The principles of sustainable development play an integral role in making development assistance work at the level of policies, plans and programmes. In response to the Paris Declaration call to “… develop and apply common approaches for ‘Strategic Environmental Assessment’ at sector and national levels” among donors and partners, the Guidance on Applying Strategic Environmental Assessment was endorsed in 2006 by members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee, representatives of developing countries receiving aid, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Bank and many other agencies. Since then, a growing number of countries at all levels of development have legislation or regulations prescribing the application of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and many more are introducing it as part of their policy tools. This is creating unique opportunities for better policy making and planning by incorporating environmental considerations into high-level decision-making and opening new mechanisms to build consensus on development priorities within governments themselves and between governments and societies.
Many development co-operation agencies and their partners are already making good progress in applying SEA. This publication presents the nine most interesting case studies of SEA in progress, selected from a total 100. These nine cases highlight that SEA can: • Safeguard environmental assets for sustainable poverty reduction and development; • Build public engagement in decision making; • Prevent costly mistakes by alerting decision-makers to potentially unsustainable development options at an early stage in the decision-making process; • Speed up implementation of projects and programmes; • Facilitate co-operation around shared environmental resources and contribute to conflict prevention.
Table of contents:
Acronyms Executive summary Policy Statement on Strategic Environmental Assessment Introduction -The starting point: SEA Good Practice Guidance for Development Co-operation -Reviewing recent experiences Chapter 1.SEA in developing countries: Uptake and development -Increased uptake of SEA by developing countries -Why is SEA valued? -Bringing SEA to higher and more strategic decision-making levels -Examples of SEA practice in developing countries Chapter 2.Vietnam: Strategic Environmental Assessment on the Quang Nam Hydropower Plan -Context -Process of SEA -Results -Lessons learned Chapter 3.Bhutan: Strategic Environmental Assessment and environmental mainstreaming -Context -Process of SEA -Results -Lessons learned Chapter 4.Namibia: Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Millennium Challenge Programme -Context -Process of SEA -Results -Lessons learned Chapter 5.Mauritius: Strategic Environmental Assessment on the sugar cane sector -Context -Process of SEA -Results -Lessons learned Chapter 6.Benin: Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Poverty Reduction Strategy -Context -Process of SEA -Results -Lessons learned Chapter 7.Ghana: Strategic Environmental Assessment and its evolution -Context -Process of SEA -Results -Lessons learned Chapter 8. Sierra Leone: Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment of the mining sector -Context -Process of SEA -Results -Lessons learned Chapter 9. Honduras: Strategic Environmental Assessment on Municipal Development Plans -Context -Process of SEA -Results -Lessons learned Chapter 10.Montenegro: Strategic Environmental Assessment on the National Spatial Plan -Context -Process of SEA -Results -Lessons learned Conclusion -What this review did -Did SEA make a difference? -Key findings -Policy recommendations for development agencies -Where next Bibliography Annex A. Capacity development for Strategic Environmental Assessment -Introduction -Capacity development for SEA: A Dutch approach -Lessons learned -Capacity development for SEA: A German approach -Key lessons of capacity development for SEA -Priority actions needed to improve SEA capacity
