ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF HONG KONG

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WORLD TRENDS OF STRATEGIC ENVIONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
By ELVIS AU
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF HONG KONG ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION DEPARTMENT FORMER PRESENT OF
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR IMPACT ASSESSMENT
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Outline of Presentation

• World trends in the past 10 years
• Latest status of implementation of the European
  Unions Directive on Strategic Environmental
  Assessment
• Summary of Major Issues and Prospects.

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Hierarchy of Proposal and Assessment
Strategic Environmental Assessment
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Major SEA Developments and Achievements in the
Past Decade

• Increasing provision and take-up of SEA by
  countries and international organization
• Continued diversification of SEA approaches and
  applications
• New supra-national (EU SEA Directive) and
  multilateral (Espoo SEA protocol) legal
  frameworks that define minimum procedural
  requirements.

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NETHERLAND
CANADA
UK
EASTERN EUROPE
MAINLAND EUROPE
USA
KOREA
CHINA
JAPAN
AFRICA
SOUTH AMERICA
AUSTRIA
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• National Environmental Policy Act 1969, U.S.
• .. Proposals for legislation and other major
  Federal Actions significantly affecting the
  quality of the human environment..

USA
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CANADA

• 1992 Cabinets Directive on Assessment of
  Environmental Effects on Policies and Plans

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NETHERLAND

• EIA of Spatial Plans
• 1995 Cabinets Directive on Environmental Test
  (E-test) of Polices and Legislation.

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EUROPE

• EU Directive 2001/42/EC on the Assessment of the
  Effects of Certain Plans and Programmes on the
  Environment

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CHINA

• 2003 PRC EIA Law covering landuse and sectoral
  plans

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• 2000 Basic Environment Plan to consider the
  framework for environmental considerations in
  decision-making in polices and plans
• 2003 SEA Tentative Guidelines

JAPAN
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Statues of the Implementation of EU SEA Directive

• Status of Implementation
• By autumn 2004
• 9 Member States had implemented the Directive
  more or less completely
• Complete silence from
• Greece
• Spain
• Luxemburg
• Italy some time in 2006

EUROPE
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Tiering of Policy, Plan, Programme and Project
Environmental Assessment
Source Adapted from Lee and Wood (1978)
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US National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

• NEPA major federal actions significantly
  affecting quality of the human environment
  (section 102 2c)
• Council on Environmental Quality Regulations
  Major Federal Actions to include projects,
  programmes, rules, regulations, plans, policies,
  procedures or legislative proposals
• Not called SEA but EIS for policies, plans and
  programmes
• e.g. California several hundred SEAs undertaken
  for various plans and programmes.

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The European SEA Directive
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New Directive to Improve Public Participation in
EIA
Brussels, 20 July 2004 European citizens will
from now on be able to have more influence on
decisions which will affect their environment.
From tomorrow, 21 July 2004, the environmental
effects of a wide range of public plans and
programmes must be assessed under better and more
open planning procedures. These measures are set
out in a new European law, the Directive on
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), which
must be implemented by all Member States
tomorrow. Local waste management plans or road
building plans for regions are examples that come
under the SEA directive. It will also apply to
land use, agriculture, water management, tourism,
industry and energy. When drawing up relevant
plans or programmes public authorities will have
to make an environmental report to identify,
describe and assess their likely effects on the
environment. Amongst the effects to be covered
are those on biodiversity, fauna and flora, soil
and water, climatic factors, landscape and on
human health. The SEA Directive enables everybody
to express their opinion on the environmental
report and on the draft plan or programme. Both
the environmental report and the outcome of the
public consultation must be taken into account
when the plans are decided upon.
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New Directive to Improve Public Participation in
EIA
(Continued) Brussels, 20 July 2004 The
Directive on Strategic Environmental Assessment
is a major step towards sustainable development
and deepened democracy. Planners of all kinds
must take it to heart and apply it consistently.
European citizens should be encouraged to get
more involved in the discussions and decisions
that are vital for their well-being and the
future of the environment they live in. However,
the benefits of the new law will only be achieved
if all Member States implement it. Up to now only
nine Member states have done so, and I therefore
ask the others to do their homework and transpose
the Directive into national law.
Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström
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Key Features of European SEA Directive

