EPA SEA 戰(zhàn)略環(huán)境評估

1、Strategic Environmental AssessmentSheena Wurthmann1Introductionwhat SEA is and why it is needed how it can be used as a planning tool how it links to sustainable development and project environmental impact assessment limitations of SEA where SEA is being used. 2What is SEAThere are many definitions

2、 of strategic environmental assessment (SEA). Sadler and Verheem (1996) call it: a systematic process for evaluating the environmental consequences of proposed policy, plan or programme initiatives in order to ensure they are fully included and appropriately addressed at the earliest appropriate sta

3、ge of decision making on par with economic and social considerations. Therivel et al. (1992) define it as: the formalised, systematic and comprehensive process of evaluating the environmental effects of a policy, plan or programme and its alternatives, including the preparation of a written report o

4、n the findings of that evaluation, and using the findings in publicly accountable decision-making. Perhaps the simplest definition of SEA is that it is the environmental impact assessment process applied to policies, plans and programmes, keeping in mind that the process of evaluating environmental

5、impacts at a strategic level is not necessarily the same as evaluating them at a project level. 3SEA is meant to be a continuous source of environmental information throughout all the stages of decision-making, as shown below. Note that the stages do not necessarily follows one another: for instance

6、, the identification of alternatives may show that other aspects of the environmental baseline need to be analysed. 4Stages in SEA567SEA processAs a very minimum, the SEA process involves: predicting the environmental impacts of a strategic action; and using those predictions in decision-making. If

7、those two basic criteria are not fulfilled, it is not an SEA. 8Strategic assessmentSeveral other terms are also used to refer to environmental assessment at the strategic level, including: policy environmental assessment; policy impact assessment; sectoral environmental assessment; and programmatic

8、environmental impact statement. The term SEA report refers to a report that describes the methods and findings of the SEA process. Preparation of an SEA report is part of most SEA processes. 9What is the aim of SEA? The main aim of SEA is to incorporate environmental/sustainability issues in strateg

9、ic decision-making. Secondary aims of SEA are to: improve the strategic action by making it clearer, more internally consistent etc; involve the public or its representatives in the decision-making process; and educate decision-makers about the environmental impacts of their decisions. 10PPPs and Ti

10、eringSEA normally applies to public sector (government) decisions. The (government) body that makes the decision is called the competent authority. SEAs can be produced by the competent authority, independent consultants, non-government organisations (NGOs), other government bodies or a combination

11、of these, but it is the competent autority that makes decisions on the strategic action. Although policies, plans and programmes (PPPs) are generally all described as strategic actions, they are not the same things, and may require different levels and types of analysis in SEA.1112PPPsHowever this t

12、erminology is not consistently used in practice: for instance a set of projects might be called a plan or guidance for action might be called a strategy. And no, it is NOT possible to get out of doing SEA by renaming a plan as a strategy! 13What is clear from the definitions is that some (higher-tie

13、r or strategic) decisions influence and set the context for other (lower-tier or more detailed) decisions. This is called tiering. Normally, policies set the context for plans, and plans in turn set the context for programmes and then projects. National-level PPPs often set the context for, in turn,

14、 regional and local-level PPPs.14Tiering15Outcomes of SEASEA can help to. 1. Identify areas that are environmentally robust and can cope with development; and areas that are environmentally sensitive and where development should be avoided. Typically this is done through overlay mapping, for example

15、 Baltic Sea 16Outcomes of SEASEA can help to. 1. Identify areas that are environmentally robust and can cope with development; and areas that are environmentally sensitive and where development should be avoided. Typically this is done through overlay mapping, for example Baltic Sea Drainage Basin l

16、ayers include population density, arable land, wetlands and land use.17Outcomes of SEA2. Identify alternatives to a strategic action that are more environmentally sound and/or more sustainable. An example based on the SEA of a UK local transport plan is:18Outcomes of SEA3. Identify a preferred alter

17、native or reject alternatives. Table compares 3 alternatives (A, B and C) using a range of sustainability criteria. A is clearly least sustainable. This was dropped from further consideration and the plan-making process then focussed on various combinations of alternatives B and C.19Comparison of Ev

18、aluation Alternatives20Outcomes of SEA4. Identify constraints/problems and suggestions of ways of dealing with themFor example, urban area X already had little open space (e.g. playing fields, parks). This was restricting peoples ability to get informal exercise, and biodiversity was declining. The

