Work Plan

WORK PLANS

Strategy 2023-2030

This is the first strategy for the INTOSAI WGEA reaching longer than the three-year Work Plan cycle. This strategy defines the way INTOSAI WGEA should organise its work by identifying key guiding principles. The purpose of this strategy is to provide some commonly agreed principles, which can help the WGEA Secretariat to plan work with a long-term perspective that goes beyond the individual SAIs’ chairmanship period.

 

Work Plan 2023-2025

The Work Plan 2023-2025 focuses on two overall themes which act as hubs. Even though the specific projects are collected under these two thematic hubs, they are not meant to operate in isolation. Rather, the aim is to enhance the discussion both inside these hubs as well as between them throughout the Work Plan period.

Hubs Workplan Themes

 

Work Plan 2020-2022

The goals of the INTOSAI WGEA 2020–2022 work plan are implemented through seven Work Packages:

 

Work Plan 2017-2019

The Assembly approved a new work plan for the period of 2017-19 in October 2016 in Indonesia. The WGEA has not changed the established goals set for the previous work periods. The work plan will be presented to the XXII INCOSAI in December 2016 in United Arab Emirates.

Proposed goals for the work period of 2014-2016 are:

  • Goal 1: Up-date existing and develop new guidance materials available to SAIs, conduct research studies on emerging topics in environmental auditing.
  • Goal 2: Facilitate concurrent, joint, and coordinated audits.
  • Goal 3: Enhance information dissemination, exchange, and training.
  • Goal 4: Increase cooperation between the WGEA, international organizations and other INTOSAI bodies.

Main activities of the work plan are as follows:

  •  Prepare research projects on
    • Visibility on Environmental Auditing;
    • Environmental Health;
    • Greening Cities;
    • Water Sanitation (Waste Water);
  • Develop Audit Guidelines on
    • Climate Change : Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters
    • Auditing Agriculture and Food Production
    • Auditing Land Organization and Soil Quality Management
    • Delivering the 2030 Agenda (SDGs) through Environmental Auditing
  • Develop training tools on
    • Greening the SAIs
    • Environmental Data: Resources and Options for SAIs
  • Develop an e-learning course (MOOC) on environmental auditing
  • Update the Guidance Material on Auditing Biodiversity: Guidance for Supreme Audit Institutions – In Collaboration with CBD 
  • Provide training opportunities regionally and globally; and
  • Provide on-going communication and outreach with INTOSAI community as well as external organizations, such as UNEP, UNFCCC, and World Bank.

Work Plan 2014-2016

The Assembly approved the work plan for the period of 2014-16 in June 2013 in Estonia. The WGEA has not changed the established goals set for the previous work periods. The work plan has been presented to the XXI INCOSAI in October 2013 in China.

Main activities of the work plan are as follows:

  • research projects on
    • renewable energy;
    • energy savings;
    • environmental assessments;
    • marine environment;
    • market based instruments for environmental protection and management;
    • greening the supreme audit institutions;
    • increasing the quality and impact of environmental audits;
  • update the 2004 guidance material on Towards Auditing Waste Management;
  • review the four ISSAI documents on environmental audit (ISSAI 5110, 5120, 5130, 5140);


Work Plan 2011-2013

The work plan was approved by the WGEA Assembly in June 2010 in China. The work plan (2011–2013) was presented to the XX INCOSAI in South Africa in November 2010. For 2011-13, the WGEA has not changed the established goals set for the previous work period. The goals and associated actions are described in the following section. 

Some highlights of the 2011-13 work plan include:

  • preparing five research projects on the following topics:
    • land use/land management practices in environmental perspective;
    • environmental data;
    • environment and sustainability reporting;
    • environmental issues associated with infrastructure;
    • wildlife conservation and tourism;
  • updating the 2004 guidance material on Auditing Water Issues: Experiences of Supreme Audit Institutions and developing a guidance material on fraud and corruption in environmental auditing;
  • encouraging cooperative environmental audits regionally;
  • fostering information exchange and learning, including training/e-training in environmental auditing;
  • providing on-going communication and outreach with INTOSAI community as well as external organizations, and
  • developing a compendium of SAIs' country papers focusing on the topics in RIO +20 agenda.

