The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is an independent
policy
Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an or ...
research institute (
think tank
A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
) whose stated mission is to "build a fairer, more sustainable world, using evidence, action and influence in partnership with others." Its director is Dr Tom Mitchell.
IIED is one of a small group of independent,
not-for-profit
A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives.
While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...
organisations that has provided core concepts and methods for thinking about
sustainability
Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...
and
social change
Social change is the alteration of the social order of a society which may include changes in social institutions, social behaviours or social relations. Sustained at a larger scale, it may lead to social transformation or societal transformat ...
. IIED's main way of working is through partnership with like-minded organisations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The institute's work is currently divided into four main areas: natural resources, climate change, human settlements and sustainable markets.
IIED is based in central London near Chancery Lane and has an office in Edinburgh. It formerly had offices in Dakar, Senegal (now an independent organisatio
IED-Afrique and Buenos Aires, Argentina (also now an independent organisation
IIED-America Latina. There was also an office in Washington DC, USA (until IIED North America merged with the
World Resources Institute
The World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global research non-profit organization established in 1982 with funding from the MacArthur Foundation under the leadership of James Gustave Speth. Subsequent presidents include Jonathan Lash (1993– ...
in 1988).
The International Institute of Environment and Development has more than 170 employees and researchers from dozens of countries. The organisation's board of trustees are all volunteers, currently 13 representatives from nine countries. The working budget of the IIED, £26.1 million in 2023/24, is achieved through donations, grants and mutually beneficial partnerships.
[Financial summary](_blank)
IIED.
History
Source:
[Batterbury, SPJ. 2004]
"The International Institute for Environment and Development: Notes on a small office"
''Global Environmental Change'' 14: 367–371.
1970s
The origins of IIED can be found in the International Institute for Environmental Affairs (IIEA), which was set up in New York in 1971 with backing from industrialist
Robert O. Anderson and ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' journalist Jack Raymond as founding president. In 1973,
Barbara Ward was asked to become the organisation's first director, and agreed on the condition that development as well as an environmental agenda was integral to its mission. She moved the organisation to London and changed its name to IIED.
IIEA had helped shape the agenda for the 1972
United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm, Sweden, during June 5–16, 1972.
When the United Nations General Assembly decided to convene the 1972 Stockholm Conference, taking up the offer of the Government of S ...
(also known as the Stockholm Conference), which led to the creation of the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...
. Ward's book ''Only One Earth'' (co-authored with
René Dubos), was the key text for delegates at that conference, where Ward introduced the term
sustainable development
Sustainable development is an approach to growth and Human development (economics), human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General ...
to a global audience and highlighted the links between the environment and human wellbeing.
IIED carried out research and lobbying work on a range of contemporary environment and development topics, using funds obtained from donor organisations and occasionally from corporations and foundations. It held its first symposium at the 1974 UN World Food Conference and in 1975 joined forces with UNEP to create Earthscan, an information and environment service for media. In 1976 it was heavily involved in HABITAT, the first UN Conference on Human Settlements.
1980s
In 1985, IIED and the
World Resources Institute (WRI) began to produce the biennial
World Resources Report, which today is solely a WRI publication. In 1987, the
Brundtland Report
__NOTOC__
''Our Common Future'', also known as the Brundtland Report, was published in October 1987 by the United Nations through the Oxford University Press. This publication was in recognition of Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Norwegian Prime Mi ...
, also known as Our Common Future, cited IIED's contribution to creating "a global agenda for change".
The institute's staff published a series of landmark books,
including ''Africa in Crisis'' by Lloyd Timberlake (1986), ''The Greening of Africa'' by Paul Harrison (1987), and ''No Timber Without Trees'' by Duncan Poore (1989) and ''Squatter Citizen: Life in the Urban Third World'' by Jorge Hardoy and David Satterthwaite (1989).
1990s
IIED played an important role ahead of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, or
Earth Summit
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio de Janeiro Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92, Cúpula da Terra), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 ...
, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by mobilising civil society and drawing international attention to the summit. For this, IIED was awarded the
Blue Planet Prize. One of IIED's major projects of the 1990s was called "Towards a Sustainable Paper Cycle".
2000s
In 2001, IIED set up a climate change programme, led by
Dr Saleemul Huq. He and several other IIED researchers have served as lead authors or coordinating lead authors for the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World Met ...
. IIED was active at Rio Earth Summit's follow-up conference, the
World Summit on Sustainable Development
The World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002, took place in South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002. It was convened to discuss sustainable development organizations, 10 years after the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. (It was t ...
in Johannesburg in 2002. Between 2000 and 2002, IIED led the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) project, a global review of the impacts and practices of the mining sector that engaged industry players and recommended improvements to their operations. In October 2008, the ''
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States
* Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
'' newspaper cited then IIED director
Camilla Toulmin as one of Britain's top 100 environmentalists.
2010s
In 2012, IIED organised a major conference ahead of the Rio+20 Summit in Brazil.
Current work
IIED continues to both conduct research with partners in dozens of countries and act on a global stage through processes such as various multilateral environmental negotiations.
Directors
IIED's founding director
Barbara Ward died in 1981. She was succeeded by William Clark, Brian Walker,
Richard Sandbrook, Nigel Cross,
Camilla Toulmin, Andrew Norton and, currently, Tom Mitchell, who took over in September 2022.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
In 2023 British academic
Jim Skea
Sir James Ferguson "Jim" Skea Order of the British Empire, CBE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE ( ; born 1 September 1953) is a British academic. He is currently Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for ...
was elected as Chair of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World Met ...
