A Strategic Environmental Assessment - Report Example

STRATEGIC ENVIRONMETNAL ASSESSMENT IN SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA by Student’s Name Code + Course Name Professor University City/State Date Introduction A strategic environmental assessment refers to process for decision support in regards to environmental protection. The main aim of strategic environmental impact assessment is to ensure the consideration of sustainability aspects in the making of policies and planning and in making programs. According to Therivel (2004) strategic, environmental assessment can also be defined as a flexible process whose application in policing and planning influences decision making in relation to the environment. In situations where this process has been adopted, it works internally to support the making of environmental friendly decisions in order to promote sustainability through environmental conservation. In southern Australia, the environment is of great concern to both the residents of this territory as well as to the larger Australian community (Schmidt, Joao & Albrecht 2005). Environmental awareness has risen in various states of Southern Australia such as the New South Wales, Tasmania, and Victoria among others. Such awareness is informed by the need to protect the environment especially from the adverse activities of human beings in order to protect biodiversity. As such, it is because of the knowledge that strategic environmental assessment was introduced in order to safeguard the environmental needs especially with respect to policy and decision-making. Introduction of strategic Environmental assessment in Southern Australia Economic development and environmental protection are two facets of human life that ought to complement each other but in the absence of human intervention, they tend to oppose each other. For hazards that can lead to the loss of biodiversity besides the eventual destruction of the environment. As such, strategic environmental assessments have been adopted in the regions of Southern Australia. This adoption is in response to the need to factor in the environment in decision-making and policymaking processes. In southern Australia just like any other place in the world, strategic assessments are considered in terms of their ability to impact across wide landscapes. This wide influencing is unlike environmental impact assessment, which is usually narrowed down to the individual actions and their impacts on the local environment. For instance, an environmental impact assessment could involve assessing the construction of a wind farm hence; it is usually a narrow concept. On the other hand, strategic environmental assessments are very wide and look into projects that can affect the environment of large areas. Such projects take a relatively longer time as well as involving the channeling of significant national resources hence the need for them to factor in the environmental concerns. In southern Australia, strategic environmental assessment was introduced in order to cater for environmental concerns (EIAE 2003). These concerns occur mostly in areas where human activities are influencing significant environmental, economic, and social values of the society. As such, this assessment ensures that the protection of such values from risks that could result from human activities on the environment. Due to the rationality of strategic environmental assessment, their adoption southern Australia has been very wide especially in the regions of New South Wales, Tasmania, and Victoria. Coati, Walkman, and Gilberto (2004) note that a case in point is the adoption of this practice in relation to the irrigation development project throughout Tasmania. Due to the effects of this program to a wide area of its implementation, it was necessary for a strategic assessment to be carried out in Tasmania in relation to this project (Thrive 2004). The irrigation project had wide effects on infrastructure, extraction of water and the process of delivering it to the farms. As such, a strategic assessment was necessary in order to ensure that the Tasmanian authorities were committed to the environment by avoiding, mitigating, as well as offsetting the impacts of this undertaking. Besides Tasmania, strategic assessment has also been carried out in Victoria particularly in relation to the implementation of Melbourne’s Urban Growth Boundary. Besides that, New South Wales has seen the bulk of strategic environmental assessments such as in Western Sydney growth centers and New South Wales road and traffic management works. As such, the prevalence of this process in Southern Australia is an indication of the value placed on the environment by the authorities as well as the need to protect biodiversity. The prevalence of strategic environmental assessments in Southern Australia can also be traced to the nature of projects being undertaken in this region (Allaby & Saunders 2000). Commonwealth assessments have placed a significant environmental value on specific areas in Southern Australia hence the need to ensure that strategic assessments are implemented. Such assessments are meant to safeguard the environment by ensuring that development projects are undertaken in line with environmental concerns. For instance, the introduction of strategic assessment in Tasmania has protected species such as the Fleshy and Midland green hound. Besides that, introduction of strategic environmental assessments in Southern Australia was necessary due to the previous impacts of human activities on the environment in the absence of this assessment. For instance, uncontrolled development activities led to environmental alterations especially in relation to the ecosystems in coastal areas and the temperate zones. The emergence of massive metropolitan centers such as Sydney and Melbourne led to wide-ranging infrastructural undertakings. Besides that, deforestation was also affecting the environment negatively and as such, there was an urgent need for the inclusion of strategic environmental assessment to curtail these effects. As such, the preference of strategic assessments in Southern Australia is in recognition of these effects and the resultant need to balance between the nature and human development. Benefits of Strategic Environmental Assessments The inclusion of strategic environmental assessments in South Australia has been of great benefit to the state of the environment in this territory. Such benefits are discussed below. A strategic assessment is crucial in the protection of Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES). The Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Protection Act recognize various MNEs such as world heritage properties (Western Australia 2003). In addition, endangered species are also included besides places of national heritage and migratory species among others. Through strategic environmental assessments, the authorities can oversee the protection of such matters amid the rapid development that is taking place in Southern Australia. A successful application of strategic assessment in protection of matters of national environmental significance is through individual assessment of projects. Through assessing projects on an individual basis, the relevant authorities can consider the merits of specific conservation activities for each project. Besides that, a strategic assessment facilitates the forecasting of planning outcomes for the projects as pertains to environmental conservation. Such forecasts are crucial in ensuring that a balance between development and conservation is attained. A strategic environmental assessment is also beneficial in that it provides certainty on the continued existence of local communities. This certainty is crucial especially in the face of environmental damage that could lead to relocation of entire communities due to the repercussions. Such damage for instance deforestation and pollution are a threat to the livelihoods of communities in any region in the world. In relation to Southern Australia, the absence of strategic environmental assessments could lead to loopholes in the system causing individuals to destroy the environment for personal gains. Such destruction would be to the detriment of local communities. However, due to the adoption of strategic assessments, such concerns are eliminated through measures that are inherent in this process of assessment. As such, maintenance of ecological balance provides reassurance on the continuity of environment to the benefit of local communities. A strategic assessment contributes to the reduction of administrative burden especially in relation to the government and other environmental authorities (EIAE 2003). This reduction arises from the fact that the extent of strategic assessment eliminates the need for small-scale environmental impact assessments that would be time consuming besides providing a work backlog. The administrative burden is also reduced since a strategic assessment eliminates the need for individual assessments by various government levels notably the state or local governments. Hence, a strategic assessment preferable especially in the Southern Australia where such governmental levels are less integrated hence the possibility of duplication of efforts. A strategic environmental assessment provides a better chance of achieving desirable environmental outcomes especially in the face of rapid modernization in the Southern Australia region (Reed 2002). Such modernization has led to deforestation in order to give way for human development besides contributing to increasing population that puts pressure on natural resources. As such, the increase in the magnitude of man-made projects calls for the inclusion of checks in the policies in order to safeguard the natural environment. An example of such checks is a strategic assessment, and its successful implementation ensures that implementation of projects results into desirable environmental outcomes. Through proper implementation of strategic assessments, timely coordination of offsets is achieved. Such offsets results from the fact that despite environmental awareness, certain projects are bound to affect the environment negatively, for instance, uranium mining in Southern Australia. As such, in order to mitigate these effects, the relevant parties could be required by strategic assessment to institute actions that will offset the negative effects of their activities. Problems associated with Strategic Environmental Assessments Due to the wide area of coverage, strategic assessments are subject to higher uncertainty in comparison to environmental impact assessments (Markham 2001). Such uncertainty is in terms of future economic or environmental conditions and as such, strategic assessments pose a higher level of risks. Authorities ought to take this uncertainty in consideration to provide for future occurrences. A strategic environmental assessment deals with information at different levels, for instance the national as well as the local authority level (Nakaya 2006). As such, it may disregard environmental concerns at the local level in favor of the national level. This disregard is unlike in environmental impact assessment whereby the assessment is done on the local levels of the project. Strategic environmental assessment at times has to deal with inadequate information. This situation occurs especially in instances whereby the assessment is covering wide geographical areas such as several countries. As such, any decisions made using such data may not reflect the situation on the ground to the inadequacy of this data. Methodological approaches to achieve a Useful Outcome Due to the inherent limitations of strategic environmental assessments as discussed above, various technical approaches can be taken to achieve a useful outcome. For instance, in cases where the strategic assessment is covering wide areas, such areas could be subdivided into zones in order to ensure that unique aspects of various zones are taken into consideration. As such, data collection would be more viable hence; the assessment would result into a more useful outcome. In order to avoid the problem of dealing with different information levels, a nat6ional level strategic environmental assessment can be carried out alongside a regional one. This combination will ensure that regional level governments do not have to rely on the national level assessment and as such, better outcomes would be achieved from this process. Besides that, this option would also enhance the quality of data collected hence influencing the outcome positively. Procedural approaches to achieve a Useful Outcome Strategic actions resulting from strategic environmental assessment should have formal authorization (European Commission 2000). As such, this authorization will eliminate the conflicts that usually exist between the decision makers and the assessment process. Such conflicts exist due to the notion that the strategic environmental assessment process is taking over from the decision-making process. Formalizing this process will lead to achievement of a better outcome. The political system should accept the concept of strategic assessment. This acceptance is crucial in that it ensure that any recommendations of such an assessment have political goodwill. As such, this goodwill will influence the authorities into effecting the recommendations of strategic environmental assessments leading to a better outcome. Conclusion From the discussions above, it is evident that the introduction of strategic environmental assessments in Southern Australia was based on informed decisions on the viability of this process in environmental protection. As such, its continued implementation is an indication of a healthy future for the natural environment in this region. In addition, though this process has both advantages and disadvantages, the former outweigh the latter hence its prevalence in various countries around the world. In essence, it is also evident that the modification of the existing methodological and procedural approaches would lead to achievement of better outcomes by the strategic environmental assessment process. References Allaby, M & Saunders, M 2000, The environment, Gareth Stevens Pub., Milwaukee Caratti, P, Dalkmann, H & Jilibertoh, H.R 2004, Analyzing strategic environmental assessment: Towards better decision-making, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham. European Commission 2000, Strategic environmental assessment: Existing methodology, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg Environmental Institute of Australia 2003, ‘Environment in Southern Australia’, Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, vol.32, no. 21 pp. 34-46 Markham, A 2001, The environment, Rourke Enterprises, Vero Beach Nakaya, A. C 2006, The environment, Greenhaven Press, San Diego. Reed, C 2000, Environment, Rourke Publications Incorporation, Vero Beach, Florida Schmidt, M, Joao, E.M & Albrecht, E 2005, Implementing strategic environmental assessment, Springer, Berlin Therivel, R 2004, Strategic environmental assessment in action, Earthscan, London. Western Australia 2002, Conservation science Western Australia, Science Division, Dept. of Environment and Conservation, Kensington. Read More

