The status and extent of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) practice in South Africa

South Africa is regarded as a leading developing country in terms of SEA practice, but no empirical research has been conducted to determine the overall status and extent of practice. This lack of empirical research amongst extensive SEA practice can be considered a major lost opportunity for South Africa, and also for developing countries in general. This paper presents the results of a survey on SEA practice for the period 1996 to 2003. A total of 50 SEAs were conducted and confirm that SEA practice is well established and on the increase. Moreover the extent of practice compares well with that of most international SEA systems, and the variety in terms of tiers, types and scales even exceeds most other practice. The research shows that although SEA followed the traditional pattern of integration with policy, plan or programme (PPP) tiers of decision making;, also it was uniquely implemented as a substitute where strategic level decision making processes were weak or absent. The SEAs reflected a variety of sectoral types implemented at national, provincial, sub-regional and local geographic scales. The results also provide insights into the profile of the emerging SEA system in South Africa by highlighting legislative and policy provisions that implicitly facilitated practice, and also those responsible for conducting and implementing SEA. Findings support the notion that South Africa provides a rich variety of SEA practice that could provide solutions to the challenge of tailoring SEA to developing country contexts. The paper concludes by proposing directions for future SEA research and debate.