Chapter 1 SEA IN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Document begins: Chapter 1 SEA IN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE The term strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is now widely used to refer to a systematic process to analyse the environmental effects of policies, plans and programmes. Often, this process is equated with a formal, EIA-based procedure, as exemplified by the European SEA Directive (Directive 2001/42/EC) which comes into force in mid-2004 across the European Union. However, for the purposes of this review, we consider the field of SEA to be much broader and to encompass a range of policy tools and strategic approaches as well as formal EIA-based procedures and near-equivalent forms of environmental appraisal. The boundaries of the field are mapped generically by reference to the function of SEA as a means of integrating environmental considerations into development policy-making and planning (which also are broadly considered). Within this frame of reference, different types of SEA can be recognised, although some are at an early stage of development (Figure 1.1). These include forms of para-SEA, a term we use for processes that do not meet formal definitions of SEA or their specification in law or policy but which have some of their characteristics and elements. At present, few developing countries have established ...