As such, this assessment ensures that the protection of such values from risks that could result from human activities on the environment. Due to the rationality of strategic environmental assessment, their adoption southern Australia has been very wide especially in the regions of New South Wales, Tasmania, and Victoria. Coati, Walkman, and Gilberto (2004) note that a case in point is the adoption of this practice in relation to the irrigation development project throughout Tasmania. Due to the effects of this program to a wide area of its implementation, it was necessary for a strategic assessment to be carried out in Tasmania in relation to this project (Thrive 2004).

The irrigation project had wide effects on infrastructure, extraction of water and the process of delivering it to the farms. As such, a strategic assessment was necessary in order to ensure that the Tasmanian authorities were committed to the environment by avoiding, mitigating, as well as offsetting the impacts of this undertaking. Besides Tasmania, strategic assessment has also been carried out in Victoria particularly in relation to the implementation of Melbourne’s Urban Growth Boundary.

Besides that, New South Wales has seen the bulk of strategic environmental assessments such as in Western Sydney growth centers and New South Wales road and traffic management works. As such, the prevalence of this process in Southern Australia is an indication of the value placed on the environment by the authorities as well as the need to protect biodiversity. The prevalence of strategic environmental assessments in Southern Australia can also be traced to the nature of projects being undertaken in this region (Allaby & Saunders 2000).

Commonwealth assessments have placed a significant environmental value on specific areas in Southern Australia hence the need to ensure that strategic assessments are implemented. Such assessments are meant to safeguard the environment by ensuring that development projects are undertaken in line with environmental concerns. For instance, the introduction of strategic assessment in Tasmania has protected species such as the Fleshy and Midland green hound. Besides that, introduction of strategic environmental assessments in Southern Australia was necessary due to the previous impacts of human activities on the environment in the absence of this assessment.

For instance, uncontrolled development activities led to environmental alterations especially in relation to the ecosystems in coastal areas and the temperate zones. The emergence of massive metropolitan centers such as Sydney and Melbourne led to wide-ranging infrastructural undertakings. Besides that, deforestation was also affecting the environment negatively and as such, there was an urgent need for the inclusion of strategic environmental assessment to curtail these effects. As such, the preference of strategic assessments in Southern Australia is in recognition of these effects and the resultant need to balance between the nature and human development.

Benefits of Strategic Environmental Assessments The inclusion of strategic environmental assessments in South Australia has been of great benefit to the state of the environment in this territory. Such benefits are discussed below. A strategic assessment is crucial in the protection of Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES). The Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Protection Act recognize various MNEs such as world heritage properties (Western Australia 2003). In addition, endangered species are also included besides places of national heritage and migratory species among others.

Through strategic environmental assessments, the authorities can oversee the protection of such matters amid the rapid development that is taking place in Southern Australia. A successful application of strategic assessment in protection of matters of national environmental significance is through individual assessment of projects.

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