Survey: Should SAIEES be kept alive?
22 February 2011
Dear SAIEES members
As you may recall, the Board of the Southern African Institute for Environmental Assessment (SAIEA) agreed to take on the management of our Institute as 'interim caretaker' in 2006. This move was designed to 'keep SAIEES alive' until we could figure out the way forward in the long term. At the 2009 IAIA South Africa conference, we ran a session entitled "SAIEES on the move", to gauge feelings amongst those in attendance as to where they would like to see the institute going.
As expected, diverse opinions were offered, ranging from disbanding SAIEES to a complete overhaul. We also received a number of emails from members who responded to a call for ideas on our website - again reflecting diverse views on this issue. At our last Board meeting (September 2010), it was agreed that SAIEA was prepared to continue 'looking after' SAIEES for awhile longer. SAIEA's current activities as caretaker of SAIEES include screening and registering new applicants, upgrading and managing the website, organizing occasional Board meetings, attending to requests for information and maintaining contact with the secretariat in Noordhoek. SAIEA provides these services free of charge.
Over the past few years, we've seen declining interest in SAIEES amongst South African ecologists and environmental scientists, but growing interest from practitioners in other SADC countries. The purpose of this communication is to gauge members' feelings about whether we should keep SAIEES alive or close it down. To this end there is a very short questionnaire posted below that we would like you to complete. Thanks for the assistance.
Regards,
Peter Tarr
Southern African Institute for Environmental Assessment
Windhoek