Strategic Environmental Assessment Research Articles

Transboundary water resources management and food security: An Indonesian perspective

AbstractTransboundary water resource management is one of the key components of ensuring that water is managed appropriately for a number of objectives, including assisting in food production. Inadequate water management may aggravate social conflict in the near future as precipitation patterns change. This study evaluates long‐term government policies, plans, and initiatives based on their responsibility. Strategic environmental assessment is used as an approach to address problems relating to the transboundary flow of water resources. It takes into account the requirements for integrating environmental constraints into government planning and development programs. To make sure that water resources are functioning correctly from upstream to downstream locations, various levels of government are urged to employ spatial planning based on water resource information. This study uses the Cimanuk watershed area in Indonesia to demonstrate this perspective.

Strategic environmental assessment and SDG integration: enhancing sustainable development in Egypt

AbstractThis research delves into the integration and alignment between strategic environmental assessment (SEA) practices and Egypt's united nations sustainable development goals (SDGs), with a focus on incorporating environmental, social, and economic considerations into policies, plans, and programs. The study assesses Egypt's strategic environmental assessment framework, identifying its strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and gaps in sustainable development. It critically analyzes institutional coordination, stakeholder engagement, monitoring, reporting, and evaluation (MRE) frameworks, and policy coherence. The key findings underscore the commendable emphasis on environmental integrity in SEA practices, while also highlighting significant deficiencies in integrating broader sustainability criteria and aligning with the SDGs. The research concludes with policy implications, practice recommendations, and future research directions that aim to bolster the effectiveness of strategic environmental assessment in contributing to sustainable development in Egypt.

Defining Strategic Environmental Goals and Objectives for the Management of Deep-sea Mining Operations in the Seabed Beyond National Jurisdiction

After the inconclusive second part of the 28th Annual Session of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in July 2023, there were concerns that the ISA would start accepting exploitation applications for deep-sea mining in the seabed beyond national jurisdiction (the Area) with neither a full regulatory framework in place nor a general policy related to the conservation of our marine environment. Currently, the environmental management of deep-sea mining by the ISA is cursory and lacks strategic aims regarding the preservation of deep-sea ecosystems. This makes the ISA unable to fulfill its environmental stewardship mandate as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. To overcome this inability, we propose that the ISA defines Strategic Environmental Goals and Objectives by carrying out a Strategic Environmental Assessment of deep-sea mining in the Area, with broader stakeholder engagement and considerations for cumulative and long-term effects. This will allow the ISA to develop the first strategic environmental policy for the Area under its jurisdiction to protect deep-sea ecosystems.

Strategic environmental assessment of Thai river basins: Incorporating climate change considerations

Strategic environmental assessment of Thai river basins: Incorporating climate change considerations

SEA for better climate adaptation in the face of the flood risk: Multi-scenario, strategic forecasting, nature-based solutions

Numerous scholars have warned that many cities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) are threatened by severe flood risk, which is often underestimated. Considering this, we provide a scenario-based Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) approach to analyse the roles of adaptation strategies on the environment in response to climate change and flooding risk. Three strategies are proposed including a non-Nature-based Solutions strategy (non-NbS), and two Nature-based Solutions strategies (NbS 1.0 and NbS 2.0). The non-NbS strategy refers to the way of promoting urban development yet no additional environmental concerns. The NbS 1.0 strategy focuses on ensuring arable lands for food security, and the NbS 2.0 strategy acquires further regulations on ecology protection.The analysis consists of two steps. First, this paper simulates the land use scenarios in 2030 and 2050, respectively, following non-NbS and NbS (1.0 & 2.0) strategies. This process is developed based on a patch-generating land use simulation (PLUS) model, which allows users to explore various future land use scenarios on account of different spatial development strategies, environmental conditions, and socio-economic trends. Second, the study overlays the land use scenarios with potential sea flooding scopes to reveal how different landscapes (e.g., forests and wetlands) are affected by carbon emissions in RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5. Further research is suggested to incorporate the 2020 GDP data to refine the findings of this study and consider the impacts of dykes on flood-prone area mapping.The analysis finds that the NbS (1.0 & 2.0) strategies play an active role in decreasing the future flood risk of built-up areas in the GBA regionally, especially under the high-emission RCP 8.5 projection. However, their impacts vary between cities. (1) The NbS 2.0 strategy is effective in reducing the risk of built-up areas in Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Macao, while the effectiveness of the NbS 1.0 strategy is not apparent. (2) The NbS 1.0 and 2.0 strategies are both effective in Dongguan, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Zhuhai, Zhaoqing, and Zhongshan in reducing the flood risk of built-up areas. In addition, the NbS 2.0 strategy is more productive than the NbS 1.0 strategy either in 2030 or 2050. (3) The NbS 1.0 and 2.0 strategies generate subtle different effects in Foshan in 2030 and 2050. The NbS 2.0 strategy is more productive in 2050, while less productive in 2030. This study provides a comprehensive insight into the distributed flood risk following the non-NbS or NbS strategies in the context of climate change, which is useful to policymakers and urban planners.