(IPCC). He has been involved with the IPCC since it was created in the 1990s and, during his time as Chair, Skea has chosen to be hosted by IIED.
Publications
IIED publishes a variety of reports, working papers, books, policy briefs and opinion papers, most of which are free to download as pdfs from its website. Its online presence has expanded to include social media applications in recent years.
Its long-standing series include the international journal ''
Environment and Urbanization'' and ''Gatekeeper'', along with three discontinued series: ''Participatory Learning and Action'' (dealing with participatory research), ''Haramata'' (dealing with drylands development issues) and ''Tiempo'' (dealing with climate change impacts, long before interest was widespread).
IIED's
Earthscan Publications imprint was run from 1987 by Neil Middleton, until it moved to
Kogan Page
Kogan Page is an independent publishing company founded in 1967 and headquartered in London, with branches in New York and New Delhi. Kogan Page specialises in business books and digital content, with over 1,000 titles published in key subject ...
, later to be acquired by James & James, and in 2011 being taken over by
Taylor and Francis
Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in the United Kingdom that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Routledge, F1000 Research and Dovepress. It is a division of ...
. Earthscan has published many of IIED's books.
Barbara Ward Lectures
IIED organises the "Barbara Ward Lectures" in memory of the institute's first director, who died in 1981. Previous speakers have included:
* Former President of Ireland
Mary Robinson
Mary Therese Winifred Robinson (; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who served as the president of Ireland from December 1990 to September 1997. She was the country's first female president. Robinson had previously served as a senato ...
*
Lindiwe Sisulu, Minister of Housing of the Republic of South Africa
*
Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action
*
Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the UN process for negotiating an agreement to limit dangerous climate change. It is an international treaty among countries to combat "dangerous Global warming, human interf ...
*
Fatima Denton, director of the Special Initiatives Division and leader of the African Climate Policy Centre of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
* Debra Roberts, head of th
Sustainable and Resilient City Initiatives portfolioin eThekwini Municipality, Durban, South Africa
* Former Prime Minister of Norway and Director-General of the World Health Organization
Gro Harlem Brundtland
Gro Brundtland (; née Harlem, 20 April 1939) is a Norwegian politician in the Labour Party, who served three terms as the prime minister of Norway (1981, 1986–1989, and 1990–1996), as the leader of her party from 1981 to 1992, and as the d ...
*
Rebeca Grynspan
Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis (born 14 December 1955) is a Costa Rican economist who has been serving as Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) since 13 September 2021.
Grynspan p ...
, secretary-general of the
UN Conference on Trade and Development
UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the United Nations General Assemb ...
(UNCTAD), and
*
Mafalda Duarte, executive director of the
Green Climate Fund
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a Funding, fund for climate finance that was established within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Considered the world's largest fund of its kind, GCF's objective ...
.
Impact
IIED is generally acknowledged to be a successful organisation – its ideas are pragmatic and pro-poor, and it has helped to influence of major organisations, including the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...
, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is a major assessment of the human impact on the environment, called for by the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2000, launched in 2001 and published in 2005 with more than $14 million of ...
, the
Department for International Development
The Department for International Development (DFID) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid ...
of the UK government, and Scandinavian aid agencies such as SIDA and DANIDA.
For example, a former staff member, Gordon Conway, was partly responsible with Robert Chambers for developing participatory rural appraisal, a suite of largely visual techniques widely used in international and community development to elicit public views and ideas. IIED's Environmental Economics programme helped to develop some of the first "green accounting" and eco-taxation techniques that are now used in government and industry. Richard Sandbrook lobbied some of the world's largest corporations to improve their environmental performance – notably in the mining sector.
Funders
IIED lists its sources of financial support on an annual basis.
* Governments and government agencies
Including:
AusAid
Australian Aid is the brand name used to identify projects in developing countries supported by the Australian Government. As of 2014 the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has been responsible for Australia's official development ...
,
GTZ,
DFID
The Department for International Development (DFID) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid ...
,
Defra, the
Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (; BZ) is the Netherlands' ministry responsible for foreign relations, foreign policy, international development, international trade, diaspora and matters dealing with the European Union, NATO and the Benelux Un ...
, IrishAid, the
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) is a directorate under the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is primarily concerned with offering development aid to international partners, but in matters regarding Norway's Inter ...
,
Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (, ) is a government agency of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Sida is responsible for organization of the bulk of Sweden's official development assistance to developing coun ...
,
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is an office-level agency in the federal administration of Switzerland, and a part of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Together with other federal offices, SDC is responsible for ...
.
* International and multilateral agencies
Including:
African Development Bank
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB, also known as BAD in French) is a multilateral development finance institution, headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and ...
,
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
, European Parliament,
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...
* Foundations and NGOs
Including:
African Centre for Technology Studies,
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be List of wealthiest charitable foundations, the third largest char ...
, Comic Relief, Ford Foundation, Hivos, Oxfam UK, WWF UK
* Corporate
Including: The Cooperative, Indufor Oy, Price Waterhouse Coopers Service, The Policy Practice. Work on Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development in the 2000s was operated separately from IIED offices to avoid corporate influence.
References
Further reading
*Cross, N. (ed.), 2003. ''Evidence for Hope: The Search for Sustainable Development''. London: Earthscan. (Collection of essays about IIED to mark its 30th anniversary)
*
*
External links
International Institute for Environment and Development
{{Authority control
Think tanks established in 1971
1971 establishments in New York City
International sustainability organizations
Political and economic think tanks based in the United Kingdom