IEMA Named Winner of International Award

IEMA has been acknowledged for its dedication to improving EIA with an award from a leading international authority. Click to find out more.

IEMA has been declared winner of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA)'s 2012 Institutional Award in recognition of its work on environmental impact assessment (EIA).

The IAIA's Institutional Award is presented annually to a national or international government or non-governmental organisation that has made an outstanding contribution to impact assessment practice or other environmentally-related activity which is deemed worthy of recognition. Past winners have included IIED, IUCN and the African Development Bank.

IEMA was nominated for the award by Ross Marshall, Manager of the Environment Agency's National Environmental Assessment Service (NEAS) and a former President of the IAIA. Ross put IEMA forward for consideration because of IEMA's, and its predecessor the IEA's, two decades of contribution to the profession and to the promotion of a clear "strategic approach to improving quality in EIA practice". This was particularly evident in 2011 through the publication of the "State of Environmental Impact Assessment in the UK" Special Report and the EIA Quality Mark, which promotes excellence in Environmental Impact Assessment projects among its 43 registrants.

Within its announcement of the 2012 award winners, IAIA stated that IEMA was selected "because of its promotion of quality and improving environmental practice and performance in environmental impact assessment practice in the United Kingdom".

Josh Fothergill, IEMA's Policy and Practice Lead on EIA, will collect the prize when the awards are formally presented at the IAIA's 32nd annual conference in Portugal in May.

Claire Lea, IEMA's Director of Membership Strategy and Development said "IEMA is delighted that the EIA Quality Mark and Special Report on the State of EIA Practice has been recognised by IAIA. We would like to thank Ross and the IAIA Committee and Board for recognising IEMA's leadership and contributions to EIA."

"We feel that the EIA Quality Mark scheme, which has been in place less than a year, is making a significant contribution to the improvement of EIA in the UK, encouraging knowledge sharing and the improvement of practice. Receiving the Institutional Award is a great achievement and a fantastic start to 2012".