Application Of Strategic Environmental Assessment Research Articles

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Practice of Urban Planning in Australia and New Zealand: A Comparison

The importance of the application of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for policies and plans is rapidly growing and will one day make the policies and plans environmentally and socially sustainable. While there have been legal requirements for SEA process and practice available in Australia and New Zealand for more than two decades, there is a dearth of information on how SEA is working in two separate jurisdictions. This comparative study on SEA practice is an attempt to fill this gap. The SEAs of two major urban plans of two major cities of two countries were reviewed and analysed to understand the practice of the SEA process. The SEA process of two urban plans of two countries was assessed against a set of good practice criteria. In addition, interviews were conducted with key informants, who were involved in the planning process, which provided valuable information. The study identified the key characteristics of two separate models of SEA practice alongside their advantages and disadvantages. The findings indicate that there are similarities and dissimilarities in SEA practices in both jurisdictions. The key similarities include the legal requirements for SEA, including community participation, in both jurisdictions. The key dissimilarities of SEA applications include the application of two separate models where the extent of flexibility, rigidity, integrative and separate issues related to the application of SEA varies. Also, there are common shortcomings identified in practice including relatively less attention is paid to socioeconomic issues and cumulative impacts. It is expected that the comparative study will help both Australia and New Zealand to learn lessons from each other, and thereby improve the practice of SEA in their own jurisdictions. The study also provides valuable insights by revealing some key characteristics of the SEA system of both countries. The findings of this study can be useful for the improvement of SEA practice for urban policy and plan by addressing the shortcomings identified in this study in both countries, and in other jurisdictions with a similar context.

Strategic Environmental Assessment: The Term “Plans and Programmes” as Interpreted by the European Court of Justice

One of the key terms of the SEA Directive is ‘Plans and Programmes’, defining the range of application of strategic environmental assessment. Although this notion has a high degree of relevance, the Directive itself abstains from a clear-cut definition. It rather presupposes what is meant and only lays down for which specific plans and programmes SEA is mandatory. Two provisions deal with the matter: Article 2 (Definitions) and Article 3 (‘Scope’). The European Court of Justice interprets these provisions broadly, as it has pointed out several times. This view is based on the general intention of the SEA Directive to provide for a high level of protection of the environment, as laid down in its Article 1, and on its objective to subject plans and programmes which are likely to have significant effects on the environment to an environmental assessment. Thus, the Court extends its general understanding of the EIA Directive (2011/92/EU) also to the SEA Directive – an argument which, in view of the close relationship and far-reaching similarities of these directives, certainly seems adequate, since Article 3(1) of the SEA Directive makes it clear that SEA is required for plans and programmes due to the effects on the environment they have when implemented. A parallel provision exists in Article 2(1) of the EIA Directive. This contribution outlines the main elements of these provisions as interpreted by the Court. It begins by briefly addressing the Court’s views regarding Article 2 lit. (a), and then deals with the various components of Article 3(1) to (4).

Green Growth through Strategic Environmental Assessment in Bangladesh

It is vital that Bangladesh decouples its economy from the harmful environmental outcomes of the economic growth pathway it is pursuing currently. So it is significant that green growth is pursued with the aim of unlocking Bangladesh from its unsustainable development pathway to more sustainable as well as an inclusive one through the application of strategic environmental assessment (SEA). The article seeks to emphasize the role of SEAs could play in supporting the green growth in Bangladesh. The paper addresses the environmental assessment and overview of SEA in Bangladesh. It explores the enabling factors for SEA and challenges of SEA. The empirical basis for the paper, has drawn on experiences gained from a recent practice of SEA to support green growth in different sector of different country. With the aim of the green growth, promote the use of SEA in the national and sector development plans and strategies, as well as in decisions and actions relating to environmental goods and services. Bangladesh as an effective environmental assessment system with the application of SEA is still faraway reaching but through increasing awareness, learning and research, donor pressure and proper initiative by government it is achievable.

Application of Strategic Environmental Assessment as a Land Use Planning Tool in India : A Case of Gurgaon-Manesar Development Plan, Haryana, India

Lack of comprehensive land use planning in India has posed significant challenges in achieving more optimal utilisation of land resources. This has also limited the opportunities for developing land use plans that adequately reflect the rationale and objectives of planning. This calls for developing a comprehensive and holistic approach to review the compatibility of actions associated with development plans involving multiple sectors with the ground realities. This paper is an attempt to apply strategic environmental assessment (SEA) as a promising tool to identify environmental risks and deficiencies in the land use planning process in India. The paper draws on the experience of applying SEA to Gurgaon-Manesar Development Plan for 2031 and elaborates on the merits and usefulness of adopting SEA in land use planning in the Indian context.

