Editorial

Dear readers,

Welcome to the first issue of the year 2023. Some of us were able to meet again in person in 2022 at the annual International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) meeting in Vancouver, Canada, for the first time in three years. Quite a few countries still had travel restrictions in place, though, and so whilst over 800 participants was a very good number, there was less of an international crowd than usual. So many of us are now looking forward to meeting up with all those who weren’t able to travel, yet, in Kuching, Malaysia in May 2023 for the next IAIA meeting, which promises to be a great event with ‘70+ sessions, 12 training courses, 6 technical visits, multiple special meetings and networking activities’ (see https://conferences.iaia.org/2023/preliminary-program.php).

Subsequently, in this issue of IAPA, you find six papers, one letter and a book review. Papers were written by a total of 29 authors, representing 10 countries that go beyond those of which practices are being discussed. Topics covered range from ‘environment-related underlying dynamics of projects’, looking at the sponge city concept in China over ‘trade sustainability assessment’ of the European Commission and ‘cumulative social effects’ as well as ‘public participation in follow-up’ to ‘wind energy impact assessment mitigation’ and ‘indigenous experiences of impact assessment and development projects’. In the letter, Barry Sadler and Rob Verheem write on ‘25 years of SEA: personal reflections on recent progress, current status and future prospects’ and in the book review, Luis Sanchez looks at the recently published ‘Handbook on Cumulative Impact Assessment’.

Finally, I would like to raise your attention to a new special issue call for papers on ‘Territorial Impact Assessment – an assessment tool for more territorially sensitive policy making?’ (see https://www.tandfonline.com/action/newsAndOffers?journalCode=tiap20)

Enjoy Reading!