SEA

Strategic Environmental Assessment

SEA is a range of analytical and participatory approaches that aim to integrate environmental considerations into policies, plans and programmes and evaluate the interlinkages with economic and social considerations. More specifically, SEA is a tool to:

  • structure public and government debate in the preparation of policies, plans and programmes;
  • feed this debate through a robust assessment of the environmental, social and economic consequences;
  • ensure that the results of assessment and debate are taken into account during decision making and implementation.

The applicability of SEA is extensive. It aims at better strategies, ranging from legislation and country-wide development policies to more specific sector and spatial plans. SEA is widely applied in different shapes and forms, in countries as diverse as Canada, Nepal, Mozambique and Bolivia.