The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is a global leader in sustainable development. Our mission is to build a fairer, more sustainable world, using evidence, action and influence in partnership with others. As an independent international research organisation, we are specialists in linking local to global. In Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, the Middle East and the Pacific, we work with some of the world's most vulnerable people to ensure they have a say in the policy arenas that most closely affect them — from village councils to international conventions. Through close collaboration with partners at the grassroots, we make our research and advocacy relevant to their needs and alive to their realities.