12th Annual Conference of the Economic Research Forum
Clive George and Colin Kirkpatrick participated with a background paper on "Economic, Social and Environmental Impacts of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area" in the 12th Annual Conference of the Economic Research Forum, 19-21 December 2005, Cairo.
Read the conference paper...
Find out more about the 12th Annual ERF Conference...
DFID Training Programme: Principles and Practice of Investment Climate Reform
Colin Kirkpatrick attended the DFID Enterprise Development Advisers' Training Programme on "Principles and Practice of Investment Climate Reform", 2-13 December 2005, Dorking. He presented a paper on "Develoment Policy and Programme Analysis: An Integrated Impact Assessment Approach (IIAA)"
Read the conference paper...
Research Contract: Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) of the WTO Doha Development Agenda
Following the completion of the WTO world trade talks in Hong Kong (13-18 December 2005), the IARC has been contracted by the European Commission (DG Trade) to undertake an assessment of the impact of the WTO Doha Agenda negotiations on sustainable development in developing countries and in the European Union. The Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) study will be completed in mid 2006, and is intended to inform negotiations on the completion of the DDA, which will be concluded at the end of 2006. The contract also provides for a sector SIA of Fisheries, which will be undertaken by IARC and the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) at University of Greenwich.
Find out more about the SIA of WTO trade negotiations programme...
Training Programme: Impact Assessment customised training
Ms Jaya Verma from DFID-India visited IARC on 6-8 December 2005 for a customised training programme in "Managing Impact Evaluation and Monitoring and Evaluation Programmes".
International Conference: Greening the European Neighbourhood Policy
Clive George gave a presentation on the preliminary findings of the SIA of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area at a conference meeting in Brussels, European Parliament on "Greening the European Neighbourhood Policy", on 5-6 December 2005. The conference was jointly organised by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, WWF and the European Parliament. Its aim was to provide MEPs and other policy-makers with a better understanding of issues related to strengthening the environmental component of the European Union's cooperation strategy with its near neighbours in Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
Find out more about "Greening the European Neighbourhood Policy" Conference...
Public Meeting: Civil Society Dialogue at the European Commission
Colin Kirkpatrick attended the Civil Society meeting in Brussels organised by the European Commision on 5 December 2005 to discuss the 2005 final reports and the 2006 SIA programme related to the Sustainability Impact Assessments of the Doha Development Agenda.
Find out more about the Civil Society meeting...
ESRC Research Seminar Series: Trade in Services
Serban Scrieciu attended the Research Seminar on "Trade in Services", 1-2 December 2005, funded by the ESRC and organised by the University of Sussex (Department of Economics, the Institute of Development Studies, and the Sussex Centre for Migration Research). A paper by Colin Kirkpatrick, Clive George and Serban Scrieciu on "GATS and Liberalsisation in Environmental Services" was prepared for the conference, and will appear shortly as a IARC Working Paper.
Find out more about the "Trade in Services" ERSC seminar...
International EASY-ECO Manchester Conference: Impact Assessment for a New Europe and Beyond
IARC hosted in Manchester the first conference on "Impact Assessment for a New Europe and Beyond", 15-17 June 2005. This is the first of a series of international conferences on sustainability evaluation being organised under the European Union's Marie Curie programme, in association with the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Saarland University, and four Central and Eastern European partners (EASY-ECO: EvAluation of SustainabilitY - EUropean COnferences and Training Courses). To download the Manchester conference proceedings and for more information on the EASY-ECO 2005-2007 Series of conferences and training courses on sustainability evaluation please visit the EASY-ECO website.