The voluntary guidelines for biodiversity-inclusive impact assessment, adopted through decision VIII/28, are designed to assist countries and relevant agencies to overcome obstacles. Additional guidance on biodiversity-inclusive Strategic Environmental Assessment, endorsed through decision VIII/28, is contained in document UNEP/CBD/COP/8/27/Add.2.

These guidelines are an elaboration and refinement of guidelines previously endorsed by the CBD (decision VI/7-A), the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (Resolution VIII.9) and the Convention on Migratory Species (Resolution 7.2).

Many of the case studies that were used to prepare the guidelines have been provided by members of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA). Several IAIA annual conferences, patricipants in the IAIA project on Capacity-building for Biodiversity and Impact Assessment (CBBIA), and Government experts have contributed to the peer-review of the material and of earlier drafts of the guidelines.

Guidelines text-see Annex (html)

Background material including the guidelines (PDF)