The International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) Annual Conference brought together experts in Vancouver from 4-7 May to discuss how impact assessment builds stakeholder trust. Greater public participation and consultation, transparency in policy and robust partnerships ensure greater credibility in the process and improve collaboration among stakeholders.

This year's conference theme matches the work developed by the Rio Doce Panel and IUCN. Not only because of different methodologies and approaches for impact assessment, but also for its fundamental role in designing and directing actions, making decisions, and reducing conflicts.

The work of the Rio Doce Panel was featured in two sessions at the event. The first, led by programme officer Barbara Souza, showed how the monitoring, evaluation, and learning teams used qualitative analysis tools to overcome the lack of primary data in their assessments of the Panel's influence on watershed restoration. In the second, Professor Luis E. Sánchez presented how to transform monitoring data to assess the state of knowledge about the impacts on coastal and marine environments affected by the Fundão dam tailings slurry.

Other IUCN technical approaches to impact assessment entered the programme, with one session dedicated to including Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) in projects and impact assessment, and another focused on experiences of Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) to achieve positive outcomes for biodiversity.

The next IAIA Annual Conference will be in Malaysia in May 2023 with the theme "Resilience through impact assessment and leadership". Learn more: https://conferences.iaia.org/2023/index.php