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“Human health” is an important aspect to be considered in environmental assessments (EAs; including e.g., strategic environmental assessment – SEA and environmental impact assessment – EIA) throughout the world. The purpose of the course is to elaborate on what a comprehensive consideration of “human health” in EA means, in particular in the context of the European SEA and EIA directives and the UNECE Espoo Convention on EIA and the associated Protocol on SEA. Whilst bio-physical (including chemical) aspects of relevance for human health have traditionally been included in EAs, other important determinants of health, including socio-economic factors, mental health and well-being and behavioural aspects, have frequently remained unaddressed. The portrayal of current practices and necessary changes to reflect new EIA requirements is the main purpose of the course.
We will address the following questions:
Participants will critically examine existing EA practices with regards to the consideration of health. Furthermore, they will develop skills needed to comprehensively assess health in EA.
Level: Intermediate/Advanced
Prerequisites: None
Language: English
Duration: 2 days (22-23 April)
Min/Max: 10-30
Price: US $480
Instructors:
Thomas Fischer, Professor and Director, University of Liverpool, Environmental Assessment and Management Research Centre, WHO Collaborating Centre for Health in Impact Assessments, School of Environmental Sciences (UK)
Ben Cave, Director, Ben Cave Associates, Ltd., and University of Liverpool (UK)
Francesca Viliani, Director Public Health, International SOS (Denmark)
Thomas B. Fischer
Thomas Fischer is a Professor in the School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK, and Director of the associated Environmental Assessment and Management Research Centre as well as the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health in Impact Assessments. He is also an extraordinary Professor of North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, South Africa, and an honorary staff member of the Berlin Institute of Technology, Germany.
His specialist areas revolve around ex-ante impact assessment tools in spatial, transport, energy, waste and other sectoral policy, plan, programme and project decision making, in particular environmental assessment (EA, both, EIA and SEA) and health in impact assessments. I have worked in consultancy, public administration and academia for nearly 30 years and have widely published on EA globally with over 85 papers in refereed academic journals, several books, numerous book chapters and monographs on the topic. He is editor-in-chief of IAIA’s Journal ‘Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal’. Furthermore, he has been a Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (FIEMA) since 2012 and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy since 2016. He was a Professional Member of the ‘NHS National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Public Health Programme Development Group for NICE guidance on Spatial Planning’ and is currently chair of the Ireland-UK branch of the IAIA. He is a member of IEMA’s EIA quality mark expert review team and have extensive teaching and training experience which spans over 20 years.
Ben Cave
Ben Cave has specialised in health and environmental assessment for the last 20 years. He has worked across the UK, in mainland Europe and further afield with policy makers, public health academics, environment scientists and spatial planners. He provides public health and policy advice at a senior level in local, regional, national and international arena.
He integrates health into environmental assessment (EA; EIA & ESIA) at project level: He leads HIAs in conjunction with EAs and focus on providing high quality HIAs that are robust and defensible. He has led HIAs in a wide range of sectors: for example, infrastructure for energy, mining, road and rail. He has prepared guidance on health in EIA with the World Health Organization and health in SEA with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the European Investment Bank. He is committed to improving standards and quality in the field of impact assessment: He was President of IAIA. In 2009 he led research for, and development of, a review package for HIA reports with input from an expert panel of reviewers. He convened seminars on quality in impact assessment at the 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 annual meetings of the IAIA. His work contributes to national and international developments in impact assessment.
Francesca Viliani
As public health and development practitioner, Francesca has become aware of the importance of building partnerships across sectors and disciplines, favouring dialogues among people and cultures, and supporting evidence-based interventions but also identifying new ways to tackle old problems.
Her background is a Master in Public Health in Developing Countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a previous Master in Humanitarian Affairs (NOHA) and a Bachelor in Pharmacy. More than fifteen years of working experience in developing and developed countries with design, implementation and evaluation of projects tackling health issue and underlying causes; but she has also worked as advocacy & policy officer at European level, because she believes that enabling environments are an important determinant of well-being.
She has worked with the private sector as well as with civil society organisations and international development agencies because each actor has a unique role to play in addressing the root causes of inequality. She is acting as co-chair of health section of IAIA because she believes that collaboration among interested practitioners can really advance the field, improve the practice, and make the difference.