19、emerging land use plan was required to accommodate 20% more population within area X over 20 years. This would require more building which would exacerbate pressure on open space, and more people would be using the remaining open space. 21The SEA identified this problem. The planners suggested a ran

20、ge of innovative solutions to this problem: improved recreational provision at existing open spaces rooftop terraces on top of new and existing buildings use of the waterfront along adjacent River Y as recreational space increased use of River Y for boating, surfing etc. The SEA showed that existing

21、 open spaces and the waterfront could only accommodate a limited amount of additional use; that rooftop terraces were in the private realm and not publicly accessible; and that use of River Y for recreation required a financial outlay (rental or purchase of boat etc.) that many residents of X would

22、not be able to afford. The final plan also included requirements for new developments to be accompanied by provision of free, publicly accessible open space: 2.5 hectares for every 1000 new residents. 22Outcomes of SEA5. Identify mitigation measures to minimise or avoid negative impacts. For instanc

23、e, for a regional plan in an area where water abstraction already exceeds water supply, a mitigation could be: Require all new developments of 10 or more houses to be water neutral: total water use in the region after the development must be less than or equal to total water use in the region before

24、 the development. For developments of less than 10 houses, water efficiencies of 40% over existing levels must be achieved. For a local plan that could affect the habitat of a rare bat, a mitigation could be: Until more information exists on the foraging habits of the Barbastelle bats at Site Z is a

25、vailable, any development that could affect any trees, hedges or water bodies within 6km of the boundary of Site Z should require assessment to ensure that Barbastelle bat foraging grounds are not negatively affected. If more detailed information becomes available (e.g. if a bat foraging survey is c

26、arried out) then this could reduce the need for project level assessment. 23The examples above show some typically used SEA techniques: maps to describe the baseline environment, identify problems, and predict impacts matrices that test alternatives or sub-sections of the strategic action against en

27、vironmental/sustainability criteria use of red/amber/green (traffic light colours) to allow key impacts to be easily identified qualitative, +/-, expert judgement type of appraisal where detailed, quantitative assessment is not possible The last example also represents two typical SEA principles: Ti

28、ering. In this case, in the absence of full information at the plan level, project-level mitigation measures are used. The precautionary principle: where there is uncertainty about the impacts of a strategic action, one should assume that negative impacts will occur, and mitigate for them, unless/un

29、til one can show that these impacts are unlikely to occur. In this case, all trees and hedges are to be protected until studies show that some of them dont need to be. 24EIA of ProjectsSEA of policies, plans and programmesTakes place near the end of decision-making cycle: aims to minimise impacts Ta

30、kes place at earlier stages of decision-making cycle: aims to prevent impacts Reactive approach to development proposal Pro-active approach to development proposals Considers limited number of feasible alternatives Considers broad range of potential alternatives Limited review of cumulative effects

31、Cumulative effects assessment is key to SEA Emphasis on mitigating and minimizing impacts Emphasis on meeting environmental objectives, maintaining natural systems Narrow perspective, high level of detail Broad perspective, lower level of detail to provide a vision and overall framework Well-defined

32、 process, clear beginning and end Multi-stage process, overlapping components, policy level is continuing, iterative Focuses on standard agenda, treats systems of environmental deterioration Focuses on sustainability agenda, gets at sources of environmental deterioration 25SEA addresses the limitati

33、ons of project EIABecause EIA takes place once many strategic decisions have already been made, it can often address only a limited range of alternatives and mitigation measures: those of a wider nature are generally poorly integrated into project planning. Consultation in EIA is also limited and th

34、e contribution of EIA to the eventual decision regarding the project is unclear. 26Although project EIA is widely used and accepted as a useful tool in decision-making, it largely reacts to development proposals rather than proactively anticipating them: At this EIA stage, the prior questions of whe

35、ther, where and what type of development should take place are either decided or largely pre-empted by earlier policy making processes. Often, these decisions will have occurred with little or no environmental analysis. This foreclosure of the range of choice is partially countered by provisions to

36、addressing project justification and alternatives in EIA. In reality, however, prior policy, technological and locational options are not open to serious environmental reexamination; neither is project-by-project EIA an effective way of doing so. Far preferable is the use of SEA or an equivalent app