Strategic Environmental Assessment Framework for Landscape-Based, Temporal Analysis of Wetland Change in Urban Environments.

This paper presents and demonstrates a spatial framework for the application of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in the context of change analysis for urban wetland environments. The proposed framework is focused on two key stages of the SEA process: scoping and environmental baseline assessment. These stages are arguably the most information-intense phases of SEA and have a significant effect on the quality of the SEA results. The study aims to meet the needs for proactive frameworks to assess and protect wetland habitat and services more efficiently, toward the goal of advancing more intelligent urban planning and development design. The proposed framework, adopting geographic information system and remote sensing tools and applications, supports the temporal evaluation of wetland change and sustainability assessment based on landscape indicator analysis. The framework was applied to a rapidly developing urban environment in the City of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, analyzing wetland change and land-use pressures from 1985 to 2011. The SEA spatial scale was rescaled from administrative urban planning units to an ecologically meaningful area. Landscape change assessed was based on a suite of indicators that were subsequently rolled up into a single, multi-dimensional, and easy to understand and communicate index to examine the implications of land-use change for wetland sustainability. The results show that despite the recent extremely wet period in the Canadian prairie region, land-use change contributed to increasing threats to wetland sustainability.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT RESEARCH IN PAKISTAN: ACHIEVEMENTS, GAPS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Research on the theoretical aspects and practice of impact assessment (IA) is increasingly viewed as significant in enhancing its effectiveness. Several research articles have been published on various aspects of IA practice in Pakistan, but perhaps not well shared through a unified platform. This article presents an analysis of the areas well covered, identifies barriers and gaps in current research and what needs the most urgent attention in future endeavours. Most research to date has focused on the EIA process/system, public participation and the quality of EIA reports using evaluation criteria. There is a need to do more research on methods and techniques of assessment, environmental impact assessment follow-up, monitoring and possible application of strategic environmental assessment.

Strategic environmental assessment and monitoring: Arctic key gaps and bridging pathways

The Arctic region undergoes rapid and unprecedented environmental change. Environmental assessment and monitoring is needed to understand and decide how to mitigate and/or adapt to the changes and their impacts on society and ecosystems. This letter analyzes the application of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and the monitoring, based on environmental observations, that should be part of SEA, elucidates main gaps in both, and proposes an overarching SEA framework to systematically link and improve both with focus on the rapidly changing Arctic region. Shortcomings in the monitoring of environmental change are concretized by examples of main gaps in the observations of Arctic hydroclimatic changes. For relevant identification and efficient reduction of such gaps and remaining uncertainties under typical conditions of limited monitoring resources, the proposed overarching framework for SEA application includes components for explicit gap/uncertainty handling and monitoring, systematically integrated within all steps of the SEA process. The framework further links to adaptive governance, which should explicitly consider key knowledge and information gaps that are identified through and must be handled in the SEA process, and accordingly (re)formulate and promote necessary new or modified monitoring objectives for bridging these gaps.

The application of strategic environmental assessment in a non-mandatory context: Regional transport planning in New Zealand

There is no legal mandate for strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in New Zealand. However, a requirement to consider environmental and sustainability issues is a key feature of many statutes, including that relating to regional transport planning. Given this, the research sought to determine whether SEA could be used to improve the incorporation of environmental and sustainability aspects into the regional transport planning process in New Zealand. Existing practice was evaluated, examining what factors currently limiting the consideration of environmental and sustainability issues and to what extent elements of SEA are currently being used. The research culminated in the development of a conceptual model where SEA elements could be incorporated into the existing framework to promote improved consideration of environmental and sustainability issues. The results provide some reassurance about the value of SEA even where its application is not legally mandated. However, it also highlighted some ongoing issues around the integration of SEA in existing frameworks and around the scope of SEA as a decision-aiding tool.

Strategic Environmental Assessment and spatial planning in Italy: sustainability, integration and democracy

This paper investigates the application of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to spatial planning in Italy. We discuss SEA effectiveness by focusing on three main dimensions: sustainable development, environmental policy integration and democratic governance. The methodology includes the analysis of 27 SEA reports and interviews with key actors. Findings suggest that SEA is beginning to insinuate ecological rationality and improving environmental policy integration across planning levels and disciplinary boundaries. SEA also leads to progress in transparency and communication, whereas the actual involvement of the public in decision making is still weak. Future developments may address the potential contribution of SEA to focusing planning on long-term, shared, visions of socio-ecological systems.

