Strategic Environmental Assessment in International and European Law

Abstract

Strategic Environmental Assessment in International and European Law, Simon Marsden, London, Earthscan, 2008, 336 pp., £65.00 (h/b) Marsden's book is excellent. First, it is written in a highly intelligent way. On the one hand, the author presents legal concepts and provisions in a way that is easy to understand for non-lawyers; and on the other hand, he provides a synthesis and analysis of up-to-date environmental assessment (EA) literature, which may be useful for scholars, practitioners or lawyers new to EA, and particularly to the concept and practice of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and of other EA processes. Second, it represents a much needed departure from the assumptions and unsubstantiated claims typically portrayed in the international EA literature. On the one hand, the book explores the origins of SEA and the history that led to the existing European and international legal framework and to current SEA practice. On the other hand, it examines and explains the connections between European and international SEA legal requirements and other environmental legislation and EA processes. Widely acknowledged as a key tool for sustainable development, SEA describes the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process applied to strategic level proposals, thus, policies, plans and programmes. SEA was formally introduced in European law by the European Union (EU) in 2001 and brought into effect in July 2004 through Directive 2001/42/EC. The so-called SEA Directive requires EU Member States to formally subject a wide spectrum of public sector plans and programmes (not policies) to an SEA. Internationally, the book's author focuses particularly on the 2003 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) SEA Protocol. Set within the context of the Espoo 'Convention on EIA in a transboundary context' and of the Aarhus 'Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters', the SEA Protocol requires the consideration and integration of environmental concerns in the preparation of plans and programmes and of policies and legislation. With this book Marsden aims to assist environmental planning and management practitioners operating within the framework of European and international SEA law, with the implementation of its substantive and procedural requirements. The comprehensive and systematic overview, exploring contextual issues and background factors to the development of SEA as a concept and as a tool, as well as the illustration of theoretical, political and legal complexities of international and European law, render the book practical and insightful. Not only does it appeal to lawyers and to SEA practitioners, it is equally appealing and useful to students and researchers in the discipline areas of EIA, SEA, environmental planning and management, environmental law, environmental engineering and environmental sciences. The numerous footnotes and references at the end of each chapter, however, make the book difficult to read at times. The book consists of twelve chapters, ten of which are grouped into two parts which include five chapters each. Part one covers international law and part two covers European law. This order is somewhat surprising because (a) the adoption of the SEA Directive preceded that of the SEA protocol and (b) the SEA Directive was a major source of influence and inspiration for the SEA Protocol. The remaining two chapters consist of the introductory and concluding chapters. Chapter one starts with a presentation of the book's objectives and rationale, an overview of the book's structure and brief chapter-by-chapter synopsis. It then introduces the reader to SEA, covering its origins and development, how it differs from EIA and other forms of strategic level assessment, such as Sustainability Appraisal (SA), the institutional, policy and decision-making context in which SEA is applied and the way in which SEA should be applied to achieve effectiveness. …