Methods For Strategic Environmental Assessment Of Transport Infrastructure Plans

This report contributes to the development of effective procedures for incorporating adequate environmental assessments in all strategic transport sector decisions.

This report examines recent experience in developing environmental assessment internationally and makes recommendations on maximising the effectiveness of this new tool.

This report makes recommendations for good practice bringing the results of economic appraisals and environmental assessments before decision makers in the transport sector on the basis of reviews of recent experience in infrastructure planning and policy development in seven countries.

Assessing the full scale of environmental impacts is essential for effective planning of transport and land use. This is an analysis of transport and land-use planning using strategic environmental assessment (SEA). It establishes the effectiveness of SEA through comparative studies of practice in three countries: Britain, the Netherlands and Germany. The author shows that use of SEA is widespread but far from systematic. He demonstrates the advantages of adopting a systematic application of a comprehensive form of SEA derived from all the major current approaches. Only once this approach is fully understood and systematically applied will all the full benefits be achieved and environmental impacts be minimalized.

This title was first published in 2003. The European Union is constantly struggling to find effective ways to plan major transport infrastructure developments at a European level. This is a critical factor in the emerging debates surrounding the absorption of the accession states into the EU, but it is essential for these states that their economic competitiveness is supported by appropriate and effective transport infrastructure. It is therefore crucial to find innovative approaches to the infrastructure itself, how it is financed and the ways in which proper evaluation procedures are implemented to select which policies, programmes and projects should be supported. This informative volume brings together leading international specialists in economic evaluation applied within the transport sector. Their contributions encompass all the main levels at which transport planning is typically conceptualized - strategic/regional policy, programme and project planning. It therefore examines how coherent economic evaluation practice can be developed and applied not only across different physical scales, but also across national borders.

This unique sourcebook provides a global, state-of-the-art review of the rapidly evolving field of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) that is intended to serve as a baseline for the work of an OECD Task Team on SEA and a UNEP initiative on integrated planning and assessment. It describes trends in application and experience in different contexts worldwide, providing in-depth coverage of the status of SEA systems, and practice in developed, transitional and developing countries by a range of development agencies. The book draws on a large body of published and unpublished material, and contributions from a wide range of individual experts, organizations and agencies. It provides an unparalleled and invaluable understanding of the emerging scope and potential of SEA and describes how, when and where it is being used. The sourcebook includes a probing review of concepts, terminology, approaches and tools of SEA, and a comparative analysis of the different types of existing SEA systems. The volume also contains many case examples illustrating SEA practice in different countries and contexts, a full set of references and a number of appendices containing source materials.

Anyone serious about integrating environmental factors into planning and policy making will gain new insights and ideas from Fischers book on SEA; and students, teachers and practitioners of the subject will find the book essential. Leonard Ortolano, Professor at Stanford University, USA Fischers book demystifies the process and substantive analytical dimensions of SEA. Offering solidly documented empirical evidence of the value of SEA to development, the knowledge captured in this book is a great contribution to the practice. Linda Ghanime, Environmental Operations and Policy Adviser, United Nations Development Program This book is an invaluable reference text for SEA practitioners. I recommend it to everyone! Xu He, Professor and Director of the Strategic Environmental Assessment Center at Nankai University, China Fischer gives a concise and wellstructured account of SEA as it is used today. Readers thus will gain important insights into SEA: why it is important, how it works, and what it can and should achieve. Professor Thomas Bunge, Federal Environment Agency, Germany Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is a fast-growing and rapidly evolving professional field driven by both advances in theory and practice and by regulatory requirements in Europe, North America, Australasia, South Africa and increasingly across Asia. However, to date, analysis of existing practice and associated reporting has remained far from systematic and there has been a clear need for a comprehensive textbook to facilitate teaching, learning and practice in this burgeoning field. This textbook, the first of its kind, provides for a state-ofthe-art review of SEA theory and practice and promotes a more systematic approach to SEA. It is written for a wide student, professional and academic audience and aims particularly at supporting the development of SEA modules in undergraduate and postgraduate planning, environmental assessment, engineering and law courses. It provides an overview of the fundamental principles and rules of SEA, reports systematically on international SEA practice and theory and pushes the envelope by developing the theory. Supporting material includes boxed examples and case studies from around the world, extra reading suggestions and a glossary of terms. This is the essential book for all students, professionals and academics in SEA and EIA and follow-up worldwide.