Towards a Structured Approach to Strategic Environmental Assessment

Abstract

Considerable attention has been given to the role of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in policy, plan and program assessment; however, there is very little consensus on an appropriate methodology for SEA. Two basic perspectives on SEA methodology emerge from the literature: first, that appropriate SEA methodologies are readily available based on the application of project-level EIA approaches to strategic assessment questions and second, that SEA requires a different, more broad-brush approach than project-level EIA. If SEA is to advance in application and effectiveness, then appropriate SEA methodologies need to be established. Despite calls for SEA to develop more independently of project-level assessment, existing SEA methodologies tend to be based on project-level EIA principles. It is argued here that while SEA can perhaps utilise many of the existing methods from project-level EIA, it requires a different, more broad-brush, but structured methodological approach. This paper reviews the current state-of-the-art of SEA methodology, and presents a generic SEA methodological framework and example based on the notion of the "best practicable environmental option".