Strategic Environmental Assessment Practice

Author: (English) Therivel (Therivel/R.) / Ju Meiting / Li Haisheng / Li Hongyuan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: This book serves as a practical guide on how to conduct Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). It presents clear and understandable methods and approaches of SEA to environmental assessment practitioners. This publication is also written in conjunction with the EU Directive 2001/42/EC on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA Directive) and the UN Economic Commission for Europe's Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment. The first part of the book focuses on the SEA Directive and its requirements, summarizing the objectives, principles, advantages, and issues of SEA. The second part discusses the process of SEA, including the determination of the scope of SEA, environmental baseline description, identification of environmental issues, screening of alternative options, prediction and assessment of environmental impacts, and the use of SEA information for (environmental) management and decision-making. The third part explores how to ensure the quality of SEA from the aspects of resource assurance and capacity building. With practical case studies, each chapter introduces a series of technical methods and discusses the final results that should be presented. The appendix provides extensive additional information, including the text of the SEA Directive, the text of the UN Economic Commission for Europe's Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment, and the SEA prediction and assessment "toolkit." The methods and techniques discussed in Strategic Environmental Assessment in Practice are applicable to anyone involved in SEA—particularly practitioners responsible for implementing the SEA Directive. These SEAs can range from policy to program levels and from international to local levels. The book is suitable for researchers and designers engaged in environmental assessment in research institutions, government agency management personnel for reference, and as a teaching text for senior undergraduate and graduate students in environmental science at universities. Riki Therivel and Levett-Therivel are both sustainability research specialists. Additionally, Riki Therivel is a visiting professor at the School of Planning at Oxford Brookes University and a co-author of Strategic Environmental Assessment in Practice (1996) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (1996).