In urbanising regions, urban sprawl and infrastructure cause profound alterations of natural habitats. Initial decisions on urban expansion and major infrastructure investments are often made on a strategic level where the long-term development of a region is determined. For these types of...

Advancing cumulative effects assessments (CEA) to the regional scale, spatially and strategically, has been well argued but slow to evolve. Part of the problem is that "regional" CEA is a flexible concept, varying considerably in form and function from the project to the more strategic levels....

This paper provides an overview of the way biodiversity issues are dealt with in strategic environmental assessment (SEA) for spatial plans in the Netherlands. Spatial plans are selected as subject of study because 50 percent of all SEA studies executed in the Netherlands are carried out for...

This paper examines the contribution of SEA in six international electricity sector planning case studies. All cases showed some "best practice" evidence such as participation, alternatives consideration and impact assessment; however, considerable variability was found in the types of...

This article explores the Canadian province of Ontario's approach to environmental assessment and SEA to electricity issues, its efforts to adapt these processes to facilitate the rapid development of renewable energy sources, and the potential contributions that an SEA approach might have made...

Emergency plans are exempt from undergoing Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). However, the measures they include to minimise the effects of disasters can have environmental impacts. The study underlying this paper assessed UK emergency plans for their possible environmental impacts,...

The impact of flood events in the UK has drawn attention to limitations associated with traditional flood defence regimes. In recognition of this there has been a significant level of advocacy for a systems based approach which assumes a greater role for spatial planning. This paper considers...

In a context of unregulated practice, strategic environmental assessment (SEA) contribution to environmentally sound decision-making may be difficult to gauge. Recent Brazilian experience, where there is no legal requirement for SEA, was studied by reviewing cases selected by considering...

Sustainable urban development has been widely recognized as requiring energy and transport efficient urban growth, while ecological issues are often not well integrated in sustainability assessments and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). In order to achieve such integration, methods and...

In order to support Strategic Environmental Assessment of spatial plans, different scenarios were developed for the future configuration of wetlands along the coast of La Araucanía Region for 2020. To assess each scenario, landscape metrics related to landscape dynamics and structure were used....