Review of Strategic Environmental Assessments in EC Development Cooperation

The European Commission (EC) has committed to promote the application of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) as a key tool to address environmental sustainability concerns in relation to planned support for Policies, Programmes and large Plans (PPPs), and to link these concerns with economic and social considerations. Strategic Environmental Assessment is a range of analytical and participatory processes for evaluating the environmental consequences (both positive and negative) of proposed Policy, Plan or Programme (PPPs) initiatives in order to ensure that they are appropriately addressed at the earliest stage of decision-making alongside social and economic considerations.