Stakeholder perspectives and challenges to the institutionalization of strategic environmental assessment in Botswana

ABSTRACT This research compares perspectives regarding strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and evaluates SEA implementation bottlenecks in Botswana through the purview of two stakeholder groups, namely environmental assessment practitioners (EAPs) and engineers. It also evaluates SEA regulation and practices in the country. The results highlight that stakeholders in Botswana concur on many SEA-related aspects such as the definition of the concept of SEA and criteria for evaluating SEA effectiveness. Compared to engineers, EAPs have a much more accurate understanding of the type of effects to be assessed during SEA. Challenges to the success of SEA include passive and ineffectual public participation; lack of data sharing; limited technical capacity regarding SEA and dated guidance; deeply entrenched preferences for distinct SEA approaches; low proponent’s willingness to pay for environmental costs including SEA; oppressive practitioner pay structures; and, commercialised environmental assessment consultancy. These manifest as conflict over purpose and approach to SEA, limited awareness regarding SEA, de-skilled planners and diverging practices. These factors are also symptomatic of higher institutional problems such as intense corruption and would suggest that SEA in Botswana is not yet fully institutionalised.

State and prospects of legal regulation of digitalization of public participation in environmental protection

Current issues of legal support for digitization of public participation in the process of making environmentally significant decisions in Ukraine are explored in the article. The significant potential of digital technologies to ensure environmental security and sustainable social development is emphasized. Digitization of relations in the field of ecology in Ukraine affects the determination of the main directions of the national environmental policy. Post-war recovery and development of the economy will require integration into the plans, programs and other documents of the state planning of the ecological block. This is connected with the restoration of the state. This actualizes scientific research on the legal basis of public participation in strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment procedures.
 Systematic analysis of legal norms, which are the basis of digitalization of strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment, is carried out in the article. The problems of legislative regulation of relations in the specified sphere are defined.
 The author notes the importance of broad public involvement in the process of making ecologically significant decisions, which is a guarantee of balance, and the effectiveness of decision-making and their further coordinated implementation in practice. Positive innovations are indicated. It is necessary to continue work on improving the procedure of strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment, the conclusion is drawn.
 Digitization, as one of the defining trends in the development of human civilization, forms an inclusive society and creates conditions for better management mechanisms, expands public access to the environmental sphere, increases the quality of the environment and the range of public services, expands the ways of cooperation of civil society with subjects of power and business, and also creates opportunities in the implementation of environmental rights and satisfaction of the environmental needs of citizens.

Unraveling Environmental Impact Assessment Practitioners in Brazil: Profile, Education and Perception of EIA Practice among CBAI Participants

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) practice demands interactions between different actors, and its effectiveness depends on how they respond to their own expectations, as well as the expectations of other actors and legal standards. Thus, EIA practitioners play an important role in improving this process. This study examines the profile of Brazilian EIA practitioners who participated in at least one edition of the Congresso Brasileiro de Avaliação de Impacto (CBAI - Brazilian Congress on Impact Assessment in English), as well as their perception of EIA practice within the country. It is a quantitative and qualitative research based on the premise that EIA practitioners would have participated in at least one of the first five congresses (CBAI) promoted by the Associação Brasileira de Avaliação de Impacto (ABAI - Brazilian Association for Impact Assessment in English). Data collection involved distributing an online questionnaire, available between September 26th and November 1st, 2022, to all 794 contacts registered at ABAI. A total of 217 responses were obtained, with participants comprising 48% men and 52% women, with the majority falling between 25 and 45 years of age. All respondents had studied EIA (through undergraduate or postgraduate courses, or in other contexts). Most participants had more than 10 years of experience working with EIA, primarily in consultancy and academia. Perceptions regarding the quality, problems, strengths and opportunities of Brazilian EIA practice generally aligned with the literature. Respondents tended to disagree with streamlining EIA and Environmental Licensing procedures and to agree with the necessity of implementing Strategic Environmental Assessment in Brazil. The results are important to understand who Brazilian EIA practitioners are and what this portion of EIA practitioners think.

