Strategic environmental assessment

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is a systematic decision support process aiming to ensure that environmental and possibly other sustainability aspects are considered effectively in policy, plan, and program making. In this context, following Fischer (2007) SEA may be seen as:

  • a structured, rigorous, participative, open and transparent environmental impact assessment (EIA) based process, applied particularly to plans and programs, prepared by public planning authorities and, at times, private bodies,
  • a participative, open and transparent, possibly non-EIA-based process, applied more flexibly to policies, prepared by public planning authorities and at times private bodies,
  • a flexible non-EIA-based process applied to legislative proposals and other policies, plans, and programs in political/cabinet decision-making.

Effective SEA works within a structured and tiered decision framework, aiming to support more effective and efficient decision-making for sustainable development and improved governance by providing for a substantive focus regarding questions, issues and alternatives to be considered in policy, plan and program (PPP) making.

SEA is an evidence-based instrument aiming to add scientific rigor to PPP making by using suitable assessment methods and techniques. Ahmed and Ernesto, Sánchez-Triana (2008) developed an approach to the design and implementation of public policies that follows a continuous process rather than as a discrete intervention.

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