Applying geographic information systems to support strategic environmental assessment: Opportunities and limitations in the context of Irish land-use plans

Abstract

a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oThe strengthening of spatial database infrastructures, further promoted by the INSPIRE Directive adopted in 2007, has led to an increased use of spatial data in planning and decision-making. Given that land-use plans are intrinsically spatial, such evidence and approaches can significantly benefit plan-making. A spatial framework could especially support the specific Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) aspects of the plan-making process. Spatial tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are particularly well-placed to support the environmental integration sought in SEA by providing evidence through the spatial assessment of multiple environmental datasets. Moreover, GIS bring the opportunity to augment conventional assessment techniques (e.g. matrix-based assessments) by acting as visual mediators of spatial knowledge and by providing an effective tool for the spatial and temporal analysis of environmental impacts. This paper presents a GIS-based approach to SEA (GISEA), and analyses the above premise by evaluating the barriers, limitations, opportunities and benefits of its implementation. The GISEA approach has been applied to seven development plans of differing scales in the Republic of Ireland. The results of the case studies revealed that current issues in SEA (e.g. restricted time-frames and institutional arrangements) condition the implementation of a GIS-based approach. Moreover, GIS expertise, data accessibility and quality remain limiting factors to an effective GIS application in SEA. However, the results also confirmed that GIS have the potential to increase the objectivity and accuracy of the assessment, enhance both the understanding of environmental and planning considerations and the delivery of information, and, therefore, help to improve the effectiveness of SEA practice.

Current practice in biodiversity impact assessment and prospects for developing an integrated process

“…This was supported by the survey, as 32% of international and 63% of national respondents saw a lack of spatial data as the main constraint to GIS application in biodiversity assessment (followed by time and resource issues -25 and 13% of responses, respectively). This is reinforced by international literature showing similar limitations to using GIS in impact assessment (Gontier et al 2006;Atkinson & Canter 2011b;González et al 2011a;González 2012;Noble et al 2012). The results also indicated that matrix-based expert judgement is least commonly applied, both internationally (7%) and nationally (13%).…”

“…The effects of data gaps and inefficiencies related to accuracy, completeness and scale (among others) in impact assessment have been widely reported (e.g. Byron & Treweek 2005;Söderman 2009;González 2010;González et al 2011aGonzález et al , 2011b.…”

“…Scale in impact assessment is at the discretion of the assessor, and issues can arise in determining what scale to apply (González et al 2011a). A key recommendation by international and national respondents to better address this was the application of techniques appropriate to the scale of the study (39% of total responses).…”

Futures Analysis of Urban Land Use and Wetland Change in Saskatoon, Canada: An Application in Strategic Environmental Assessment

“…Publicly available planning data is often not up-to-date, particularly in fast-growing municipalities such as the one in this study and as such may not actually reflect the most current planning and development strategy. González et al [65] reported that impact assessment with the use of GIS techniques is widely constrained by the level of detail of available datasets. However, Therivel [6] argued that "not all the baseline data must be available for an SEA to proceed;" João [66] agreed, in that SEA can be completed with missing baseline data and argues that there is a need to reach a balance between data collected and data needed.…”

O tiering de informações e decisões ambientais e a estrutura de planejamento de uso e ocupação do solo

“…Portanto, a preocupação em extrapolar e adaptar informações de um nível a outro, ou até em compilar dados oriundos de vários níveis políticos-administrativos, é imprescindível para o sucesso do sistema de tiering (ANDERSON et al, 2016). Mais do que isso, informações claras e corretas (BINA et al, 2011) precisam estar disponíveis, também, no momento adequado, para que seja levada em conta no momento de tomar a decisão (GONZÁLEZ et al, 2011), além de possuírem qualidade e confiabilidade suficientes para serem utilizadas no planejamento (PAPATHANASIOU; KENWARD, 2014).…”