An evaluation of the hydropower planning alternatives at the upper reaches of Yellow River by considering carbon footprints

As a precautionary tool for decision-makings towards sustainable development, strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is quite promising in coping with climate change by taking the advantage of alternatives evaluation as early intervention and planning optimization. Despite of the acknowledged merits, the current alternatives evaluation has presented a weakness when tackling with the climate factors in practice due to an evident lack of carbon-related indicators. The challenge is even more pronounced in hydropower planning for the most sensitive response to climate, the most complicated impacts to evaluate and the recent doubts about the nature as a clean energy. Considering the assignable carbon emissions from the hydropower engineering including pre-treatment, construction, operation and decommission, six indicators of carbon footprint were selected and integrated with the conventional eco-environment and socio-economic considerations for evaluating four alternatives in the SEA of Upper Yellow River hydropower planning in China. The total 24 indicators were marked by the invited experts, and weighted by employing the BP neural network. The ranked marks from invited experts and improved by BP neural network weighting showed that the alternative II is the best among the four, indicating the slightest environmental impacts, the minimal carbon emissions, and the highest socio-economic benefits. This study delivered an improved framework based on the conventional rapid impact assessment method (RIAM) and carbon footprint assessment, and provided a practical technical solution for evaluating planning alternatives in the context of green hydropower development.

LCA for territorial metabolism analysis: An application to organic waste management planning

The management of biodegradable waste in landfills is associated to a range environmental impacts and refers to a linear model regarded as unsustainable. At the same time, many agricultural and urban soils present low organic matter content. Composting is emerging as a good practice for converting organic waste into a new resource able to improve soil properties, thus providing regulation Ecosystem Services. Considering a territorial metabolism perspective, this work discusses the potential contribution to regional planning of a transferable methodology for quantifying environmental impacts and benefits associated to waste management, based on a combined use of Life Cycle Assessment and Geographic Information Systems, and considering Ecosystem Services deriving from the application of compost in agricultural soils. The approach was tested through a site-dependent analysis based on primary data, referring to year 2019 and focusing on the Veneto Region, Italy. Results indicate that direct benefits associated to the use of compost and the thermal energy to district heating are compensating from 29 % to 51 % of the impacts associated to compost production, while waste transports represent the largest share of the impacts, covering between 52 % and 78 % of the total flows considered. The proposed methodology is applied for comparing the reference condition to alternative scenarios, in the perspective of providing support in Strategic Environmental Assessment procedures. In this context, results shown markedly lower impacts associated to compost production, with respect to organic waste treatment, for 5 out of 6 of the considered categories (freshwater eutrophication 100:1, climate change 5:1), with the notable exception of water resource depletion. Scenarios produced are discussed with respect to the choice between centralized and non-centralized plants, and the characterization of potential benefits at the territorial scale associated to compost use for urban green infrastructures. With respect to this latter point, results showed an underdeveloped use of compost-related ES flow, compared to its capacity, suggesting an interest for further research aimed at estimating compost requirements by urban and peri-urban soils.

Stakeholder Participation in Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Detailed Spatial Plan for Manokwari Urban Area, Papua Barat, Indonesia

Regional development as an effort to improve human welfare always has an impact on the environment. Therefore, this research aims to determine stakeholder participation in Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of Detailed Spatial Plan (DSP) for the Manokwari Regency Urban Area. The research was carried out from February to March 2021, where the research location in the Manokwari Urban Area which is the location for the delineation of DSP. Data collection was carried out by means of observation, interviews and secondary data studies. Observations were carried out directly during the discussion of SEA documents. The researcher describes in detail about the conditions in the field, human activities and the context in which the activities were held. Interviews were conducted by asking written questions to respondents and using prepared questionnaires. Data was analyzed using a stakeholder analysis approach to ensure aspects, including: a) determining precisely the parties that will be involved; b) guarantee the implementation of the principle of participation; c) guarantee that the results of the DSP document obtain public legitimacy; d) level of stakeholder participation. The research results show that the most dominant form of stakeholder participation is the contribution of input/suggestions and the provision of information/data from stakeholders. This means that there is a willingness and ability of the stakeholders involved to express their opinions scientifically. Stakeholders' willingness to participate can increase motivation to make changes, while the ability to participate is related to human resources and learning abilities.

