An Analysis of Strategic Environmental Assessment Legislation and Regulations in African Countries

Abstract

In light of the scarcity of literature exploring Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) legislation, this paper aims to analyse how national legislation and regulations in Africa include key principles for effective SEA. To achieve this aim, a content analysis of Environmental Assessment (EA) legal arrangements was conducted. Findings reveal that most countries do not have legal provisions for SEA at strategic levels. However, some countries have formal requirements for Environmental Impact Assessment at specific strategic levels. Such requirements may be attributed to an implicit recognition of the need of EA for specific strategic actions. Countries with legal and regulatory requirements for SEA showed varied degrees of conformity with process principles, screening, scoping, impact assessment and documentation strengths, but there are weaknesses in monitoring. Further findings echo a warning as none of the legal arrangements were fully adequate. This paper concludes with recommendations to improve legislation and strengthen SEA practice in Africa.

Strategic Environmental Assessment in Brazilian Academic Research

“…The most recent articles, from 2014 and 2020, present assessments of the local experience, recommendations for advancing the practice and consolidation of a formal SEA system (MONTAÑO et al, 2014;ALMEIDA et al, 2015;SÁNCHEZ, 2017;MONTAÑO;FISCHER, 2019;VILARDO et al, 2020); contributions to the literature, not only local but international in terms of concepts, characteristics of SEA, practice in developing countries and teaching of SEA in the higher education curriculum (SILVA et al, 2014;RAMOS et al, 2015;SELIG, 2015;SANTI et al, 2018;TSHIBANGU, 2018).…”

Effectiveness of strategic environmental assessment in promoting sustainable development in Tanzania

“…Despite its significance, the SEA literature has given little attention to low-and middle-income countries (Tshibangu 2018;Fischer and Onyango 2012). In Africa, South Africa has excelled in SEA practices.…”

“…Without being fully aware of these constraints, it is easy to have unrealistic expectations of the adopted SEA procedures and there is the risk of committing scarce resources to support implementation. These challenges have been observed in most of the countries where SEA seems to be ineffective (Tshibangu 2018).…”

“…This approach has simplified the implementation process to some extent. However, the procedures, roles, and responsibilities, as well as content relating to SEA, are not extensively elaborated (Walker et al 2016;Tshibangu 2018). Most of the EIA procedures are applied in the SEA process.…”

“…These include lack of stakeholder involvement in the early stages (Noble 2009;Sinclair et al 2015), expert-driven processes that lack broad public involvement (Rega and Bonifazi 2014), little evidence on how public input is used or addressed (Fischer 2010), as well as rare opportunities for open discussion on options and alternatives (Lamorgese and Geneletti 2013). Other barriers include weak consideration of integration aspects in the assessment process, inadequate human and material resources (skills and budget constraints) to undertake SEA, lack of political will to effectively implement the tool, weak cumulative effects assessment within SEA, and ineffective use of sustainability principles in the assessment process (Noble 2009;Weiland 2010;Gibson et al 2016;Tshibangu 2018). Lobos and Partidário (2010) suggest that for SEA to contribute to sustainable development, a paradigm shift in SEA is required.…”