Sea Guidelines. A Comparative Analysis: First Outcomes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6092/1970-9870/2484Keywords:
Strategic environmental assessment, European Union, Guidance documentsAbstract
The European Directive 2001/42/EC (Directive) has introduced the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), a procedure for assessing the effects of certain plans and programs on the environment. The Directive has been transposed in different ways and times within Europe: member states have frequently drawn up guidelines to facilitate SEA implementation, by adopting different approaches. So far a few studies have been performed to analyze SEA guidelines. In this paper we aim to analyze key elements of SEA guidelines released by seven European countries in order to evaluate the effectiveness of those documents and SEA implementation. We have found that no SEA guidelines satisfy all key elements we have identified. Based on the latter finding, this work is introductory to a further analysis which aims to characterize SEA guidelines and define a proposal of SEA guidelines for landscape planning in the Italian region of Sardinia.Downloads
References
Abaza, H., Bisset, R., Sadler, B. (2004), Environmental Impact Assessment and Strategic Environmental Assessment: Towards an Integrated Approach, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Balfors, B., Schmidtbauer, J. (2002), !Swedish Guidelines for Strategic Environmental Assessment for EU Structural Funds”, European Environment, 12(1), 35-48.
Brooke, C., James, E., Jones, R., Thérivel, R. (2004), “Implementing the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) Directive in the South West of England”, European Environment, 14(3), 138-152.
Brown, A.L., Thérivel, R. (2000), “Principles to guide the development of strategic environmental assessment methodology”, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 18(3), 183-189.
De Montis, A. (2013). “Implementing Strategic Environmental Assessment of spatial planning tools: A study on the Italian provinces“, Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 41, 53-63.
De Montis, A., Ledda, A., Ganciu, A., Barra, M., Caschili, S. (2013), “Determinants of SEA effectiveness: an empirical investigation over municipal spatial planning in Sardinia”, Journal of Agricultural Engineering, 44(s1), 460-466.
Diamantini, C., Geneletti, D. (2004), “Reviewing the application of SEA to sectoral plans in Italy. The case of the mobility plan of an alpine region”, European Environment, 14(2), 123-133.
Donnelly, A., Dalal-Clayton, B., Hughes, R. (1998), A Directory of Impact Assessment Guidelines (Second Edition). London: International Institute for Environment and Development.
Fischer, T.B. (2006), “Strategic environmental assessment and transport planning: towards a generic framework for evaluating practice and developing guidance”, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 24(3), 183-197.
Fischer, T.B. (2007), Theory and practice of strategic environmental assessment: towards a more systematic approach, London, Earthscan.
Enplan Project (2004), Linee guida VAS [in English: SEA guidelines], guidelines drawn up by Regione Lombardia (Italy), Regione Liguria (Italy), Regione Piemonte (Italy), Regione Autonoma della Valle d’Aosta (Italy), Regione Emilia-Romagna (Italy), Regione Toscana (Italy), Generalitat de Catalunya (Spain), Región de Murcia (Spain), Junta de Andalucía (Spain), Govern de les Illes Balears (Spain). http://www.nemoambiente.com/node/121.
Formez (2006), La Valutazione Ambientale Strategica dei Piani urbanistici e territoriali [Manual for SEA in land-use and town planning], FORMEZ, associazione riconosciuta, sottoposta al controllo, alla vigilanza e ai poteri ispettivi della Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri – Dipartimento della Funzione Pubblica – Programma Empowerment, Centro di competenza Strumenti e Politiche per la Sostenibilità Ambientale. http://db.formez.it/fontinor.nsf/661251a8a564c786c1256a930025a3c3/3BC691C1BD6C6303C12571A00034A8CE/$file/La%20Valutazione%20Ambientale%20Strategica%20di%20piani%20urbanistici%20comunali%20%28PUC%29.pdf.
Hong Kong (2007), Hong Kong Strategic Environmental Assessment Manual, Environmental Protection Department, last updated: February 28th, 2013. http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/SEA/eng/sea_manual.html.
Ireland (2004), Implementation of SEA Directive (2001/42/EC): Assessment of the Effects of Certain Plans and Programmes on the Environment Guidelines for Regional Authorities and Planning Authorities, Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/ Planning/FileDownLoad,1616,en.pdf.
Italy (1999), Linee guida per la valutazione ambientale strategica (Vas) – Fondi strutturali 2000-2006 [in English: Guidelines for Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) – Structural Funds 2000-2006], Direzione generale VIA - Servizio per la valutazione di impatto ambientale, l’informazione ai cittadini e della relazione sullo stato dell’ambiente del Ministero dell’Ambiente, dal Ministero dei Beni e delle attività culturali e dall’Agenzia nazionale per la protezione dell’ambiente (Anpa). http://www.nemoambiente.com/files/Linee_guida_VAS%20fondi%20strutturali%202000 %2006.pdf.
Italy (2006), Environmental Code. Legislative Decree 152/2006, In: Official Journal No. 88, 14/4/2006.
Italy (2008), Additional corrective and supplementary provisions to Environmental Code. Legislative Decree 4/2008. In: Official Journal No. 24, 29/1/2008.
Italy (2010), Amendments and additions to Environmental Code. Legislative Decree 128/2010. In: Official Journal No. 186, 11/8/2010.
Latvia (2007), Guidance to SEA in practice, Finnish Environment Institute and SIA Estonian, Latvian & Lithuanian Environment, Stockholm Environment Institute. http://www.seit.ee/failid/629.pdf.
Portugal (2012), Strategic Environmental Assessment Better Practice Guide – methodological guidance for strategic thinking in SEA, prepared by Maria do Rosário Partidário, Professor at IST-UTL for the Portuguese Environment Agency and Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN), SA, Lisbon. http://www.iaia.org/publicdocuments/special-publications/SEA%20Guidance%20Portugal.pdf.
Schijf, B. (2011), “Developing SEA Guidance”. In: Sadler B., Dusik J., Fischer T. B., Partidário M. R., Verheem R., Aschemann R. (eds.), Handbook of Strategic Environmental Assessment. London: Earthscan. 487-500.
Scotland (2013), Strategic Environmental Assessment Guidance, Scottish Government. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/ Publications/2013/08/3355.
Sheate, W.R., Byron, H.J., Smith, S.P. (2004), “Implementing the SEA Directive: sectoral challenges and opportunities for the UK and EU”, European Environment, 14(2), 73-93.
Sweden (2010), Practical guidelines on strategic environmental assessment of plans and programmes, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.naturvardsverket.se/Documents/publikationer/ 978-91-620-6383-2.pdf.
Thérivel, R. (2004), Strategic Environmental Assessment in Action, London: Earthscan.
Thérivel, R., Caratti, P., Partidário, M.R., Theodórsdóttir Á.H., Tyldesley D. (2004), “Writing strategic environmental assessment guidance”, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 22(4), 259-270.
UK (2005), A Practical Guide to the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive, Department for Communities and Local Government. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/7657/ practicalguidesea.pdf.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following:
1. Authors retain the rights to their work and give in to the journal the right of first publication of the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons License - Attribution that allows others to share the work indicating the authorship and the initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors can adhere to other agreements of non-exclusive license for the distribution of the published version of the work (ex. To deposit it in an institutional repository or to publish it in a monography), provided to indicate that the document was first published in this journal.
3. Authors can distribute their work online (ex. In institutional repositories or in their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges and it can increase the quotations of the published work (See The Effect of Open Access)