Page 28 -

Module monitor environmental problems and to produce SoE and assessment reports, (Command and
3 Control Policies). Although the Region is short of needed environmental databases, trained and

experienced personnel, nevertheless, some countries have succeeded in producing SoE reports and

national environmental strategies and action plans. We will present in this section some of these
assessment reports as case studies, which include:
9-12 December, 2013 2. Kingdom of Bahrain strategy to enhance public awareness, decision-making and capacity building
1. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, (MA). A case for the global scientific assessment, it has
deployed strategies to ensure that their findings have impacts on international policy and national
decision-making.

to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

3. Yemen, State of Environment Report, (2001).

3.3.1 Case study: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA)

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) represents a considerably detailed and rigorous assessment
than what is usually found in the national level SoE reports. It has deployed and instituted “engagement

and outreach” strategies from the beginning to ensure that their findings have impacts on international
policy and decision- making. The MA directors understood the need to ensure that key actors would
be engaged and informed, broader audiences would be reached, and that this process would have to
be carried on as an integral part of the whole scientific assessment – not as a parallel activity, or as an
activity initiated towards the end of the scientific work. It is presented here as an excellent example of
“best practices”:

Step 1: Impact statement: What did the MA want to see as the outcome of its work?

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was carried out to assess the consequences of
ecosystem change for human well-being and to establish the scientific basis for actions needed
to enhance the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems and their contributions to
human well-being.

Step 2: WHO are the key actors, and how to build relationships with them

At the beginning of the scientific work, the proponents of the MA (a coalition of organizations and

individuals), proceeded to:
? Confirm the need for the assessment by consulting with some of the key user audiences, in particular
the three main international conventions that directly deal with ecosystems (Convention on
Biological Diversity, Convention to Combat Desertification and Ramsar Convention on Wetlands);

26 Developing an Impact Strategy for your IEA