This open access book asserts that sustainable development happens at the nexus where people and nature meet. Human actions inevitably have consequences on the natural environment, and we must minimize these so that we can meet our current needs without degrading and depleting natural resources. Similarly, human health and ecosystem health are intrinsically intertwined. Evaluative evidence that encompasses both environmental and socioeconomic dimensions will help us identify strategies and solutions for sustainability transitions. This book provides an authoritative, interdisciplinary perspective of innovative and emerging evaluation knowledge and practice, with the perspective of integrating environmental and socioeconomic domains and considering integration between the various environmental and climate change domains. The book focuses on how evaluation practice has increasingly integrated the cross-pollination of environmental, socioeconomic, and policy domains. It also contends with the art, science, and epistemological underpinnings of evaluation and the conscious shift toward more inclusive practice and the utilization of local knowledge.

Geeta Batra is Director of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Independent Evaluation Office (IEO). She has 30 years of experience in international development and evaluation in the private sector and at the World Bank. For 10 years, she worked with the World Bank on private sector operations and advisory services, and over the last fifteen years she has worked as an evaluator-at the IFC heading the global unit for evaluation of advisory services, at the World Bank managing the portfolio of country and corporate evaluations in the Independent Evaluation Group, and with the GEF IEO conducting and managing evaluations focusing on environment interventions. In addition to managerial responsibilities, she continues to publish evaluation findings in journals and World Bank Group Publications.

Juha I. Uitto is an independent environment and evaluation advisor and Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute. He is also Board Director of the International Evaluation Academy. He currently chairs the Evaluation Advisory Panel of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). From 2014 to 2024 he was Director of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Independent Evaluation Office (IEO). He has more than three decades of experience in international development and environment working in multilateral organizations, academia and as consultant. Prior to the GEF, he was Deputy Director of the Independent Evaluation Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) t. In addition to his fulltime positions, he has served as the Executive Coordinator of the UN Evaluation Group (UNEG) in 2009-12 and again in 2014. From 2019 to 2024, he chaired the UNEG Working Group on Integrating Environmental and Social Impact into Evaluations. He has also been a visiting scholar at the Rutgers University, Kyoto University and the University of Montana.

Margaret A. Spearman is an independent evaluation consultant with 15 years of experience in crosscutting issues of environment and development, with core competencies in capacity development for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Her most recent work has focused on the design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for climate change adaptation projects and programs, performance measurement for national climate change and sector policies, and various thematic project and program evaluations, including ex post and remote evaluations. Ms. Spearman provides technical support to implementation teams and their partners under multi-donor facilities, as well as through bilateral and international NGO initiatives in multiple regions, including Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.