PRINCIPLES FOR THE USE OF STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AS A TOOL FOR PROMOTING THE CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE USE OF BIODIVERSITY

2005 ◽  
Vol 07 (02) ◽  
pp. 173-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
JO TREWEEK ◽  
RIKI THERIVEL ◽  
STEWART THOMPSON ◽  
MARTIN SLATER
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Strategic Environmental Assessment ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Migratory Species ◽  
Ramsar Convention ◽  
Project Level

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) has been identified as an important tool for helping to ensure that development is planned and implemented for the benefit of biodiversity by the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Ramsar Convention and the Convention for Migratory Species. SEA is seen as a way to overcome many limitations of project-level environmental impact assessment by allowing consideration of biodiversity at higher tiers of decision-making and planning. This paper identifies some important principles that should be taken into account to ensure that biodiversity considerations are appropriately addressed in SEA, so that the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity are pursued as fundamental objectives of strategic decision-making. The paper also sets out key considerations to take into account at different stages in the SEA process. The principles explored in this paper should be applicable in any country where SEA is practiced, even though legislation, methodologies and procedures vary widely.

scholarly journals Global taxonomy initiative: Building capacity in taxonomy to underpin the conservation of biological diversity

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Junko Shimura ◽  
Kaduo Hiraki
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Building Capacity ◽  
The World ◽  
Equitable Sharing ◽  
United Nations Convention

The Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI) is across cutting issue of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to address the lack of taxonomic information and expertise available in many parts of the world, and thereby to improve decision making in conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of the benefits derived from genetic resources.

scholarly journals COMPARING LEGISLATIVE MECHANISMS FOR SEA SCREENING AND DECISION-MAKING: AUSTRIAN AND AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCES

2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (04) ◽  
pp. 399-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
GERNOT STOEGLEHNER ◽  
ANGUS MORRISON-SAUNDERS ◽  
GERARD EARLY
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Final Stage ◽  
Initial Phase ◽  
Competent Authority ◽  
Regulatory Framework ◽  
Strategic Environmental Assessment ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Project Level

Austrian and Australian approaches to strategic environmental assessment (SEA) are compared with particular emphasis upon the legal basis for the initial phase of agreement/screening and the final stage of SEA decision-making and implementation. In Austrian SEA, screening is compulsory and the outcome leads only to recommendations, meaning that the SEA results have to be considered, but are not binding for the approval decision. In Australia engagement in SEA is largely voluntary but the process results in legally binding conditions of approval that can be applied to relevant actions arising from an assessed policy, plan or programme; the incentive for proponents to participate voluntarily is that subsequent project level activities may be exempt from further assessment processes. Compulsory SEA in Australia also provides a legally certain outcome, a factor of benefit to proponents. Examples of SEAs are provided to demonstrate the operation of the respective stages in the two countries. In Austria compulsory screening results in a lot of energy being spent avoiding triggering a full SEA. Although Australian proponents have been somewhat cautious in volunteering for SEA of their activities, there are signs that this is changing. We argue that the regulatory framework characteristics are a key determinant of the behaviour of proponents and the competent authority in practice and subsequently of SEA potential and outcomes. Consideration of the construct of the regulatory framework for SEA screening and decision-making provides a useful point of reflection for practitioners attempting to understand the effectiveness of SEA processes in a given jurisdiction.

BIODIVERSITY IN SEA FOR SPATIAL PLANS — EXPERIENCES FROM THE NETHERLANDS

2005 ◽  
Vol 07 (02) ◽  
pp. 267-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
AREND KOLHOFF ◽  
ROEL SLOOTWEG
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Strategic Environmental Assessment ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
International Guidelines ◽  
Spatial Plan ◽  
The Way ◽  
Multiple Interventions

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 spatial plans. Secondly, these plans provide an overarching framework for multiple interventions with potential impacts on biodiversity. It is, therefore, important to pay particular attention to biodiversity at the strategic level of a spatial plan. The evaluation is based on five spatial plans that have been subject to SEA, two national plans, two provincial plans and one local plan. Based on these assessments a number of conclusions are presented on the assessment of biodiversity in SEA for spatial plans in the Netherlands. The evaluation of case studies on which this paper is based was undertaken to produce a submission to the Convention on Biological Diversity for the drafting of international guidelines on biodiversity in SEA.

scholarly journals BETWEEN POLICY-MAKING AND PLANNING

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (03) ◽  
pp. 319-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
IVAR LYHNE
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
Strategic Environmental Assessment ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Public Consultation ◽  
Strategic Decision Making ◽  
Decision Making Processes

This article deals with the challenge of approaching decision-making processes through strategic environmental assessment (SEA). It is argued that the interaction between policy-making and planning in strategic decision-making processes is a neglected reason for problems with applying SEA, as legislation and guidance on SEA primarily approach either the policy or plan level. To substantiate the argument, the extent of interaction is empirically investigated. Four contemporary decision-making processes in the Danish energy sector are mapped as a series of choices. Fundamental changes with considerable environmental impacts are decided these years, often without preceding SEA processes. The mapping shows a profound interaction between policy-making and planning. In this interaction, public consultation, systematic environmental analyses, and transparency on alternatives are primarily related to choices of planning character. The findings lead to a discussion of the existing SEA guidance that is challenged in terms of adequacy of the guidance to approach the interaction.

