Scientific publications with a focus on impact assessment and specific sustainability issues
Nooteboom S.G. (2025). For sustainable development, impact assessment must build trust. Artificial intelligence could support and undermine that. In this contribution to IAPA’s special issue on artificial intelligence (AI), I ask how AI can enable IA (impact assessment) to contribute to sustainable development? The point I want to make is that AI in general (not the AI that directly supports IA) could undermine the trust society has in IA. If their goal is to contribute to sustainable development, IA practitioners should understand and promote the enabling conditions that support the trust society has in them. By analyzing how that trust can emerge, I look for such conditions, looking again for some clues on how AI could support these conditions. In: Impact assessment and Project Appraisal.
Nooteboom S.G. (2019) Environmental assessment as an institution of liberal democracy
On 3 May 2019, the UN secretary general António Guterres, tweeted: “No democracy is complete without access to transparent and reliable information. On #WorldPressFreedomDay, we must all defend the rights of journalists, whose efforts help us build a better world for all.” How can we see to it that Guterres someday soon also will promote environmental assessment - on #FreePlanningDay? https://doi.org/10.1080/14615517.2019.1665947
Powerpoint explaining the paper "Environmental assessment as an institution of liberal democracy"
What is liberal democracy? Does liberal democracy depend on things like environmental assessment? What are the objectives of environmental assessment? Liberal democracy is under pressure, but what about environmental assessment? Is the EA community too technocratic?
F. Molenaar & SG Nooteboom (2020). Improving decentralised natural resource management in the Sahel. The case of the Sourou river plain in Mali
Over the course of 2019, and despite being located in a region marked by violent conflict, the Inter collectivité du Sourou achieved a unique feat in the West African region.1 It developed an Integrated and Sustainable Development Programme (ISDP) that defined concrete actions to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Sourou river plain in Mali in an adaptive fashion and set itself up as the main coordinator for the implementation of this plan. Both achievements will help the region coordinate natural resource management – thereby addressing one of the region’s root causes of conflict. This policy brief outlines how the effective devolution of power was achieved through an inclusive rather than a ‘rubber stamp’ approach to the planning process and by having a donor that made the improvement of local governance a result of its own intrinsic value. For the long-term implementation of the ISDP, care should be taken to ensure the continued inclusivity and repres
F. Molenaar & SG Nooteboom (2020). Améliorer la gestion décentralisée des ressources naturelles au Sahel Le cas de la plaine du fleuve Sourou au Mali
K. Samoura & SG Nooteboom (2020). Les évaluations environnementales: une opportunité pour le développement durable en Afrique de l'Ouest??
Conclusions of a webinar on 3 june 2020, where the chairs of inter-ministerial committees from Senegal, Guinea and Mali explained how they integrated knowledge into their planning process. Cases related to water management, land use, offshore oil and gas development, hydropower, bauxite mining and Chimpansee protection. In each of these cases, a procedure for environmental and social assessment was applied.
Nooteboom S.G. & N. van Duijvenbooden (2019) Duurzame ontwikkeling en waterbeheer in het Sourougebied in Mali
The case describes how local people in Mali’s Sourou area create a new future for themselves despite huge uncertainty. Water management, a national responsibility, is one key to economic development, but it failed in the past due to neglect. This can be considered a chicken-egg problem. In 2018 and 2019, the Inter Collectivité of the Sourou (mayors and various social-economic groups) jointly created what they called an integrated and sustainable development programme and lobbied for donor assistance to implement their plan. The plan is adaptive to future decisions on water management, which would enable investments. For the first time in Mali, a development plan of high quality was made by a local population and approved by the state. The water authority has started developing its management plan.
S.G. Nooteboom and C. Warner. Integrating climate change into development assistance and business cases in 15 countries.
Paper presented at IAIA conference, April 2017 in Montreal. Practices of the Dutch ministry of Foreign Affairs are described to mainstream climate change mitigation and adaptation objectives into multilateral and bilateral official development assistance programmes.
Powerpoint presentation about the integration of climate change into development assistance and business cases.
Paper presented at IAIA conference, April 2017 in Montreal. Practices of the Dutch ministry of Foreign Affairs are described to mainstream climate change mitigation and adaptation objectives into multilateral and bilateral official development assistance programmes.
Buuren, M.W. van & Nooteboom, S.G. (2010). The success of SEA in the Dutch planning practice. How formal assessments can contribute to collaborative governance.
In: Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 30 (2), 127-135. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2009.05.007
Nooteboom, S.G. (2007). Impact Assessment Procedures and Complexity Theories. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 27, 645-665.
The author assumes that effective Impact Assessment procedures should somehow contribute to sustainable development. There is no widely agreed framework for evaluating such effectiveness. The author suggests that complexity theories may offer criteria. The relevant question is ‘do Impact Assessment Procedures contribute to the “requisite variety” of a social system for it to deal with changing circumstances? ‘Requisite variety theoretically relates to the capability of a system to deal with changes in its environment. The author reconstructs how thinking about achieving sustainable development has developed in a sequence of discourses in The Netherlands since the 1970s. Each new discourse built on the previous ones, and is supposed to have added to ‘requisite variety’. The author asserts that Impact Assessment procedures may be a necessary component in such sequences and derives possible criteria for effectiveness.
