Strategic Environmental Assessment Practice

Limitation of project environmental impact assessment (EIA) and demand for sustainable development are the main reasons of developing strategic environmental assessment (SEA). Based on the review of SEA study/ application and the practice of regional environmental impact assessment and environmental planning,the system and procedure of SEA were put forward and applied to the practice of General Harbor Planning in Xiamen Bay. The first step is to make Environment-Protection-Conceptual framework as prerequisite and foundation of the General Harbor Planning as per environment & resource status and relative environmental regulation. Then environmental-status assessment and public involvement was conducted and submitted to the planner during the planning. At last,the environmental impact of the preliminary results of Harbor Planning was assessed,and measures and alternatives about environmental protection were provided. This practice of SEA intervened the Harbor Planning at the beginning,and completely integrated with establishment and development of the planning. So it authentically reacted on assisting planning establishment. Meanwhile,it assessed the accumulative impact and sustainability of the Planning from the regional level,and radically solved the limitation of EIA. Through this practice of SEA,the relationship between SEA and traditional EIA was discovered,i.e.,SEA simplifies and strengthens EIA,and SEA would rather widen and complement EIA system than replace EIA,so as to promote sustainable development. In the end,the thesis analyzed the key issues that should be solved for developing SEA in China,Which are establishing cogent law guarantee system of SEA,working/ auditing institution that would facilitate SEA to be organized and implemented,and procedure & methodology of SEA that was similar to EIA guidelines.