DECISION MAKING AND STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

2001 ◽  
Vol 03 (03) ◽  
pp. 305-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
MÅNS NILSSON ◽  
HOLGER DALKMANN
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Strategic Environmental Assessment ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Strategic Decision Making ◽  
Departure Point ◽  
The Real ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Decision Making Processes

Strategic Environmental Assessment aims to incorporate environmental and sustainability considerations into strategic decision making processes, such as the formulation of policies, plans and programmes. In order to be effective, the assessment must take the real decision making process as the departure point. Existing SEA approaches are frequently tailored after an EIA model conceived from a rational perspective on decision making. However, there are good reasons to assume that most strategic decision making processes are characterised by a bounded rationality. Furthermore, the predictability of environmental consequences generally becomes weaker at strategic levels than at the project level and complexity increases in terms of the numbers of actors involved in the decision. This paper examines various theoretical perspectives to decision making and discusses the implications for decision support in general and SEA in particular. The authors argue that the design of the SEA must be more sensitive to the real characteristics of the decision making context.

Integrating Environment into Development Strategy of Tianjin Binhai New Area through Strategic Environmental Assessment

2012 ◽  
Vol 178-181 ◽  
pp. 820-824
Author(s):  
Li Li Tian ◽  
Ya Fei Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Strategic Environmental Assessment ◽  
Atmospheric Environment ◽  
Land Resource ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Offshore Area ◽  
Tianjin Binhai New Area

Some strategic environmental assessment (SEA) pilot cases in China strive to integrate environmental issues into the planning from the beginning. One of them is the SEA for development strategy of Tianjin Binhai New Area. The SEA adopted an interactive assessment mode with the decision-making process and predicted the environmental impacts of the development strategy on land resource, water resource, energy, surface water, atmospheric environment, and ecosystem of land area and offshore area. The future development strategy of circular economy and low-carbon economy in Tianjin Binhai New Area was also analyzed. Finally, experience from the SEA case was discussed. The case study shows that support from non-environmental agencies, early integration of SEA process and planning process, interactive assessment mode, and sensible environmental protection strategy facilitate the integration of environment into decision-making.

Justice and the Convention on Biological Diversity

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doris Schroeder ◽  
Thomas Pogge
Keyword(s):  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
International Economic Order ◽  
Social Utility ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Social Rules ◽  
Biological Resources ◽  
Thomas Pogge

Justice and the Convention on Biological DiversityDoris Schroeder and Thomas PoggeBenefit sharing as envisaged by the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a relatively new idea in international law. Within the context of non-human biological resources, it aims to guarantee the conservation of biodiversity and its sustainable use by ensuring that its custodians are adequately rewarded for its preservation.Prior to the adoption of the CBD, access to biological resources was frequently regarded as a free-for-all. Bioprospectors were able to take resources out of their natural habitat and develop commercial products without sharing benefits with states or local communities. This paper asks how CBD-style benefit-sharing fits into debates of justice. It is argued that the CBD is an example of a set of social rules designed to increase social utility. It is also argued that a common heritage of humankind principle with inbuilt benefit-sharing mechanisms would be preferable to assigning bureaucratic property rights to non-human biological resources. However, as long as the international economic order is characterized by serious distributive injustices, as reflected in the enormous poverty-related death toll in developing countries, any morally acceptable means toward redressing the balance in favor of the disadvantaged has to be welcomed. By legislating for a system of justice-in-exchange covering nonhuman biological resources in preference to a free-for-all situation, the CBD provides a small step forward in redressing the distributive justice balance. It therefore presents just legislation sensitive to the international relations context in the 21st century.

Convention on Biological Diversity: Towards a sustainable future

Social Change ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 173-191
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
United Nations Environment Programme ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Biological Resources ◽  
Transfer Benefit ◽  
Global Agreement

In an era of a rapidly shrinking biological resources, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a historic landmark, being the first global agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. The CBD is one of the few international agreements in the area of natural resource conservation in which sustainability and equitable benefit-sharing are central concerns. The CBD links traditional conservation efforts to the economic goal of using biological resources sustainably and sets forth principles for the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources, notably those destined for commercial use. Importantly, the CBD also gives traditional knowledge its due place in the sustainable use of genetic resources. The CBD also covers the rapidly expanding field of biotechnology, addressing technology development and transfer, benefit-sharing and biosafety, in an equitable framework. In the coming years, the CBD is likely to have major repercussions on the way biodiversity is conserved and benefits thereof, shared between the developing and developed worlds. The following commentary on the CBD has drawn heavily from a document produced by Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, at the United Nations Environment Programme. Articles 1 to 21 of the CBD have also been reproduced here in order to disseminate knowledge regarding the principles of the CBD-Editor.

scholarly journals Bridging fisheries management and biodiversity conservation norms: potential and challenges of balancing harvest in ecosystem-based frameworks

2015 ◽  
Vol 73 (6) ◽  
pp. 1659-1667 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Garcia ◽  
J. Rice ◽  
A. Charles
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Fisheries Management ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Population Level ◽  
System Level ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Size Spectrum ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Management Decision Making

Abstract Balanced harvesting has been proposed as a way for fisheries management to achieve the requirements of both the Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC)—to maintain stocks at the level at which they could produce MSY—and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)—to maintain ecosystem structure and functioning. This paper examines these requirements and briefly presents four system-level relationships (spectra), representing ecosystem structures that might guide management decision-making aiming to meet both requirements. These spectra would fit in the widely accepted frameworks of the Ecosystem Approach enshrined in the CBD and adopted by FAO for Fisheries. A size spectrum, relating biomass to body length, is used as an example to illustrate its potential to support management decision-making—much like present stock-based harvest control rules—in more ecosystem-compliant fishing strategies at a sector or ecosystem level, as a complement to those currently used at a stock/population level.

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