Deelstra et al (2003). Using knowledge for decision-making purposes in the context of large projects in The Netherlands
Y. Deelstra, S.G. Nooteboom; H.R. Kohlmann; J. van den Berg; S. Innanen. The connection between the world of knowledge and the world of decisionmaking should be carefully constructed, by connecting the process of decision-making to the academic research and carefully developing research goals in response to the demands of decision-makers. By making these connections in a stepwise manner, knowledge may generate new insights and views for involved decision-makers and stakeholders, thus changing perceptions and problem definitions. In: EIA Review (23) : 5 pp 517-541
Without an abstract
- Integrating climate change into development assistance and business cases in 15 countries. IAIA17 Conference Proceedings | IA’s Contribution in Addressing Climate Change. 37th Annual Conference of the International Association for Impact Assessment. 4 - 7 April 2017 | Montréal | CanadaGupta, J., Bergsma, E., Biesbroek, G.R., van den Brink, M., Jong, P, Klostermann, J.E.M., Meijerink, S. & Nooteboom, S.G. (2015). The Adaptive Capacity of Institutions in the spatial planning, water, agriculture and nature sectors in the Netherlands. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 20. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11027-014-9630-z
- Termeer, C.J.A.M., Teisman, G.R., Nooteboom, S.G. & Deelstra, Y. (2013). Climate adaptation leadership between small adjustments and transformative change. The case of the Dutch Delta Program. In ECPR General Conference, Bordeaux, Panel `Climate governance: a leadership perspective¿.
- Buuren, M.W. van, Nooteboom, S.G. & Teisman, G.R. (2012). Climate adaptation in complex governance systems. Governance systems between inertia and adaptability. In G. de Roo, J. Hillier & J. van Wezemael (Eds.), Complexity and Planning: Systems, Assemblages and Simulations (New directions in planning theory.) (pp. 221-242). London: Ashgate Publishing.
- Gupta, J., Termeer, C.J.A.M., Klostermann, J.E.M., Meijerink, S., van den Brink, M., Jong, P, Nooteboom, S.G. & Bergsma, E. (2010). The Adaptive Capacity Wheel: A Method To Assess the Inherent Characteristics of Institutions to Enable the Adaptive Capacity of Society. Environmental Science & Policy, 13 (6), 459-471. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2010.05.006
- Klostermann, J.E.M., Gupta, J., Termeer, C., Meijerink, S., Brink, M van den, Nooteboom, S.G., Jong, P, Bergsma, E. & Biesbroek, R. (2009). How to assess the adaptive capacity of legislation and policies. Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change 'Earth System Governance. People. Places and the Planet': Amsterdam (2009, December 3 - 2009, December 4).
- Buuren, M.W. van & Nooteboom, S.G. (2009). Evaluating Strategic Environmental Assessments in the Netherlands. Content, process and procedure as indissoluble criteria for effectiveness. Impact Assessment & Project Appraisal, 27 (2), 145-154. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3152/146155109X454311
- Nooteboom, S.G., Slunge, D., Ekbom, A., Dijkstra, G. & Verheem, R. (2009). Conceptual Analysis and Evaluation Framework for Institution-Centered Strategic Environmental Assessment. (External report). Washington: The World Bank.
- Nooteboom, S.G., Huntjens, P. & Slootweg, R. (2008). Strategic Environmental Assessment of Water Management. In B. Sadler, R. Achemann, J. Dusik, T. Fisher, M. Partidario & R. Verheem (Eds.), Handbook of Strategic Environmental Assessment. London: Earthscan. http://hdl.handle.net/1765/26348
- Nooteboom, S.G. & Teisman, G.R. (2007). Linking Sustainability Knowledge To Energy Development. 4th Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems: (2007, April 1).
- Nooteboom, S.G. & Teisman, G.R. (2003). Sustainable Development: Impact Assessment in the Age of Networking. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 5 (3), 285-309.
- Nooteboom, S. Environmental assessments of strategic decisions and project decisions: interactions and benefits, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 18:2, 151-160, DOI: 10.3152/147154600781767510
- Arts, E.J.M.M. & Nooteboom, S.G. (1999). Environmental Impact Assessment Monitoring and Auditing. In J. Petts (Ed.), Handbook of Environmental Impact Assessment (pp. 229-272). Oxford: Blackwell Science.
- Nooteboom, S.G. & K. Wieringa (1999). Comparing Strategic Environmental Assessment and Integrated Environmental Assessment. Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management, 1 (4), 441-457.
- Berg, J. van den & Nooteboom, S.G. (1996). Strategische Umweltprüfung (SVP) Vorhandene Methodiek. In C. Jacoby (Ed.), Strategische Umweltvorsorge in Flachennutzungsplane. Berlin: Analytica Verlag.
- Nooteboom, S.G. & Teisman, G.R. (2007). Linking Sustainability Knowledge To Energy Development. 4th Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems: Dubrovnik.
- Nooteboom, S.G. (1998). Economic Developments. In R. Uhel (Ed.), Europe's Environment. The second Assessment. Copenhagen / Luxembourg: European Environment Agency / Office for Official Publications of the European Communities / Elsevier.