Over the years, environmental assessment has developed into a powerful instrument for critically examining various aspects of sustainable development – not only ecological but also social and economic. “But at the same time this critical stance makes you vulnerable”, says Rudy Rabbinge, the NCEA’s outgoing vice-chair, “because nowadays pronouncements are often judged more in terms of their political correctness than of their content and rationale”. This phenomenon means there continues to be an important role for environmental assessment and for its evaluation by the NCEA’s independent experts. What were your experiences during your nine years’ involvement with the NCEA? “The growing authority of the NCEA, not only with project proposers but also with the Directorate-General for International Cooperation at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We are widely accepted. This was far from matter-of-course in 2011, during the consultations about prolonging our cooperation with the Ministry. Then, the environment was not a priority. By clearly demonstrating that environmental assessment entails more than the environment and that it is uniquely suited to contribute to sustainable development, we succeeded not only in having our subsidy agreement renewed but also in expanding to include a programme of sustainability advice. This programme assists both the DirectorateGeneral and Dutch embassies to mainstream sustainable development. Last year, during the most recent discussions about our cooperation with the ministry, the budget was increased again. This is primarily an acknowledgement of the significance of the expertise we at the Rudy Rabbinge, emeritus professor of sustainable development and food security, has been vicechair of the NCEA since 2009. In addition to his work he has always fulfilled many administrative and advisory roles in the public and private sectors in the Netherlands and abroad. 5
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