Context and Systems: Thinking More Broadly About Effectiveness in Strategic Environmental Assessment in China

Bina, Olívia

doi:10.1007/s00267-008-9123-5

Cited by 90 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…SEA is not merely a tool that can facilitate an informed decisionmaking process and dialogue; it also has explicit environmental objectives (Bina, 2008;Jesse, 2008). This is for instance reflected in the EU SEA Directive (2001/42/EC), which states:…”

Section: Contributing To Protection Of the Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the substantive effectiveness of SEA: Towards a better understanding

Doren

Driessen

Schijf

et al. 2013

Environmental Impact Assessment Review

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a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oEvaluating the substantive effectiveness of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is vital in order to know to what extent the tool fulfills its purposes and produces expected results. However, the studies that have evaluated the substantive effectiveness of SEA produce varying outcomes as regards the tool's contribution to decision-making and have used a variety of approaches to appraise its effectiveness. The aim of this article is to discuss the theoretical concept of SEA substantive effectiveness and to present a new approach that can be applied for evaluation studies. The SEA effectiveness evaluation framework that will be presented is composed of concepts of, and approaches to, SEA effectiveness derived from SEA literature and planning theory. Lessons for evaluation can be learned from planning theory in particular, given its long history of analyzing and understanding how sources of information and decisions affect (subsequent) decision-making. Key concepts of this new approach are 'conformance' and 'performance'. In addition, this article presents a systematic overview of process and context factors that can explain SEA effectiveness, derived from SEA literature. To illustrate the practical value of our framework for the assessment and understanding of substantive effectiveness of SEA, three Dutch SEA case studies are examined. The case studies have confirmed the usefulness of the SEA effectiveness assessment framework. The framework proved helpful in order to describe the cumulative influence of the three SEAs on decision-making and the ultimate plan.

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Section: Contributing To Protection Of the Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the substantive effectiveness of SEA: Towards a better understanding

Doren

Driessen

Schijf

et al. 2013

Environmental Impact Assessment Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Only lately, researchers have discussed "sustainability assessment system" that is more than an assessment process or an assessment tool. Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) as a system has been discussed by Bina [16], who argue that conceptualizing and exploring SEA as a system allows focusing on the relationship between planning processes, assessment and the context in which both are implemented. Furthermore, the definition of CSA in the organizations is given by Moldavska and Welo [38] as "a system that addresses [manufacturing] organization and provides valuable input to decision-makers regarding sustainable development".…”

Section: Comparing the Purpose Of Pms And Csamentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining Organizational Context for Corporate Sustainability Assessment: Cross-Disciplinary Approach

Moldavska

2017

Sustainability

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Abstract:Extensive research has already been conducted on the technical aspects of a Sustainability Assessment (SA) at a company level, i.e., Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA). However, previous research paid little attention to the context in which an assessment takes place, i.e., the conditions within the organization that facilitate or inhibit the effectiveness of CSA as a decision support tool. This study seeks to shed more light on the organizational context for CSA. Since the research in this topic is limited within the SA discipline, the knowledge from the Performance Measurement (PM) discipline is used. Using a cross-disciplinary approach, factors that define the organizational context for CSA were proposed. Furthermore, they were ranked by 104 sustainability professionals using online survey. The survey results revealed that the top five factors are "leadership commitment", "sustainability strategy", "data collection capabilities", "understanding of purpose and benefits of SA" and "focus on continuous improvements". The practical application of the result of this study was illustrated using a multiple case study, in which the readiness to implement CSA by four manufacturing companies was evaluated.

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“…The first Chinese SEA experiences were not very positive (Bina, 2008). They started out by adopting a Plan-EIA which more or less resembled Project EIA (Bina, 2008), making use of the procedures and methods of project EIA at strategic level (Ahmed and Sanchez-Triana, 2008).…”

Section: Sea -Learning By Doingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They started out by adopting a Plan-EIA which more or less resembled Project EIA (Bina, 2008), making use of the procedures and methods of project EIA at strategic level (Ahmed and Sanchez-Triana, 2008). In doing this, China was also inspired by other fields like planning.…”

Section: Sea -Learning By Doingmentioning

confidence: 99%