A Governance Approach to Strategic Environmental Assessment

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has long been recognized as an essential instrument of Impact Assessment (IA) with the capacity to add value to decisions and facilitate the integration of environmental and... [ view full abstract ]

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has long been recognized as an essential instrument of Impact Assessment (IA) with the capacity to add value to decisions and facilitate the integration of environmental and sustainability concerns in development processes. Despite this recognition, debates about the purpose of SEA and its role as a political support instrument continue, mostly because SEA intended capacity to influence decision-making is proven to be insufficient. Throughout the years there has been an evolution in the conceptualisation of SEA, with an incorporation of aspects strongly linked to governance. This fact motivated the interest of a PhD investigation in exploring the relationship between SEA and the governance dimension (in its explicit and implicit forms). The objective of the research has been to understand what can be the role of governance in enhancing SEA towards sustainability. In the context of SEA, governance can be understood as a strategic dimension of analysis that contributes to pursue SEA intended purposes. The research argues that SEA need to adopt a governance lens if it intends to work in contexts of sustainable development processes characterised by a high sense of uncertainty, complexity and presence of multiple actors with mixed views and behaviours. Supported by a literature review, questionnaires application, document analysis and expert reviews, results are drawn in showing the relationship between SEA and governance. From a theoretical perspective, it was seen that SEA is following evolutionary paths that find similarities in the governance research, currently focusing on the pluralistic nature of development processes. Also, practitioners currently emphasise the need for democratic practices in SEA processes anchored in issues of participation, accountability or transparency. Moreover, it was also possible to realise that current institutionalisations of SEA are facing constraints of a more normative and cognitive nature than a structural one, suggesting a capacity gap in the ability of SEA to perform and reach intended aims. Through the development of an SEA case with a governance-inclusive perspective it was possible to consider a governance dimension in SEA and observe how it was able to help improve SEA capacity to stimulate sustainability-driven processes, also indicative of the importance of actors motivations and expectations to enhance SEA role in creating opportunities of change. The results of the research support the argument that to enhance SEA from a sustainability perspective SEA needs to be developed under a governance approach built upon principles of legitimacy, uncertainty, reflexivity, strategic thinking, power and learning, incorporated in a constructive and integrated way. The complexity of the issues involved, combined with current mentalities locked in old traditions of IA and lack of motivation for innovative forms of SEA, can potentially constraint the consideration of governance. It is thus essential to stimulate capacity-building and spaces of engagement throughout the SEA process to promote knowledge-brokerage and transformative learning.
Keywords: strategic environmental assessment; governance; governance approach; SEA capacity; sustainable outcomes