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) on The Revision of The Spatial Plan of Sorong District Year 2012-2032

This research aims to analyze the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)  in the revision of the Sorong Regency Regional Spatial Planning (RTRW) for 2012-2032. This research uses a qualitative descriptive method to achieve two objectives: (a) Provide a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon being studied, and (b) be sensitive in collecting descriptive qualitative information while maintaining the unity of the research object, which means the data in the case study is studied thoroughly. The results of the research show that (a) In the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in the 2012-2032 Revision of the Regional Spatial Plan (RTRW) of Sorong Regency, it was identified that there were 8 KRP Spatial Structure Plans and 6 Spatial Patterns that had the potential to influence environmental conditions, based on analysis of the impact of sustainable development issues on spatial planning policies; (b) The results of the analysis regarding the influence of sustainable development issues on policies, plans and programs show that of the 9 KRPs analyzed, only 3 items require a study of SEA content, while the other 6 items do not require a study of SEA content. In addition, of the 6 Spatial Patterns in the KRP, all require a study of SEA content; and (c) The purpose of the alternative formulation is to agree on improvements to the KRP based on the results of the alternative formulation, supporting follow-up steps will be formulated as a result of the implementation of the KRP.

Challenges and lessons of implementing strategic environmental assessment in a critically endangered ecosystem

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) can help to ensure that development across a landscape is planned and implemented with minimum environmental and biodiversity impacts. Despite its growing prevalence, few studies have investigated the implementation of biodiversity conservation interventions associated with SEA. Here, we examine an Australian SEA case study, the Melbourne Strategic Assessment, which set out to assess the impacts of Melbourne’s urban growth boundary expansion on threatened species and ecosystems. Using stakeholder interviews and document analysis, we evaluate the implementation of biodiversity conservation interventions under the SEA. We find that key interventions are yet to be fully implemented, including establishing a 15,000-hectare reserve to offset impacts on critically endangered grasslands. We identify systematic and pervasive failures, including questionable funding and enforcement arrangements, and highlight critical improvements needed. Given the growing use of SEA worldwide, urgent action is required to provide confidence in the ability of SEA to deliver biodiversity conservation objectives.

Importance of Strategic Environmental Assessment (Sea) Process and Environmental Health Impact Assessment (Ehia) Process Towards Sustainable Climate Change And Control

The resource conservation and recovery (RCR) method has been devised prior to environmental health impact assessment (EHIA) process for certain projects such as nuclear power plants (Vijayan Gurumurthy Iyer, 2004) . Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process can be broadly defined as a study of the impacts of a proposed project, plan, project, policy or legislative action on the environment and sustainability. Vijayan Gurumurthy Iyer (2022) mentioned that the root cause problem solution for ozone layer depletion potential (OLP) impact, global warming potential (GWP) impact and green house synergic (augmentative) gas (GHG) emission impact in context to industrial, source specific and generic plants that are measured, monitored and mitigated by international environmental impact assessment process (Figure-3) for the sustainable environmental climate change and control. In this research, SEA process has been aimed in order to incorporate environmental and sustainability factors in to project planning and decision making process such as project formulation and appraisal of Indo-Matsushita midget electrode (battery carbon rod) plant in 1979 at Tada, and proposed Nawada Nuclear power plants industrial, source specific and generic plants processing that should have included policies, programs, plans and legislative actions. Sustainable development is a kind of development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability and efficacy of future generations to meet their own needs. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process can be defined as the systematic study and check of the potential impacts (effects) of proposed projects, plans, programs, policies or legislative actions relative to the physical-chemical, petrol-chemical, biological, cultural, and socioeconomic components of the total environment. The primary purpose of the EIA process is to encourage the consideration of the environment in organizational project planning and decision making process and to arrive at actions that are environmentally compatible. Organization process and product planning should include the integrated consideration of technical or engineering, economic, environmental, safety, and health, social and sustainability factors to achieve business excellence. Prior to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process in 1970 in the USA, technical and economic factors dominance the World’s projects. The objective of the study is to conceptualize SEA process for the climate change and pollution control. The design of the study is cross sectional. Environmental Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) process has been conducted for nuclear power plant to consider the environmental health quality, safety and health impacts to mitigate psychological health effects on workers and nearby residents. Social Impact Assessment (SIA) process can be defined as the systematic identification and evaluation of the potential social impacts (effects) of proposed projects, plans, programs, or legislative actions such that social consideration is encouraged in process and to arrive at actions that are socially compatible with reference to a proposed nuclear power project at Rajouli, Nawada District, Magadh District . Nawada is in southern Bihar and is well known for its natural beauty. Water fall and forest ecosystem makes Nawada is a sustainable town in Southern Bihar. SEA process concerns to environment and sustainability effects in process and arrive at proposed projects, plans, programs, and legislative actions that are compatible with respect to environment and sustainability issues. International EIA process required multi-disciplinary approach that has been conducted very early stage of Japanese Matsushita carbon rod project in 1982 at Tada, Sullurpeta District for strategic environmental assessment. The paper highlights SEA process conducted for certain projects that based on operation and process approach and associated studies for sustainable development. Product environmental life cycle analysis (LCA) has been conducted for identifying and measuring the impact of petrochemical and corroded engineering structural products on the environment and sustain efficacy by means of mass and energy balance methods in M/S Madras Fertilizers Limited, Manali, Chennai, India. LCA considers the activities related to raw materials, transformation, ancillary materials, equipment, method, market, man power, production, use, disposal and ancillary equipment.As far as petrochemical safety is concerned personal protective equipment and materials (PPEMs) that include garments, clothing, gloves, safety shoes, hard hats, safety glasses, shields, respirators, full aprons, safety belts, and other safety items which have to be used by an individual. Such equipment is important for personal protection and for safety. It is the manager’s and supervisor’s responsibility to ensure that they are used. The enactment of worker’s compensation law and occupational disease law shall increase materially the cost of insurance to industry. The increased cost and the certainty with which it is applied will put a premium on accident-prevention work. This cost can be materially reduced by the installation of safety devices. Industrial research experience has shown that approximately 80% of all the accidents are preventable. EIA and EHIA processes have been conducted for a nuclear power plant to consider the safety and health impacts to mitigate psychological health loading on workers and nearby residents. SEA system is a potentially useful element of good environmental management and sustainable development; however, as currently practiced in industries, it is far from perfection as per the climate sensitivity factor. Emphasis should be given in industries on maintaining economic viability of the operation, while in turn taking care to preserve the ecological and social sustainability of the country. International EIA process required multi-disciplinary approach that has been conducted very early stage of Indo-Matsushita Midget electrode project 1982 at Tada for technical, economic, ecological and social sustainability.

