Implementing Strategic Environmental Assessment

Abstract

The book introduces the legal context of the SEA Directive and the challenges and problems of its implementation into national law. Specific EU member states like Sweden, Czech Republic and Latvia and their current status and national strategies for the implementation of SEA are presented. Besides valuable experiences from North America and Oceania the need for SEA in some developing countries is discussed. A special emphasis is put on methodologies for SEA and public participation. Further the relation between SEA and environmental media, biodiversity and health as-well-as the implementation of SEA in spatial and sector planning are highlighted. Several case studies are integrated within the chapters

The State of Sea Systems and Practices in East and Southern Africa

“…Nevertheless, several policy initiatives address the need for SEA, including the White Paper on Environmental Management Policy for South Africa [14] and a discussion document entitled "A National Strategy for Integrated Environmental Management (IEM) in South Africa" [15]. The National Environmental Management Act No 107 of 1998 (Republic of South Africa) [16] as amended 5 includes provisions for assessment procedures to ensure that the environmental consequences of policies, plans and programmes are considered. In addition, South Africa has two SEA guidance documents: the Strategic Environmental Assessment in South Africa-Guideline Document [17], which sets out, inter alia, best practices and a generic approach to SEA, and the Strategic Environmental Assessment Guidelines, Integrated Environmental Guideline Series 4 [18], which provides detailed guidance on key elements of the SEA process, rather than a prescriptive step-by-step process.…”

“…SEA practice has been expanding internationally at a rapid rate in both developed and developing countries [4] [5] at different levels of the decision-making [6]. Internationally, SEA has been endorsed in two important documents, namely, the European SEA Directive (2001/42/EC) [7] and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) 2003 SEA Protocol [8].…”