Strategic environmental assessment is common sense

Philippa Burmeister, Principal Environmental Scientist

 

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) refers to a systematic assessment of the environmental implications of policies, plans or programs. Determining the impact policy decisions or alternatives, would seem common sense. 

 

SRK has conducted several SEAs at policy and planning levels. Each of the SEAs have been designed specifically to meet the client’s needs. Simply put, SEAs can be customised to most efficiently answer the key question being asked by the client. It is this outcome that makes SEA so effective. 

 

There is an unfortunate preconception that SEAs are lengthy and expensive. However, SEA can be designed to respond to a specific need and can be undertaken at any level of detail as dictated by the required outcome. 

 

It is also important to understand that in environmental planning there is a two-way impact. A policy or plan may have an impact on the environment, but the environment is just as likely to have an impact on the effectual implementation of a policy or plan. The latter is more likely to be a fatal flaw given that many impacts to the environment can be mitigated by selecting appropriate alternatives. Impacts of the environment, such as flooding, resource availability and topography, however, are less easily mitigated. It is therefore critical that policies and plans take into account not just the impacts on the environment but the impacts of the environment on them. 

 

Understanding the environmental implications of policies, plans or programs will allow them to be adapted so that they are robust, sustainable and achievable. It will also prevent resources being spent on detailed planning only to discover a plan was flawed from the outset. SEA could be described as an early-warning tool that can assist in identifying the preferred alternative from an environmental or social perspective. It will protect against reputational risk and identify risks that may undermine the successful implementation of a policy, plan or program. 

 

Philippa Burmeister: pburmeister@srk.co.za