1. Introduction

Deciding how best to carry out an SEA requires an understanding of:

• the strategic action's level (policy, plan etc.), scale (international, national etc.), and timescale
• how the strategic action is developed: how decisions about the strategic action are made and by whom, and what are the key 'decision-windows'
• what opportunities there are to inform the development of the strategic action through SEA
  

This section on the Strategic Action discusses these points.