Guidance on Integrating Climate Change and Biodiversity into ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

1. IntroductionThis section explains the purpose of the guidance, the approach it adopts, and how to use it tointegrate climate change and biodiversity into strategic environmental assessments (SEA). It isassumed that readers will be familiar with the SEA, so it does not introduce the basic SEA process.1.1 Nature and purpose of this guidanceClimate change and biodiversity loss are among the most important environmental challenges weface today. Both are complex and cross-cutting issues, which impact on nearly all human activity.This <strong>Guidance</strong> on Integrating Climate Change and Biodiversity into Strategic EnvironmentalAssessment (‘the guidance’) aims to help improve the consideration and assessment of climatechange and biodiversity issues into SEAs carried out across the EU Member States, under theDirective 2001/42/EC 2 (‘Strategic Environmental Assessment’ — ‘the SEA Directive’).The SEA DirectiveThe SEA Directive requires certain publicPPs to undergo an environmentalassessment before they are adopted.The SEA Directive applies to a wide rangeof public PPs (e.g. on land use, transport,energy, waste, agriculture, etc.).PP in the sense of the SEA Directive mustbe prepared or adopted by an authority(at national, regional or local level) andbe required by legislative, regulatory oradministrative provisions.The PPs covered by the Directive aresubject to an environmental assessmentduring their preparation, and beforetheir adoption. This includes the drawingup of an environmental report in whichthe likely significant effects on theenvironment and the reasonablealternatives are identified, and thecarrying out of consultations (with thepublic, the environmental authorities,and with other Member States in thecase of transboundary effects). Theenvironmental report and the results ofthe consultations are taken into accountbefore adoption of the proposed PP.Once a PP is adopted, the environmentalauthorities and the public are informedand relevant information is madeavailable to them. SEA Directive alsorequires monitoring of significantenvironmental effects of the PP in orderto identify unforeseen adverse effects atan early stage of PP implementation.As a legally required and specifically defined process,SEAs are an opportunity to systematically integrateclimate change and biodiversity in a standardisedapproach into plans and programmes (PPs) across the EU.This is an opportunity that cannot be missed if Europe is toachieve its environment and development objectives.This guidance addresses the specific issues and challengesthat climate change and biodiversity bring to SEA;complementary guidance was prepared on the integrationof climate change and biodiversity into environmentalimpact assessments (EIA). The SEA guidance is designed tobe used by competent authorities and policymakers,planners, SEA practitioners and other stakeholders acrossthe Member States and candidate countries.This guidance highlights how you need to integrate climatechange and biodiversity issues effectively into the SEAprocess. It is arranged in a way that will encourage usersto think about how important climate change andbiodiversity — as assessment issues — are likely to be fora specific PP and SEA processes.This guidance applies to SEAs carried out for differenttypes of PPs, and their revisions, required under theDirective — it is therefore inevitably generic. It is alsointended to apply across all the Member States and theirrespective legislative and governance structures, and tosupplement rather than conflict with any national SEA2 Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plansand programmes on the environment, OJ L 197, 21.7.2001, p.30.12 <strong>Guidance</strong> on integrating climate change and biodiversity into SEA
guidance.Since it is the first such type of guidance issued by theEuropean Commission, and climate change and biodiversityscientific base, policies, and SEA practices constantlyevolve, it should be considered as a pilot guidancedocument. Subsequent amended versions are expected asexperience with the process is gained. These may includemore specific guidance on integrating disaster riskmanagement.1.2 How to use this guidanceUsers can either review the entire document at once, orskip directly to sections of specific interest. It is assumedthat readers will already have a reasonable understandingof the SEA process, methodologies and techniques used inSEAs.Section 2: Climate change and biodiversity in SEA —provides background on the issues and their legal andpractical relationship with SEA. It also shows the benefits ofearly consideration of climate change and biodiversity inSEAs.Section 3: Understanding climate change and biodiversity— gives users a basic understanding of the climate changeand biodiversity issues to enable them to integrate the right issues into the SEA.Section 4: What are the key climate change and biodiversity issues? — identifies the key issues onclimate change mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity — i.e. how to scope these issues in SEAs.Section 5: How to assess effects related to climate change and biodiversity in SEA? — practical tipson how to assess climate change and biodiversity related effects in SEAs.1.2.1 Annexes, tools and other supportThree Annexes provide additional sources of information and tools. Annex 1 and Annex 2 providefurther information and data that could be useful to support the SEA process, and integratingclimate change and biodiversity in particular. Annex 3 summarises key tools and approaches thatcan be used to support the assessment of climate change and biodiversity as part of the SEA.1.2.2 Navigating the guidanceExisting guidance documents: SEAand climate changeSeveral general guidance documents onSEA and climate change have alreadybeen issued by Member States or otherorganisations. While they are tailored forspecific users, they can be useful toconsult for supplementary information:• Opportunities for IntegratingClimate Change Concerns intoRegional Planning through StrategicEnvironmental Assessment (theINTERREG IVC project, Regions forSustainable Change, 2011)• Strategic Environmental Assessmentand climate change: <strong>Guidance</strong> forpractitioners (the EnvironmentAgency for England and Wales,2011)• SEA Topic <strong>Guidance</strong> for Practitioners(the Climate Change CountrysideCouncil for Wales, revised 2007)• The Consideration of ClimacticFactors within StrategicEnvironmental Assessment (theScottish Government, 2010)Further information: Annex 1The figure overleaf gives an overview of the guidance, and shows how it can be applied throughoutthe SEA process, as outlined by the SEA Directive.<strong>Guidance</strong> on integrating climate change and biodiversity into SEA 13
Page 1 and 2: Guidance on Integr
Page 3: ForewordThe need for action on clim
Page 6 and 7: GlossaryTermAdaptation(climate chan
Page 8 and 9: Mitigation (climatechange)Mitigatio
Page 10: HOW TO ADDRESS BOTH CLIMATE CHANGE
Page 15 and 16: 2. Climate change and biodiversity
Page 17 and 18: 2.2.3 Resilience of a PP to a chang
Page 19 and 20: 2.3.2 Complexity of the issues and
Page 21 and 22: 3. Understanding climate change and
Page 23 and 24: EU Climate and EnergyPackageRoadmap
Page 25 and 26: • Under Article 6(3) of the Habit
Page 27 and 28: Table 5: Key aspects of biodiversit
Page 29 and 30: single biggest cause of biodiversit
Page 31 and 32: Engaging proactively with environme
Page 33 and 34: For climate change, in particular,
Page 35 and 36: 4.3 Identifying the key biodiversit
Page 37 and 38: 5. How to assess effects related to
Page 39 and 40: 5.2 Consider climate change scenari
Page 41 and 42: • Key areas that may be particula
Page 43 and 44: • aim for ‘no-net-loss’ of bi
Page 45 and 46: Flood regimes and extremerainfall e
Page 47 and 48: • Where possible, use causal chai
Page 49 and 50: This guidance document emphasises t
Page 51 and 52: Annex 1: Further readingThe policy
Page 53 and 54: Resource Paper: No Net Loss and Los
Page 55 and 56: Resource Manual to Support Applicat
Page 57 and 58: Annex 2: Sources of information on
Page 59 and 60: EmDATERA-NET ROAD —Coordination a
Page 61 and 62:
GeneralData and Maps (EEA)EUROSTATE
Page 63 and 64:
factorsEcosystembasedapproachesEcos
Page 65 and 66:
to your PP area. Greenhouse Gas Imp
Page 67 and 68:
stage, but may be extended intothe
Page 69 and 70:
enefits for all; Political: discuss
show all

Guidance on Integrating Climate Change and Biodiversity into ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?