Energy and Environment

Strategic Environmental Assessment

Strategic environment assessment (SEA) is "a range of analytical and participatory approaches that aim to integrate environmental considerations into policies, plans and programmes and to evaluate the inter-linkages with economic and social considerations" (OECD, 2006). It is not a single, fixed and prescriptive approach but a family of approaches which use a variety of tools.

SEA plays a significant role in enhancing the integration of environmental concerns in policy and planning processes and facilitates the design of environmentally sustainable practices.

SEA Network and Guidance

UNDP hosts the SEA Network Website, which provides experts and practitioners with the opportunity to engage in dialogue and to further refine developments in Strategic Environmental Assessment processes. Visit the Network for links to SEA-related publications, websites, and events, including the OECD DAC Guidelines and Reference Series "Applying Strategic Environmental Assessment: Good Practice Guidance for Development Co-operation."

SEA and National Development Strategies

UNDP assists country partners in applying SEA to improve the quality of the process of National Development Strategies, including Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS).

 

SEA Support

Africa

Tanzania: UNDP supports the Tanzania Government’s efforts to better integrate environmental issues into the PRS and policy making processes, including a study on SEA and its potential for use in Tanzania and linkages to the poverty reduction strategy process. Tanzania has been successful in integrating environmental issues in the second generation PRS, developing environmental indicators for the poverty monitoring system and promoting awareness and understanding of poverty environment linkages. Tanzania’s Guide and Action Plan to Mainstream Environment into the PRS Review addresses the integration of environment into policy and planning and the potential role of SEA.

Arab States

Lebanon: UNDP promotes capacity development for national policy makers and key stakeholders within the Ministry of Environment and other concerned ministries, and raises public awareness among the local community regarding key environmental issues. Some examples of projects being implemented in this field include: the Enhancement of the Permanent Awareness Unit at the Ministry of Environment (EPAUE); Technical Assistance to Reinforce Governance in Environmental Tasks (TARGET); National Capacity Self-Assessment (NCSA); and the Olive Oil Project. UNDP encourages the mainstreaming of environmental sound strategies within all ministries at the national level. The Strategic Environmental Assessment and Land Use Planning project, for example, aims to integrate environmental considerations into policies, programmes and plans at the national level. As part of the framework of the institutional strengthening and capacity development component of this project, UNDP Lebanon, in collaboration with the Lebanese Ministry of Environment and European Commission LIFE Third Countries Programme, has produced the SEA Training Manual. It provides step by step guidance on the implementation of SEA in Lebanon and is intended as a reference document for use by practitioners involved in public planning and decision making as well as private sector consultants outsourced to assist public administrations in this respect, and prospective trainers.

Asia and the Pacific

Iran: UNDP is part of a cost sharing initiative with the Iranian Department of Environment, "Sustainable Development Strategy and SEA: enabling activities and capacity building." The project aims to take Iran a step forward from Environmental Impact Assessments of individual projects towards the incorporation of sustainable development concerns and criteria in decision makings for policies, plans and programmes. A core group of professionals from various national stakeholders (ministries, NGOs, academics) has been established and trained in SEA to work on the following outputs: capacity building and training; needs assessment practices in selected sectors (energy, transportation, water); national regulatory framework for undertaking SEAs; SEA technical guidelines; facilitating stakeholders access to knowledge and experience on SEA; creating an enabling environment for cooperation among different parties within and outside of the Government towards achieving MDGs and ensuring sustainable development. Additional private sector funding has been mobilised to conduct on-the-ground SEA studies in the energy sector in one of Iran's provinces. For more information see the UNDP Iran News Update and EIA Iran.org.

Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States

UNDP/RBEC: The UNDP Regional Centre for Europe and CIS, together with the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC), and assistance from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) have implemented the regional project ‘SEA – Promotion and Capacity Building’, assisting the signatories of the UNECE SEA Protocol to the Espoo Convention in EECCA region – Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in their efforts to adopt the requirements and eventually ratify the SEA Protocol. The project was based on the experience from SEA application in the countries of the Central and Eastern Europe, described in the UNDP and REC bulletin Benefits of Strategic Environmental Assessment (also available in Russian). National SEA teams of the respective countries have implemented SEA capacity building activities, selected based on the results of national needs assessment reviews, endorsed by their environmental ministries during the national kick-off workshops. In two countries, the SEA pilot projects are being implemented: SEA of the Yerevan City Master Plan in Armenia, and SEA of the National Tourism Development Plan (2006-2010) in Belarus. Teams in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine have developed national manuals / resource kits to raise the awareness and knowledge on the SEA Protocol in the countries. Results and lessons learned from the project are summarized in the bulletin SEA Protocol – Initial Capacity Development in Selected Countries of the Former Soviet Union. UNDP/RBEC is currently making an effort to both continue in supporting the respective countries in the SEA Protocol implementation process, as well as to initiate SEA capacity development in other countries of the region.