Integration of the component parts of the TDA
The various workshops, meetings and reports conducted during the TDA development will have produced a great deal of material, including:
- Workshop outputs
- Prioritised transboundary problems, complete with information on geographical scale
- Environmental and socio-impacts for the priority transboundary problems with information on linkages between impacts and problems
- Information on geographical location(s) of impacts
- Causal chain analysis information including lists of sectors, immediate, underlying and root causes for the priority transboundary problems with information on linkages between different levels
- A full list of leverage points with appropriate reference back to the TDA
- Thematic Report outputs
- Specific thematic reports on transboundary problems (e.g. biodiversity, pollution, flooding, fisheries etc)
- Broader studies on aspects of the TDA (e.g. impact analysis, causal chain analysis, stakeholder analysis, governance analysis etc)
All this information now needs to be integrated into one document. The integration of this material will be conducted under the supervision of the Project Manager and staff of the Project Management Unit but the process is generally carried out in one of two ways:
- The appointment of a consultant, specialist, academic, or a consultancy to act as a single author reporting to the Project Manager (e.g. Lake Chad TDA, Rio de la Plata TDA, Yellow Sea LME TDA)
- Appointment of key TDA development team members to draft individual Chapters of the TDA, with an appointed Manager acting as a focal point reporting to the Project Manager (e.g. Black Sea TDA, Kura Aras TDA, Orange Sengu TDA)
Both approaches work: appointing an individual or consultancy to draft the TDA is generally quicker and more efficient but there is a loss of stakeholder involvement and collaboration. Conversely, drafting the TDA using a team can be more demanding on time, funds and energy but is generally a more collaborative process.