"Is environmental assessment useful and relevant? Is environmental assessment helping to achieve sustainable development in Canada? Is pollution reduced or prevented as a result of environmental assessment? Is biodiversity protected? Are ecosystems essential to the prosperity of present and future generations of Canadians better protected? Is environmental assessment helping decision-makers make informed choices by providing sound information about likely environmental effects of projects and policies? This report attempts to address these questions for Canada. The report summarizes Canada?s efforts to achieve relevant and useful environmental assessment processes that contribute to sustainable development. The report also summarizes achievements, challenges and future directions for environmental assessment in Canada."--Introduction.
This unique sourcebook provides a global, state-of-the-art review of the rapidly evolving field of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) that is intended to serve as a baseline for the work of an OECD Task Team on SEA and a UNEP initiative on integrated planning and assessment. It describes trends in application and experience in different contexts worldwide, providing in-depth coverage of the status of SEA systems, and practice in developed, transitional and developing countries by a range of development agencies. The book draws on a large body of published and unpublished material, and contributions from a wide range of individual experts, organizations and agencies. It provides an unparalleled and invaluable understanding of the emerging scope and potential of SEA and describes how, when and where it is being used. The sourcebook includes a probing review of concepts, terminology, approaches and tools of SEA, and a comparative analysis of the different types of existing SEA systems. The volume also contains many case examples illustrating SEA practice in different countries and contexts, a full set of references and a number of appendices containing source materials.