The Effect of Wearable and Tearable Climate and Weather on Wearable Technology

This article discusses the effect of wearable tearable climate and weather on wearable technology. Climate change refers to long term shifts in temperature and weather patterns, mainly caused by human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels and unsustainable infrastructural development. Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process can be broadly defined as a study of the impacts of a proposed project, plan, project, policy, or legislative action on the environment and sustainability. The significance of the work entitled “Sustainable Wearable Climate and Weather Management” is mainly confirmatory as it solves environmental and social problems. In this research, the SEA process has been aimed to incorporate environmental and sustainability factors into wearable climate and weather management includes climate change and control as an example like production and manufacturing process project planning and decision-making processes such as project formulation and appraisal of wearable climate and weather projects like wear and tear of dust-producing grinding chrome composite leather clad rollers and washers commonly used in seed-cotton Indian roller ginning machines, wastewater treatment process, rotating biological contactors, trickling filter bed, biomedical parts, marine biopolymers, Indo-Matsushita midget electrode (battery carbon rod) plant in 1979 at Tada, sustainable bridge, road, and sanitation structure, green building, nuclear power plant, cotton roller ginning plant and concrete that included policies, programs, plans, and legislative actions. Sustainable materials for manufacturing process development is a kind of development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability and efficacy of future generations to meet their own needs. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process can be defined as the systematic study of the potential impacts (effects) of proposed projects, plans, programs, policies, or legislative actions relative to the physical-chemical, biological, bio-medical, cultural, and socioeconomic components of the total environmental product life cycle. The primary purpose of the EIA process is to encourage the consideration of the environment in the Organizational ’s wearable and tearable climate and weather management project planning and decision-making process and to arrive at environmentally compatible actions. The sustainable wearable climate and weather management process should include the integrated consideration of technical or engineering, economic, environmental, safety, and health, social, and sustainability factors to achieve business excellence as per post COVID-19 World Scenario. Before the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process in 1970 in the USA, technical and economic factors dominance the World’s manufacturing process projects. The objective of the study is to conceptualize a training course module incorporating the SEA process for the Sustainable Environmental Wearable and Tearable Climate Change and Weather Control for the officers of Bihar Institute Public Administration and Rural Development (BIPARD), Patna, Bihar, India during the Research Year (RY) 2023-2024. The design of the study is cross-sectional. The limitation or recommendation of the study and check is to apply strategic environmental assessment process for sustainable environmental climate change and control towards sustainable development.

