Ecosystem Services Review for Impact Assessment: a new methodology to address ecosystem services in impact assessment

Dear all,

The Ecosystem Services Review for Impact Assessment (ESR for IA) is a structured methodology to help environmental and social practitioners address ecosystem services throughout the impact assessment process.

More specifically, the ESR for IA provides practitioners with:

• A conceptual framework for better understanding the linkages between the project, ecosystem services, and human well-being;
• An overview of the seven steps to implement the conceptual framework throughout the ESIA process (scoping, impact analysis, and mitigation stages) in a structured and systematic manner; and
• Detailed instructions accompanied by supporting tools and guidance to help ESIA practitioners throughout the scoping stage, impact analysis stage, and the mitigation stage.

WRI released yesterday the first of two Working Papers, Ecosystem Services Review for Impact Assessment: Introduction and Guide to Scoping. It will be followed by Ecosystem Services Review for Impact Assessment: Guide to Impact Analysis and Mitigation (to be published in early 2012). These two working papers will be road-tested on upcoming environmental and social impact assessment processes between January and September 2012 before being finalized.

We would love to have your feedback on the ESR for IA!

Florence