37、roach to incorporate environmental considerations and alternatives directly into policy, plan and programme design. (Sadler and Verheem 1996) 27Project EIAs are also generally limited to the projects direct impacts. This approach ignores a wide range of impacts, including: cumulative impacts: the en

38、vironmental impacts of multiple plans, projects and other actions; global impacts: impacts that go beyond the local, project level, for instance climate change; indirect, secondary or induced impacts: impacts that occur several steps away from the original action, for instance new houses that genera

39、te more vehicle movements that increase air pollution that affect the flora in an area; synergistic impacts: where impact A + impact B have a total impact of more than A+B: for instance NOx emissions and ozone emissions which together cause smog, which has impacts over and above those of just the NO

40、x + ozone. 28Need for SEA: promotion of sustainable development The second main reason for SEA is that it can enhance the integration of environmental concerns in policy and planning processes, thereby helping to implement sustainable development. It can help to ensure that environmental and sustain

41、ability criteria are fully considered throughout the planning process, for instance in the identification of suitable (or unsuitable) locations for development, and in the assessment of alternative strategic actions. 29SEA as currently practised reflects the Brundtland Commissions approach to sustai

42、nable development, which suggests that environmental protection and economic development can only progress hand in hand. Under this model, SEA is used to fine-tune strategic actions and mitigate their most negative environmental consequences. Cynically viewed, it allows decision-makers to enter the

43、heaven of environmental righteousness after having survived the purgatory of writing an SEA report. On the scale from light to dark green (where dark green would allow development only within ecological constraints), SEA as currently practised is near the light-green end, although it has the potenti

44、al to be dark green. 30As part of the development of a strategic action, SEA can: interpret and implement sustainability principles from policy to lower decision-making levels; help to ensure that environmental and sustainability considerations are incorporated into the objectives of a strategic act

45、ion; identify environmental and sustainability targets by which the effects of a strategic action can be tested; and appraise whether the impacts of a strategic action are likely to be in accordance with sustainability objectives. .31Ultimately, as a result of the influence of sustainability in stra

46、tegic decision-making, a wider framework of sustainability-led SEAs could include: commitment to the principle of sustainability; determination of carrying capacity; SEA of all relevant tiers of PPPs and their alternatives; EIA of specific projects within the constraints set by SEA; and monitoring a

47、nd iterative feedback to stages 2-4. 32SEA is in many ways a prototype of the new approach to environmental issues. It requires institutions to consider the consequences of a range of actions early on in the planning process, to choose the most appropriate action on environmental as well as socio-ec

48、onomic grounds, and to minimise any remaining environmental impacts. It is thus characterised by its strategic nature and its emphasis on preventing environmental damage. SEA requires institutional cooperation to collect data and to make consistent predictions. By requiring planning decisions to be

49、made in a more rational and open way, SEA is likely to promote both equity and public participation. 33Is SEA just a dressed-up EIA? The answer to that question is No. Integration of SEA into the PPP formulation process will not be achieved by attempting to translate existing project-based EIA legis

50、lation, procedures and format, upstream. New methodologies and procedural requirements, specifically for SEA, will be required. Particular efforts are needed to consider indirect, secondary and cumulative impacts which are not covered adequately at project-level EIA. The effects of strategic actions

51、 are often much more uncertain than those of projects, so SEA methods need to be able to cope with this uncertainty. The time frame for SEAs, the evolutionary nature of the formulation of strategic actions, and their synergies with other strategic actions, are also very different to site-specific pr

52、ojects, and need to be recognised in the development and adoption of SEA methods. However, some principles and concepts from project-based EIA are equally relevant in SEA: these include the consideration of the need for the strategic action, alternatives, means to ameliorate adverse impacts, involve

53、ment of a range of disciplines in the assessment process, and stakeholder participation. 34Arent we already carrying out SEA? The answer to this question is also No. With increasing awareness of environmental and sustainability issues at a policy level in government, and the development of Environme

54、ntal Management Systems (EMS) in government and industry, there is often at least some consideration of these matters within many decision-making processes. These may already constitute effective SEA or, more likely, represent elements of SEA. For example, the formulation of integrated catchment management plans, regional environmental plans, and urban conservation programmes may already include SEA-like methodologies, even though they may not be recognized as such. Environmental assessment practitioners develo