Sustainability principles in strategic environmental assessment: A framework for analysis and examples from Italian urban planning

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 116-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Lamorgese ◽  
Davide Geneletti
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Strategic Environmental Assessment ◽  
Sustainability Principles

scholarly journals The Potential of Strategic Environmental Assessment to Improve Urban Planning in Sierra Leone

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (18) ◽  
pp. 9454
Author(s):  
Prince T. Mabey ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Abu J. Sundufu ◽  
Akhtar H. Lashari
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Strategic Environmental Assessment ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Development Framework

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is a proactive and collaborative method for environmental management designed to integrate environmental considerations into decision-making; and it is good for Sierra Leone. To understand whether SEA would be useful in the context of Sierra Leone, the authors interviewed 64 out of 78 experts face to face from March to July 2019. In addition, government policies and regulatory documents on environmental management and sustainable development, published articles served as secondary sources of data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. These Sierra Leonean experts agreed that SEA would be useful for integration and achievement of improved sustainable urban planning strategies. However, the barriers identified to integrating SEA include: not addressing environmental issues during the preparation of policies and programs, insufficient political will, the absence of clear objectives, targets, principles and approaches, overlapping mandates among environmental institutions, and inadequate institutional coordination and non-integrated development framework as barriers to integrating SEA into their work. The study shows that SEA has the potential to have a positive impact on environmental concerns in decision-making, but it would need to be supported by stronger political will, legal frameworks, and improved technical guidance from the policy perspective. Moreover, we propose a conceptual framework for the inclusion of SEA into the urban planning process in Sierra Leone.

STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AS A MEANS OF PURSUING SUSTAINABILITY: TEN ADVANTAGES AND TEN CHALLENGES

2001 ◽  
Vol 03 (03) ◽  
pp. 343-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
KIRK STINCHCOMBE ◽  
ROBERT B. GIBSON
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Strategic Environmental Assessment ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
Proper Role ◽  
Strategic Assessment ◽  
Programme Development ◽  
Sustainability Principles ◽  
Project Level

While strategic environmental assessment can be a powerful tool for fostering progress towards sustainability, effective implementation involves confronting a set of substantial challenges. This paper, based on Canadian and international literature and experience, outlines the ten most compelling advantages of strategic environmental assessment for sustainability and the ten main challenges faced in implementation. The ten advantages of the strategic environmental assessment for sustainability are that it • provides a process for integrated pursuit of sustainability objectives in policy making and planning; • operationalises sustainability principles; • improves the information base for policy making, planning and programme development; • is proactive and broad in ways that strengthen consideration of fundamental issues; • improves analysis of broad public purposes and alternatives; • facilitates proper attention to cumulative effects; • facilitates greater transparency and more effective public participation at the strategic level; • provides a framework for more effective and efficient project-level assessments; • provides a base for design and implementation of better projects where project-level assessment is not required; and • facilitates establishment of a more comprehensive overall system of sustainability application at all levels from the setting of decision objectives to the monitoring of implementations effects. The ten main challenges for effective implementation are • limited information and unavoidable uncertainties; • boundary-setting complexities; • primitive methodologies; • difficulties in defining the proper role of public participants and ensuring effective involvement; • co-ordination and integration of strategic assessment with assessment processes at other levels; • institutional resistance; • conflict between integrated assessment and bureaucratic fragmentation; • jurisdictional overlap; • limitations of the standard rational planning and policy making model; and • resistance to integration of strategic assessment in core decision making. The paper concludes with a discussion of the major implications.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document