Strategic Environmental Assessment in Action

This practical guide on how to carry out strategic environmental assessment (SEA) presents a coherent 'how to do it' approach for the practitioner. It is the first publication to take account of the requirements of the European Union Directive 2001/42/EC - known as the 'SEA Directive' - and the UNECE Protocol on SEA.Part I provides an overview of the aims, principles, advantages and problems of SEA as well as looking at the SEA Directive and its requirements. Part II examines the SEA process in considerable detail including setting the context, describing the baseline, identifying alternatives, predicting and evaluating impacts and using the SEA information in monitoring and decision-making. Part III is devoted to assuring SEA quality with a discussion of resources and capacity building.Employing real-life case studies, each chapter presents a range of techniques and discusses what the final product should look like. Appendices provide a wealth of additional information including text of the SEA Directive and the UNECE Protocol on SEA, and a 'toolkit' of SEA techniques.The approach and techniques in Strategic Environmental Assessment in Action are useful for anyone carrying out SEA at any level from policy to programme, international to local, but particularly for practitioners responsible for implementing the SEA Directive.

* Provides a how-to approach to strategic environmental assessment (SEA)--ideal for all practitioners* Applicable to all levels of SEA, from policy to program, from international to local* The only book covering the new EC Directive 2001/42/EC--widely known as the SEA Directive.Strategic Environmental Assessment in Action is a practical guide on how to carry out strategic environmental assessment (SEA). The book presents a coherent how-to-do-it approach for the practitioner, and it is the first publication to take account of the requirements of the recent EC Directive 2001/42/EC--widely known as the SEA Directive.The book introduces SEA and the SEA Directive, and considers different stages of SEA including setting the context, describing the baseline, identifying alternatives, predicting and evaluating impacts, and using the SEA information in decisionmaking. Through real-life case studies, each chapter presents a range of techniques and discusses how the final product should look. A final chapter discusses resources and capacity building. The approach and techniques are useful for anyone carrying out an SEA, but particularly for practitioners responsible for implementing the SEA Directive.