Consideration of risks to people and the environment related to accidents on natural gas transmission pipelines in LUP and SEA processes in Poland

ABSTRACT This study concerned the integration of gas pipeline safety issue into the LUP (Land Use Planning) and SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment) processes in Poland. It focused on the early stage of natural gas transmission pipeline localisation, i.e. the preparation of land use development plans (the plans) and accompanying SEA documents. It aimed to analyse a set of selected plans and SEA documents taking into account risks to people and the environment resulting from accidents on gas pipelines. The results of the analysis showed that although the Polish legislation defining the content of these documents does not explicitly refer to these risks, they are included, but to a limited extent, in the documents examined. It is proposed to modify the EU and Polish legislation for the control of major accident hazards on gas pipelines. In particular, in addition to the generic-distances approach currently used in Poland for maintaining the separation distances between the gas pipeline and other buildings it is suggested to introduce a risk-based approach to support LUP decisions near gas pipelines in Poland.

A synthesis of a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of strategic environmental assessment between Ireland and Scotland applied to Brazil

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) aims to facilitate both integration and assessment of opportunities and threats for action strategies within the framework of sustainable development. Its stages comprise Screening, which analyzes its need, Scoping, which establishes the range of environmental issues to be covered, Analysis, in which the Environmental Report is prepared, Decision-Making, Follow-up, in which both Monitoring and Follow-up of the assessment are conducted, and finally Consultation. Three types of effectiveness approaches, namely procedural effectiveness, substantive effectiveness, and transactional effectiveness can be identified. This article addresses the effectiveness of SEA in Brazil, Ireland, and Scotland through a comparative analysis, since it enables rich discussions on the subject.

Environmental Assessment of Onshore Wind Energy Plans in Germany and Scotland: A Procedural Compliance with Respect to Integration of Climate Change Impacts

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) provides an opportunity to integrate climate change issues into renewable energy plans to mitigate the effects of climate change. In this study, we conducted a comparative analysis of the extent to which climate change issues are incorporated into SEAs of onshore wind energy plans in Germany and Scotland. To achieve our objective, we employed a modified version of the Lee and Colley review package to analyse SEA reports. The combined results of our analysis show that 49% and approximately 45% of the overall tasks performed in all the review areas in terms of climate change integration in the documents reviewed were considered satisfactory for Germany and Scotland, respectively. In order to effectively consider the climate change impacts in SEAs and to efficiently plan for onshore wind energy development, due consideration should be given to the adoption of diverse methodological approaches and models of climate change.

SEA and EIA: uncertain boundaries in Spain

ABSTRACT Environmental impact assessment (EIA) of projects and strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of policies, plans and programmes allow environmental aspects to be incorporated into decision-making. The literature and regulations sometimes present SEA and EIA as isolated silos, but in practice there are intermediate approaches. This paper discusses a number of case studies where the application of EIA and SEA is conceptually unclear, although legally appropriate. The application of SEA or EIA depends in practice on the name of the planning document used, rather than its strategic character, with non-strategic SEAs and strategic EIAs due to a mismatch between planning and EA. The gradual transition between SEA and EIA makes it advisable to establish similar administrative procedures, as well as a common screening stage to determine not only whether or not the proposal should be subject to EA, but also the most appropriate approach. More than one EA process may be necessary throughout the planning cycle, requiring effective tiering. The regulations should define what is considered strategic, and regulate the tiering between SEA and EIA processes.

Maritime spatial plans as an object of the right of access to information

This paper examines maritime spatial planning (MSP) from the perspective of transboundary interaction in the context of the public right of access to environmental information while considering digitisation possibilities. In addition to a theoretical approach, the paper contains an empirical part. The paper presents the background characterising the genesis of MSP in the European Union and its transboundary nature. Following a literature review, the paper offers a characterisation of the right of access to environmental information in the context of MSP transboundary interaction. The empirical part clarifies the availability of basic MSP documentation, namely maritime spatial plans, their cartographic format, and strategic environmental assessments in practice, based partly on communication with the national MSP authorities of the European Union’s coastal Member States. The main finding relates to the need to look for approaches offered in the framework of the paper to ensure the digital distribution of basic official MSP information in the context of transboundary interaction in line with the right of access to environmental information in the pertinent legislation and soft law instruments at the international, regional and national levels.