Institute for European Environmental Policy
Encyclopedia
Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) is an independent, not for profit policy studies institute, a green think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...

 and a leading centre for the analysis and development of environmental policy
Environmental policy
Environmental policy is any [course of] action deliberately taken [or not taken] to manage human activities with a view to prevent, reduce, or mitigate harmful effects on nature and natural resources, and ensuring that man-made changes to the environment do not have harmful effects on...

 in Europe and beyond. It has a strong reputation among national and European policy-makers and non-governmental organisations. The Institute has offices in London and Brussels and a network of partners in other countries, which are particularly strong in the 27 Member States of the EU. These include universities, environmental and professional associations in a range of sectors, research institutes and consultancies. IEEP brings a non-partisan analytical perspective to policy questions, engaging in both pressing short-term questions and long-term strategic studies.

History

IEEP was originally established in Bonn in 1976 by the European Cultural Foundation
European Cultural Foundation
The European Cultural Foundation is an independent foundation based in the Netherlands that has been operating across Europe for nearly 60 years. The ECF supports arts and culture in Europe via its activities, programmes, grants and online platforms...

 (ECF). Its first director was Konrad von Moltke who believed that an institute in Bonn, whatever it was called, would be seen as a German institute, and that to be truly European it was necessary to have a presence in several European countries. So he opened an IEEP office in Paris in 1978 and in London in 1980. Konrad established a monthly bulletin initially in French and then also in English called ‘The Environment in Europe’. This continued for about ten years and was sent to MPs and MEPs, Committees of parliaments that were beginning to take an interest in this new subject of environmental policy, as well as to ministries.

The London office was initially run as a joint venture with the International Institute for Environment and Development
International Institute for Environment and Development
The International Institute for Environment and Development is a London-based policy research centre and think tank.- History :IIED was established by the economist Barbara Ward in 1971...

 (IIED) that had been founded by Barbara Ward
Barbara Ward
Barbara Mary Ward , in later life Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, was a British economist and writer interested in the problems of developing countries. She urged Western governments to share their prosperity with the rest of the world and in the 1960s turned her attention to environmental...

. The IEEP ‘office’ consisted of a desk at their premises at Percy Street, then occupied by twenty or so people, including the fledgling Earthscan
Earthscan
Earthscan is an English language publisher of books and journals on climate change, sustainable development and environmental technology for academic, professional and general readers....

. IEEP London’s first director was Nigel Haigh who stayed until 1998.
Four projects were planned in the first six months, one of which had to be postponed and modified. They are worth describing as they point to the future.

They were:

- a comparison of public enquiries in Britain and France

- a study of the effects of the Common Agricultural Policy
Common Agricultural Policy
The Common Agricultural Policy is a system of European Union agricultural subsidies and programmes. It represents 48% of the EU's budget, €49.8 billion in 2006 ....

 on wetland drainage in France, Britain, Netherlands and Ireland

- a critique of a European freight forecasting study, and

- an extended essay on the impact of EEC environmental legislation in the UK

Over time structural and financial problems appeared. The head office was in Bonn; the accounts were kept by ECF in Amsterdam in florins but were often so late that they provided little basis for financial management; there were staff in four countries on the payroll of different organisations. The IEEP Board responded by initiating two debates between staff and Board, one about the purpose of IEEP, and the other about its structure. The current director David Baldock took over the running of the London office in 1998. The Brussels office was opened in 2001 as the importance of being close to the EU power structures was realised.

Work

IEEP conducts research and analysis providing consultancy and information services, undertaking work both independently and on commissioned projects. IEEP’s work focuses primarily on EU environmental and sustainable development
Sustainable development
Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...

 policies, and relevant aspects of other policies such as agriculture, transport, rural and regional development, climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...

, industrial pollution and fisheries. The Institute is also actively engaged in the development of policy at the national level in Europe. IEEP seeks both to raise awareness of the policies that shape the European environmental agenda and to advance policy-making along sustainable paths. IEEP can boast strong expertise across the breadth of EU environmental policy and associated issues with teams specialising in nature conservation, agriculture and rural development policy, fisheries and marine environment, transport, climate change and energy, industrial pollution and waste, sustainable development, impact assessment, environmental integration and governance. IEEP staff come from a broad variety of disciplines including biologists, ecologists, environmental scientists, lawyers, economists and journalists.

IEEP’s clients and audience include the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

, European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

, national and local governments, non-government organisations (NGOs), industry and others who contribute to the policy debate. It has regular contacts with the full range of policy actors. IEEP has established a reputation among national and European policy-makers and NGOs, both for its expertise on environment and related policies in Europe and for the independence and integrity of its work.

Board

  • Caroline Jackson
    Caroline Jackson
    Caroline Jackson is a politician in the United Kingdom. She was a Member of the European Parliament for the Conservative Party from 1984 to 2009....

     (MEP
    Member of the European Parliament
    A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...

    )
  • Gareth Bendon
  • Graham Dalton
  • Ralph Hallo
  • Paul Meins
  • Derek Osborn
  • Fiona Reynolds
  • Judith Ward
  • Nicholas Gay
  • John Harman

Associates

  • Olivia Bina
  • Chris Clarke
  • Clare Coffey
  • Janet Dwyer
  • Nigel Haigh
  • Martina Herodes
  • Clunie Keenleyside
  • Liz Mills
  • John Stevens
  • Vicki Swales

Publications

Manual of Environmental Policy: the EU and Britain http://www.europeanenvironmentalpolicy.eu/ This is a comprehensive online manual produced by IEEP and published by Earthscan, which is updated twice per year to include all EU environmental policy developments.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK