Potential of strategic environmental assessment as an instrument for sustainable development of the countries in transition

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is the formalized, systematic, and comprehensive process of evaluating the environmental impacts of a policy, plan or programme and its alternatives, including the preparation of a written report on the findings of that evaluation, and using the findings in publicly accountable decision making. Currently, SEA is applied primarily as a means of minimizing the adverse environmental effects of the implementation of proposed strategic actions. However, its potential shall also be explored as a sustainability development tool. Given the flexible, transparent, participatory nature of the SEA process and procedures, SEA implementation could play a significant capacity building role in a sustainability-driven development process. For the post-Soviet and post-socialist countries surviving the economic pressure of the transitional process and an environmental legacy of unsustainable use of natural resources, SEA, as a preventive planning tool fit for the open market-oriented economy, may become of significant relevance. SEA implementation, especially if developed in a synergism with other tools such as environmental planning, risk assessment and management, and public participation in environmental decision making, may decrease and/or mitigate environmental risks of economic development and enable transitional societies to better meet environmental security and sustainability challenges.