About IIED

The International Institute for Environment and Development is a global leader in sustainable development.

As an independent international research organisation, we are specialists in linking local to global. In Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, the Middle East and the Pacific, we work with some of the world's most vulnerable people to ensure they have a say in the policy arenas that most closely affect them — from village councils to international conventions.

Through close collaboration with partners at the grassroots, we make our research and advocacy relevant to their needs and alive to their realities.

 

Partnerships are key to the way we work at IIED: they keep our approach fresh and dynamic round the world. By forging alliances with individuals and organisations ranging from urban slumdwellers to global institutions, IIED ensures that national and international policy reflects the agendas of marginalised people.
For more, see our Partnerships page.

We also advise governments, business and international development agencies and publish widely.

At a time when swift change is the norm, IIED finds solutions to the shifting array of challenges by focusing on five big issues: Climate Change, Governance, Human Settlements, Natural Resources and Sustainable Markets.

Our roots

IIED was launched in 1971 by renowned economist and policy advisor Barbara Ward, making it one of the very first organisations to link environment with development.

The institute has played key roles in the Stockholm Conference of 1972, the Brundtland Commission of 1987, the 1992 Earth Summit and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, and is now helping to shape the global debate on climate change.

IIED in depth

annual reportTo explore some of the far-reaching work we do to support sustainable patterns of global development, see our Annual Report for 2008.

IIED has also drafted several documents illustrating our ways of working and how we engage with research participants, research partners and business. Our 2009-2014 institutional strategy will be published and available online in early 2009. You can also access our current institutional strategy.