• Does not mention SEA by name
• Requires SEA for all land use plans establishing
  framework for future development consent of EIA
  directive projects (Article 3 2a)
• Covers SEA for plans requiring assessment under
  Habitats Directive (Article 32b)

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Key Features of European SEA Directive

• Excludes minor modifications to existing plans
  and small area plans not having significant
  environmental effects (Article 33)
• Recognizes the concept of tiering members states
  must take into account the fact that the
  assessment will be carried out at different
  levels of the hierarchy (Article 43)
• Establishes a scoping stage that requires
  authorities undertaking SEA to consult
  appropriate bodies on scope and detail of
  assessment (Article 54)

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Key Features of European SEA Directive

• Necessitates the consideration of alternatives
  an environmental report shall be prepared in
  which the likely significant effects on the
  environment of implementing the plan and
  reasonable alternatives are identified,
  described and evaluated (Article 51)
• Requires consultation and public participation
  the draft plan and the environmental report
  shall be available to the authorities and the
  public (Article 61)

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Key Features of European SEA Directive

• Encourages the consideration of cumulative,
  synergistic and secondary impacts (Annex II14)
• Requires an environmental report to be taken
  into account during the preparation of the plan
  and before its adoption or submission to the
  legislative procedure (Article 8)

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Key Features of European SEA Directive

• Demands a statement summarizing how
  environmental considerations have been integrated
  into the plan and how the environmental report
  and the results of consultations have been taken
  into account (Article 91)
• Incorporates transboundary consultation (Article
  7)
• Forces member states to monitor the significant
  environmental effects of the implementation of
  plans in order to identify unforeseen
  adverse effects, and to be able to undertake
  appropriate remedial action (Article 10I)
• Requires member states to ensure environmental
  reports are of sufficient quality (Article
  122).

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England, Wales, Scotland

• Separate regulations and guidance, but similar
  issues
• Previous sustainability appraisal system
• Major ongoing changes to planning system
• Scotland ongoing 2005 Environmental Assessment
  (Scotland) Bill for SEA.

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Unitary Development Plan (UDP) Oldham
Glasgow
Oldham
Liverpool
Birmingham
London
Great Britain
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Denmark

• Administrative Order No. 31 of 26 February 1993
  issued by the Danish Prime Ministers Office SEA
  of bills and other government proposals (i.e.
  200-250 bills per year)
• The Act No. 316 of 05/05/2004 standalone SEA
  legislation covering only plans and programmes
• Plans/Programmes covered regional plans
  municipal plans, municipal planning strategy,
  local plans Local Agenda 21, waste plans, water
  plans
• Up to now, 15 regional plans 25 local plans
  assessed.

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What was done in Germany Functional road
connections within hierarchical spatial and
transport structures (decentralised
concentration / polycentric spatial structure)
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Generic Stages of the SEA Process
Generic SEA Stage Key Considerations
Apply a screening process Examine aims and objectives of plans and its overall purpose. Consider whether plan likely to have significant environmental effects. If so, SEA required.
Apply a scoping process Consider whether plan meets requirements of relevant policies, environmental protection objectives, international targets, etc. Based on objectives of plan, identify key environmental issues central to particular plan being assessed.
Select SEA objectives/ criteria Develop series of SEA objectives/criteria against which performance of plan will be predicted. Targets and indicators based on these criteria can be used as basis of a strategy to monitor implementation of plan.
Consideration of alternatives Identify costs, benefits and environmental impacts of other realistic alternatives to meeting plans objectives. Choice between alternatives ultimately a political decision.
Collect baseline environmental data Target data gathering effort on issues identified during scoping. (These may change in light to new information obtained.) Provides platform to examine predicted impacts against anticipated changes in future environment without plan.
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Generic Stages of the SEA Process (continued)
Generic SEA Stage Key Considerations
Undertake impact prediction Using SEA objectives and criteria as a guide, identify impacts of plan policies. Predictions should be made using baseline environmental data where available. Where possible, focus on cumulative, synergistic, secondary and long-term impacts to increase comprehensiveness. Involves subjective and objective assessment.
Undertake impact evaluation Consider acceptability of plan and alternatives, looking at significance of predicted environmental impacts.
Develop a mitigation strategy Not explicit stage, as mitigation should be considered throughout SEA process, enabling continual refinement of plan. Nevertheless, residual impacts of chosen alternative must be addressed.
Develop a monitoring strategy Relate monitoring strategy back to environmental targets and indicators identified during scoping. Consider whether plan is achieving its objectives and if mitigation measures are working effectively. Amendments to plan may result.
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(No Transcript)
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Potential Benefits of SEA

