C5n Linkages between SEA and landscape planning
Marie Hanusch, UFZ Centre for Environmental Research, Germany
Key issues to be addressed
Position Paper:
All states holding provisions for SEA have one thing in common: the search for innovative, efficient and pragmatic tools to apply SEA. This holds especially true for the EU Member States, being obliged to apply the requirements of Directive 2001/42/EC, the so-called SEA Directive, as well as for the future Parties to the SEA Protocol
Several tools on the European and international stage offer valuable support and hints on how to apply SEA. These tools vary from instruments used for EIA over Corporate Stewardship and Risk Management and cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to sustainable appraisals. Another tool that might provide support for the application of SEA is the so-called landscape planning. Landscape planning tools are common, for instance in Austria, Belgium (the Walloon Region), France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. These tools are designed differently in every state, in terms of their objectives, their legal status and their scope of application. Their overall task is to outline and to justify the requirements and measures of environmental protection and landscape management for a certain planning area. Usually environmental objectives are allocated, environmental baseline data is collected, impacts are appraised and mitigation measures are considered. This seems as if there are some—perhaps even extensive—linkages between landscape planning tools and SEA. Especially in terms of the elaboration of the environmental report landscape planning tools might provide substantial input for SEA already today. With regard to the aspect of monitoring due to SEA, they might be useful in future, for they could cover several SEA follow-up demands
This session invites contributions from practitioners and researchers from different countries to present landscape planning tools with linkages to SEA and examples of their application. Conceptual and practical approaches offering innovative, efficient and pragmatic ideas on how to apply these tools in SEA shall be discussed. Contributors are welcome to share experiences and to establish a network on the linkages between SEA and landscape planning tools!