Application of Strategic Environmental Assessment to Eco-Industrial Parks: Raibano Case in Italy

AbstractEnvironmental issues are considered increasingly more important in the field of industrial production, especially in the early stages of the planning processes: Eco-industrial parks seem to be effective planning models to reduce environmental impact and to increase firm competitiveness at the same time. By describing the Raibano industrial area planning process, this paper investigates the opportunities offered by strategic environmental assessment as an effective and suitable method in developing real eco-industrial parks. The assessment procedure, also supported by some prediction models, has been implemented by considering the environmental effects generated by the industrial park development and use on every environmental component, and the consequent precondition, mitigation, and remediation measures. The illustrated case shows that the application of environmental assessment principles to an early decision-making level enables the enhancement of some key features of eco-industrial parks, suc...

How strategic dynamics complicate the framing of alternatives in strategic environmental assessment: the case of the Danish natural gas planning

Unpredictable and complex developments challenge the application of strategic environmental assessment (SEA), for example, in terms of timing, prediction and relevance of assessments. In particular, multi-actor and unstructured strategic-level decision-making processes often seem to be characterised by unpredictable and complex changes. Despite the apparent implications, explorative investigations about how unpredictability influences SEA application in practice are rare. This article aims to shed light on contextual changes and reactions to such changes in practice by a case study of the specific SEA process of the Danish Natural Gas Security of Supply Plan. Special emphasis is given to the framing of alternatives in the SEA process, since alternatives are directly related to the contextual developments. Based on a participative approach, strategic dynamics are mapped and the reactions and concerns in the SEA team are outlined. The contribution of the article is enhanced empirical understanding of strategic dynamics and how it challenges SEA application.

Importance of context in adoption and progress in application of strategic environmental assessment: Experience of Thailand

Following the example of other developed countries, strategic environmental assessment (SEA) tool is now being introduced in developing countries, with the expectations, among others, that it will influence decision-making process in planning, and also usher in the participatory and collaborative planning towards a more sustainable track in development. This article examines Thailand's own recent introduction of SEA. The authors underscore the particularity of the Thai planning context as well as the broader governance structure and processes in the country as the critical factor influencing the extent, substance and form of adoption of SEA. Top-down tradition of planning and serious limitation of public participation opportunity structures and institutional culture have minimized the tool's positive impact and influence in development planning. Thailand's experience in SEA introduction thus reaffirms the important lesson from a number of other developing countries: that legal framework for SEA is necessary and critical especially in its initial adoption; and, that public participation needs to be supported too and institutionalized for the tool to fulfill its promise of improving environmental governance and optimizing potentials of development projects vis-a-vis various social and environmental concerns.

A POLICY WINDOW OPENS: STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT IN YORK REGION, ONTARIO, CANADA

Government agenda setting has been a focus of research in the field of policy sciences for over two decades. The concept of a policy window is explored as a driver of governmental agenda setting. The Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, Canada was chosen as a case study for exploring the application of strategic environmental assessment at the municipal level through a policy window lens. Problem, policy and political streams converged to provide the necessary conditions for improved environmental assessment and infrastructure planning in York Region. A focusing event and the resulting crisis motivated stakeholders to identify and act on the problem. An SEA-type approach was initiated as one key response. A variety of activities were initiated by York Region including the development of a Sustainability Strategy, synchronisation of master planning, wider consideration of alternatives at the master plan level and improved public consultation. Conclusions are drawn and several recommendations are presented and discussed.

Measuring the sustainability of policy scenarios: Emergy-based strategic environmental assessment of the Chinese paper industry

Recent years have seen increasing demand for wider application of strategic environmental assessment (SEA), especially SEA of major policies, as a powerful instrument to safeguard the environment during the rapid industrialization and urbanization in China. Debates on SEA are concentrated on its feasibility and effective implementation in practice. This study applies Emergy analysis within the framework of social–economic–natural complex eco-system theory to overcome the limitations of methods used for assessing regional sustainability so far. This established model is tested in the case of Chinese paper industry to assess the sustainability of 5 policy scenarios. The results show that Emergy-based Indices (EbI) are more effective to measure the sustainability of industry complex ecosystem, thus EbI approach is very useful in SEAs on policy scenarios of a given complex ecosystem.

