What is it about?
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is increasingly used in land use planning, a framework with the potential to integrate biodiversity and social considerations. In this paper we argue that social context data is vital for ensuring effective biodiversity conservation outcomes from SEAs. We explore the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999) (EPBC Act) as a case example of how the integration of these data can be practically achieved within an existing legal process, and how different types of social data can be integrated into each of the stages of SEA. We show that opportunities exist to strengthen the effectiveness of SEA in delivering conservation outcomes without altering existing legal processes.
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Why is it important?
SEA is an increasingly used framework for land use planning. Including social context data in SEA processes can improve the acceptability of conservation actions, enhance environmental stewardship, and minimise land use conflict.
Perspectives
In this paper we've focussed on providing Strategic Environmental Assessment practitioners with suggestions on how to integrate social data into their SEA processes, as they relate to biodiversity conservation. We've used the Australian SEA process as a case study, but drawn out the lessons in a way that should prove useful for SEA practitioners in other countries.
Mat Hardy
RMIT University
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This page is a summary of: Using social data in strategic environmental assessment to conserve biodiversity, Land Use Policy, September 2015, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.04.002.
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