Strategic Environmental Assessment Sea Report

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

'A wonderfully international and up-to-date perspective on strategic environmental assessment of land use plans by leading experts in the field. Strategic Environmental Assessment and Land Use Planning covers not only how much such SEAs are carried out and in what context, but whether they are effective and why. It provides invaluable insights for practitioners and researchers in this rapidy evolving field' Riki Therivel, author of Strategic Environmental Assessment in Action Strategic Environmental Assessment and Land Use Planning provides an authoritative, international evaluation of the SEA of land use plans. The editors place the SEA of land use plans in context, and uniquely qualified contributors then evaluate systems in Canada, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and the World Bank. These chapters provide a description of the context in each country, a case study of the use of SEA in land use planning and an evaluation of each SEA system against a set of generic criteria specially designed to anlayse different aspects of SEA. The contributors critically review each SEA system, SEA process and SEA outcome, and conclude by summarizing their findings. The editors draw the various national perspectives together in a final chapter and derive widely applicable conclusions about SEA and land use planning. This book is a core text for all students in environmental assessment, land use planning, environmental science, environmental management, development studies, geography, landscape design and law and engineering. It is also essential reading for all governments and environmental regulators, academics, researchers and environmental and planning consultants worldwide who are involvedin SEA research, practice and training.

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.

This Guidance volume explains the benefits of using SEA in development co-operation and sets out key steps for its application based on recent experiences.

This practical guide on how to carry out strategic environmental assessment (SEA) presents a coherent 'how to do it' approach for the practitioner. It is the first publication to take account of the requirements of the European Union Directive 2001/42/EC - known as the 'SEA Directive' - and the UNECE Protocol on SEA.Part I provides an overview of the aims, principles, advantages and problems of SEA as well as looking at the SEA Directive and its requirements. Part II examines the SEA process in considerable detail including setting the context, describing the baseline, identifying alternatives, predicting and evaluating impacts and using the SEA information in monitoring and decision-making. Part III is devoted to assuring SEA quality with a discussion of resources and capacity building.Employing real-life case studies, each chapter presents a range of techniques and discusses what the final product should look like. Appendices provide a wealth of additional information including text of the SEA Directive and the UNECE Protocol on SEA, and a 'toolkit' of SEA techniques.The approach and techniques in Strategic Environmental Assessment in Action are useful for anyone carrying out SEA at any level from policy to programme, international to local, but particularly for practitioners responsible for implementing the SEA Directive.

Recoge: 1. Introduction - 2. Project Methodology - 3. Final selection of cases - 4. Case description - 5.Comparative analysis and evaluation of Case-studies and SEA Regulations and Systems - 6. The Role of SEA - 7. Policy Framework, Objectives and Targets - 8.Compliance with Basic SEA Requirements - 9. Actors and Liability - 10. SEA Management - 11. Overall Appreciation and Motivation - 12. Key Issues and Recommendations.

This comprehensive Handbook describes the implementation of SEA in 18 countries around the world, as well as a critical analysis of different SEA methodologies. It introduces key SEA principles and the legal requirements of the new European SEA Directive, which became law in 2004, and describes the implementation of SEA in 11 European Union countries, as well as the USA, Canada and New Zealand. This is contrasted with SEA requirements of four developing countries.