Quality and effectiveness of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) as a tool for water management within the South African context

The water management sector has been one of the first sectors in South Africa to explore the application of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) during the mid 1990s. This paper presents the results of a performance evaluation on the quality and effectiveness of a key landmark SEA case study, namely the Mhlathuze Catchment SEA. The case study provides an ideal opportunity to gain valuable insights into the interpretation as well as the strengths and weaknesses of SEA as applied within the water management sector. The research results showed that the SEA achieved an 'average' overall input quality performance and a mixed output effectiveness performance. Reviewed against 'direct output' indicators it achieved a 'poor' effectiveness performance results. However, the SEA also achieved significant successes in terms of 'indirect outputs', such as a more holistic approach to water management, facilitated more effective public participation and contributed to broader strategic planning in the department. The paper concludes by making recommendations to improve the quality and effectiveness of SEA within the water sector.

Accounting for uncertainty in evaluating water quality impacts of urban development plan

The implementation of urban development plans causes land use change, which can have significant environmental impacts. In light of this, environmental concerns should be considered sufficiently at an early stage of the planning process. However, uncertainties existing in urban development plans hamper the application of strategic environmental assessment, which is applied to evaluate the environmental impacts of policies, plans and programs. This study develops an integrated assessment method based on accounting uncertainty of environmental impacts. And the proposed method consists of four main steps: (1) designing scenarios of economic scale and industrial structure, (2) sampling for possible land use layouts, (3) evaluating each sample's environmental impact, and (4) identifying environmentally sensitive industries. In doing so, uncertainties of environmental impacts can be accounted. Then environmental risk, overall environmental pressure and potential extreme environmental impact of urban development plans can be analyzed, and environmentally sensitive factors can be identified, especially under considerations of uncertainties. It can help decision-makers enhance environmental consideration and take measures in the early stage of decision-making.

Challenges in Application of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to Urban Planning System in Japan

本論説では、個別法の体系・プロセスとの関係からみたＳＥＡ導入の論点を明らかにした上で、現在の都市計画制度に導入した場合に起こりうる様々な問題と改善の方向性について、先進自治体へのヒヤリング調査で補足しつつも主には既存文献による既知の情報や見解から論述する。ＳＥＡのいくつかの理念は、現行の都市計画制度の欠陥に対応するものが多い。たとえば政策・計画段階での評価実施は都市計画制度の体系や権限の曖昧さを、住民参加プロセスの透明性確保は都市計画決定のあり方を、累積的影響の評価のあり方は土地利用規制の弱さや根拠の問題点を浮き彫りにする。既存の都市計画制度の体系・プロセスとＳＥＡの理念・原則の間にはかなりの開きがあり、都市計画制度へのＳＥＡの導入には、現行のアセス法や先進自治体のＳＥＡ条例・要綱の手法を越えた様々な工夫が必要と考えられる。

Challenges in Application of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to Urban Planning System in Japan

本論説では、個別法の体系・プロセスとの関係からみたSEA導入の論点を明らかにした上で、現在の都市計画制度に導入した場合に起こりうる様々な問題と改善の方向性について、先進自治体へのヒヤリング調査で補足しつつも主には既存文献による既知の情報や見解から論述する。SEAのいくつかの理念は、現行の都市計画制度の欠陥に対応するものが多い。たとえば政策・計画段階での評価実施は都市計画制度の体系や権限の曖昧さを、住民参加プロセスの透明性確保は都市計画決定のあり方を、累積的影響の評価のあり方は土地利用規制の弱さや根拠の問題点を浮き彫りにする。既存の都市計画制度の体系・プロセスとSEAの理念・原則の間にはかなりの開きがあり、都市計画制度へのSEAの導入には、現行のアセス法や先進自治体のSEA条例・要綱の手法を越えた様々な工夫が必要と考えられる。

Strategic environmental assessment for wind farm sites

Using strategic environmental assessment, the current paper strives to assemble a site selection process for wind farms in order that suitable locations can be identified in a coherent and logical manner. Such a course of action is seen as preferable to the existing process where wind farm proposals are treated as one-off applications, with each subject to a lengthy decision process which may result in an unsuccessful outcome for one of the parties to the appraisal. Strategic environmental assessment is seen as providing a comprehensive framework for this process, enabling the decision to be made in a more efficient and environmentally sustainable manner, aiding the system by which wind farms can be sited in the least ecologically sensitive locations possible. The application of strategic environmental assessment to the siting of wind farms within County Cavan in Ireland is used to illustrate the operation of such a proposed assessment process.

Strategic environmental assessment application in spatial planning in Serbia

Since two and a half year long Strategic Environmental Assessment application in Serbia is limited to spatial and urban plans with great variety in its quality, good SEA practice should be applied, and different approach towards SEA must be developed. These and other issues are discussed in the paper and main recommendations on SEA improvements in Serbia presented.