• Home
• Proceedings
• Submissions
  • About Submissions
  • Update Your Abstract
  • Program Committee Only
• Program
  • Conference Themes
  • Final Program
  • First Announcment
  • Program Updates
• Training Courses
• Planning Your Stay
• Logout

Program

• Final Program [PDF]
• Sign up for updates

Training Courses

• Resilience Thinking and Sustainability Assessment
• SEA – Learning from Practice and Developing Approaches
• Innovative Uses of SEA Strategic Sustainability Approaches

Important Dates

• June 15 – Deadline for session proposals and paper/poster abstracts.
• June 30 – All notifications of acceptance status sent.
• July 15 - Presenting author registration deadline.
• August 15-30 - Final agenda prepared and posted.
• Registration is now open.

The program will:

• Review key trends, issues and lessons of progress in implementing the SEA Directive in the EU.
• Examine developments of other forms and types of SEA systems in Europe and internationally.
• Consider the role and potential of the SEA Protocol and other legal and policy instruments for promoting SEA, particularly at the policy level.
• Include a session on the Tenth Anniversary of the SEA Directive: Looking Back, Looking Forward with keynote reviews and a panel discussion. Invited participants include senior officials of the EC, UNECE, Polish Presidency and other Member States.

Sessions will be organized around the following major themes:

• Effectiveness of national SEA systems: how are they making a difference? Are they integrating environmental considerations into decision making, and achieving positive outcomes? What legal, institutional or procedural changes that could improve SEA application and quality of practice?
• SEA application in major sectors: Are we getting it right? How are SEAs influencing decision-making in key sectors such as transport, water, energy, mining, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and coastal zone management? What are the lessons for good practice?
• SEA procedure and methods: Are the tools we use fit-for-purpose? How adaptive and robust is SEA in analyzing the impacts and issues that matter? What frameworks, approaches and tools are or can be used to best address cumulative eff ects, climate change and other large scale environmental threats?
• Use of SEA with other impact assessment and planning tools: how much progress has been made? What progress has been made in relating SEA to other domains of impact assessment, such as EIA, RIA, SIA and HIA and to other environmental and development planning tools? What are the issues and opportunities associated with recent development, particularly in contributing to sustainable development or in addressing new policy initiatives such as the green economy?
• Public and stakeholder consultation in SEA: too little or too much? How well is this process working and what does it deliver to SEA and decision-making? Is it time to move toward more interactive approaches such as multi-stakeholder policy dialogues and dispute resolution or to broaden the terms of engagement?
• Advancing SEA theory and practice through research and capacity development: what are the needs and priorities? How have SEA concepts, methodologies and practices been improved and extended through research, discourse and capacity building activities? What outstanding issues and aspects need to be addressed?
• SEA as a sustainability instrument: still more questions than answers? What is the experience in applying and adapting SEA as an integrative sustainability tool? How can resilience thinking help us gain a fi rmer grip on the sustainability of ecological and socio-economic systems?
• Addressing climate change in the SEA: How to best address climate change mitigation and adaptation measures in the SEA, considering outcomes of the IAIA special topic meetings in Aalborg and Washington, DC?
• SEA and EU Cohesion Policy: coming together or still far apart? Are SEAs effectively integrating priorities for sustainable and competitive economy into programming process and use of EU Structural Funds? What should be improved in the next programming period?
• Toward Good Practice in SEA for development cooperation: what is the experience of European and international donors in promoting suitable forms of SEA that are fully adapted for decision-making cultures in the respective recipient countries?
• SEA and policy-making: What are the existing or emerging flexible forms of SEA that can work at the policy level? How to make the best use of the Article 13 of the SEA Protocol for promoting consideration and integration of environmental concerns into the preparation of policies and legislation?