• Encourages the consideration of environmental
  objectives during policy, plan and
  programme-making activities within
  non-environmental organizations
• Facilities consultations between authorities on,
  and enhances public involvement in, evaluation of
  environmental aspects of policy, plan and
  programme formulation
• May leave examination of certain impacts to
  protect EIA
• Allows formulation of standard or generic
  mitigation measures for later projects
• Encourages consideration of alternatives often
  ignored or not feasible in project EIA

Source Wood and Djeddour (1992, p7)
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Potential Benefits of SEA (continued)

• Can help determine appropriate sites for projects
  subsequently subject to EIA
• Allows more effective analysis of cumulative
  effects of both large and small projects
• Encourages and facilitates the consideration of
  synergistic effects
• Allows more effective consideration of ancillary
  and secondary effects and activities
• Facilitates consideration of long-range and
  delayed impacts and
• Allows analysis of the impacts of policies that
  may not be implemented through projects.

Source Wood and Djeddour (1992, p7)
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SEA Issues and Challenges for the Next Decade

• Overcoming ad hoc and inconsistent implementation
  of SEA procedure
• Strengthening the quality and effectiveness of
  SEA practice
• Improving SEA follow up and policy and plan
  monitoring.

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Four Key Challenges for SEA in the World

• Institutional mechanisms and linkages
• Methodological Linkages and Integration
  environmental tools versus economic/planning
  tools
• Stakeholder Linkages diverse interests versus
  common policy objects/values
• Generation and management of win-win outcomes or
  policy/plan options.

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Seven Steps Towards More Meaningful SEA
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Seven Steps Towards More Meaningful SEA
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What do the world SEA trends mean for you ?

1. Its now a norm in plan-making the right thing
   to do
2. Call for major re-training of all planners and
   engineers in all sectors
3. Better get on board earlier rather than later

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Thank You
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Generic Stages of the SEA Process (continued)
Generic SEA Stage Key Considerations
Prepare a report A public available SEA report should be prepared to document main findings of SEA. This should include a non technical summary.
Instigate a review mechanism Consider whether information provided by SEA and included in the SEA report is sufficient for decision making. In order to maintain objectivity, some form of independent review necessary.
Consultation and public participation Not separate stage, as relevant authorities and public should be involved at various stages during SEA. External involvement important at early SEA stages (scoping and selection of objectives/criteria), and prior to plan adoption but after impact evaluation.
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What is the Right Context for SEA to be Effective
?

• Be adaptive to cultural, political and social
  circumstances
• Need to consider different types of context that
  define different roles for SEA
• Need a responsive decision-making environment
• Need a right regulatory context
• Need public participation and engagement.

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Seven Habits of Highly Effective Impact
Assessors/ Reviewers
Habit 1 Be Proactive Habit 2 Begin with the
End in Mind Habit 3 Put First Things
First Habit 4 Think Win-Win Habit 5 Seek
First to Understand, Then to be Understood Habit
6 Synergize Habit 7 Sharpen the Saw
Source 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by
Stephen Covey