 

Work Plan 2008-2010

The XIX INCOSAI was held in November 2007 in Mexico City, Mexico. The WGEA 2008-10 Work Plan was approved by the Congress. The 2008-10 work plan includes a series of projects, organized around the goals set out below, which are intended to respond to the SAIs variety of needs and to recognize their different levels of development:

  • Goal 1: Expand the guidance materials available to SAIs.
  • Goal 2: Facilitate concurrent, joint and coordinated audits.
  • Goal 3: Enhance information dissemination, exchange, and training.
  • Goal 4: Increase cooperation between the WGEA and international organizations.
  • Goal 5: Ensure ongoing and effective governance of the WGEA

  Some highlights of the 2008-10 work plan include:

  • adopting climate change as the new central theme;
  • developing audit guidance materials for climate change, sustainable energy, and natural resource sectors of fisheries, forests and mining;
  • encouraging cooperative environmental audits regionally and undertaking a globally-coordinated audit on climate change;
  • fostering information exchange and learning, including training in environmental auditing in French-speaking African countries; and
  • strengthening the activities in Regional WGEAs.

 

Work Plan 2005-2007

The 2005-07 work plan presents the strategy for undertaking the activities of the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA). Supreme audit institutions (SAIs) are at different stages of sophistication in environmental auditing and their mandates vary considerably. Therefore, the range of goals and activities included in this work plan are intended to respond to the various needs of SAIs and to be applicable to the majority, if not all, of the SAIs.

The WGEA is committed to preparing guidance and reference tools in the following products and services:

  • adopting biodiversity as the new central theme and preparing a guidance paper for SAIs;
  • preparing a retrospective report that summarizes the evolution and trends in environmental audits;
  • providing tips and examples, capturing lessons learned and sharing experiences in conducting and reporting on concurrent, joint, and co-ordinated audits;
  • assess the progress towards commitments made at the World Summit on Sustainable Development;
  • continuing to support audits on waste and water; and
  • collecting information through the Fifth Questionnaire on Environmental Auditing by SAIs for developing the next WGEA Work Plan.

 As well, the WGEA Secretariat continues to encourage information exchange and relationship building with external international organizations.

For a detailed overview of each project, with key milestones and contacts, please check the projects page under WGEA Business.

 

Work Plan 2002-2004

The 2002–2004 work plan continued to address the topic areas established in earlier work plans but was adapted to current developments and challenges. The main substantive theme for the WGEA during the Chairmanship of the Netherlands was “fresh water.” Since the 17th INCOSAI in October 2001, the WGEA decided to add “waste” as a second theme of its work. Other activities carried out included developing training materials and providing courses in environmental auditing, co-ordinating environmental audits with other supreme audit institutions (SAIs) related to commitments under the World Summit on Sustainable Development, exchanging information with other SAIs, and preparing environmental auditing papers on such topics as water policy and waste management.

 

Work Plan 1999-2001

The 1999–2001 work plan for the Working Group on Environmental Auditing was adopted at its 5th meeting in Lima, Peru in 1998. The “fresh water” theme, first adopted in 1995, continued to be a focus of the Working Group through this period. One of the key issues of this work plan was to emphasize co-operation with the INTOSAI regions in order to effectively cope with environmental issues that are trans boundary in nature. Other activities included developing an inventory of international environmental accords and increasing the dissemination of information.

 

Work Plan 1996-1998

In the 1996-1998 period, the Working Group on Environmental Auditing dealt with two specific issues: audits or co-ordinated audits of international environmental accords and natural resource accounting. There was also a focus on Institutional Learning — facilitating the exchange of information and experience between audit institutions, and developing guidelines, methods, and techniques for environmental auditing. “Fresh water” was first chosen as a theme in an attempt to concentrate activities on an issue considered relevant for all countries in all stages of development.

 

 

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