More countries are now using Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) than ever before. This timely and comprehensive Handbook describes the implementation of SEA in 18 countries around the world, as well as a critical analysis of different SEA methodologies. The Handbook starts by introducing key SEA principles and the legal requirements of the new European SEA Directive (which became law in 2004). It then describes the implementation of SEA in 11 European Union countries, as well as the USA, Canada and New Zealand. This is contrasted with SEA requirements of four developing countries....

Standards and Thresholds play an important role in many stages of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process. They can be legally-binding or guidance values and are linked to environmental data. This publication provides a comprehensive collection of standards and thresholds, their derivation and application in case studies of EIA projects. The first part introduces the nature of standards and thresholds and key drivers for their determination. The book then describes, in Part II, technical standards from the perspective of EIA projects. Part III addresses the issue from the other...