Spain
From SEA.unu.edu/wiki
Emma Dieste
Contents |
Regulations and guidelines
Spain has a quasi-federal parlimentary regional government system and a well defined planning hierarchy (Gosling, 1998). Major responsibilities for environmental matters are, in part, delegated by central government to the 17 regions ("comunidades autónomas", each of which has its own parliament and law-makin powers) under framework acts thus providing a range of approaches to SEA. Thus considerable powers rest with the community/regions, implying a local level focus even though the central government limits some of the powers autonomous communities may hold.
National level
SEA legislation has not yet been published at State level in Spain: the national regulations on EIA, the Real Decreto 1302/86 de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental, do not apply to strategic actions.
A National Plan for Irrigated Lands (Plan Nacional de Regadíos) has just had an environmental assessment done. This is an important step in the introduction of SEA in Spain. Also an academic proposal for the implementation of the SEA methodology in the Marginal Agricultural Lands Afforestation Programme in Spain has been elaborated (González Alonso, 1997).
Due to the new Directive 97/11/CE, the Spanish environmental department (Ministerio de Medio Ambiente) has elaborated a new National Act, now awaiting approval from the EU, which modifies the actual EIA Act for projects, including the SEA for plans and programmes. It includes the assessment and guidelines for plans and programmes such as forestry, industry, mining, tourism, etc. The assessments include various reports: a preliminary report, an informative report, and environmental statement and a monitoring report. The contents of the report include (from González Alonso, 1997):
1. definition of objectives and aims of the plan or programme, and justify the its needs; 2. environmental features of all the areas affected; 3. environmental problems relating to areas of special environmental importance; 4. objectives about environmental protection that are related to the plan or programme and how these have been taken into account during the elaboration process; 5. possible significant repercussions on the environment through cummulative or synergy effects of the actions; 6. definition of all the alternatives; 7. measures taken for the prevention, mitigation or compensation of any impact, and 8. any difficulty to compile the requested information.
The Environmental Report has to be done with the help of scoping, monitoring, consultations and submittion to public participation. The decision is to be made by the Competent Authority.
Regional level
At the regional level, SEA has been introduced through the extention of cases submitted to EIA, with the incorporation of certain plans and programmes into the administrative procedure of projects. Nine EIA laws contain references to SEA, some including regional and local plans. Most of the EIAs related to SEA carried out have been for land management plans. Other types include special plans for natural beauties conservation, forest management and forestry plans, solid residues plans, plans and programmes for construction or infrastructures, etc (Herranz, 1997). Most regions do not differente between plans, programmes and policies. Only in Andalucía has an SEA procedure for strategic actions established that is different from projects. There a Forestry Plan (for Andalucía) has been done using some notions and methodologies of SEA when elaborating and approving the plan.
The Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands have expanded theirlegislation based on the 1302/1986 Law on EIA which only includes assessment for large projects, to include other minor developments which could have an important impact on the ecology of the islands. This Regional Development Plan (the ley 11/1990 de 13 de junio de Prevención de Impacto Ecológico) is stricter than the National Law due to the various fragile and rare ecosystems found in the islands that need more protection. The assessment depends on the location (whether the development is on a sensitive ecological area), on the finance (whether it is a public or private project) and on the activity.
In Castilla-León the legislation has an exclusive way of evaluating sectoral plans and programmes: they include plans/prpgrammes for forestry, transport, agriculture, energy and others. The assessment includes a report done with scoping and public participation. This legislation on SEA appears to be the most advanced in Europe.
Case Studies
* 15-year multimodal national transport plan * Hydrological planning, Tajo Basin
Evaluation
The original European Directive on project EIA (EEC 85/337) was weak on the considerations of alternatives, and still Spain has to an extent weakened the remit even further. Most of the regional laws, mainly project based, do not emphasise alternatives. However, the implementation of the Directive may have a positive effect for the future implementation of the European SEA Directive as the officials and the political and administrative management posts will have more knowledge on EIA which will then facilitate their training and therefore the implementation of the Directive. Now there is a posibility in some of the Universities in Spain of studying Masters and other courses in the aspects relating to SEA.
One of the most important barriers to the practice of SEA is the prevailing political culture and the structure of the decision making. Insufficient political will or support for SEA implies a low priority is given to environmental issues, public participation and intergrated decision making, which are fundamental in SEA. It is the decision makes and users of the SEA process that need to be convinced of its value. Also in Spain there is a lack of administrative sensitisation towards environmental issues in traditional productive sectors (González Alonso, 1997).
Despite the uncertainties prevailing in the ability of SEAs to predict impacts, it is always better to carry out a SEA assessment as the strategic problem will always be better defined. Uncertainties should not be seen as a constraint in SEA.
To finish with, SEA in Spain does not exist, but in public development projects it is starting to be requested to help justify the need for the project, which would include the posibility of assessing various strategic alternatives of the project when they have significant environmental impacts.
Further reading
Spain has a quasi-federal parlimentary regional government system and a well defined planning hierarchy (Gosling, 1998). Major responsibilities for environmental matters are, in part, delegated by central government to the 17 regions ("comunidades autónomas", each of which has its own parliament and law-makin powers) under framework acts thus providing a range of approaches to SEA. Thus considerable powers rest with the community/regions, implying a local level focus even though the central government limits some of the powers autonomous communities may hold.
National level
SEA legislation has not yet been published at State level in Spain: the national regulations on EIA, the Real Decreto 1302/86 de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental, do not apply to strategic actions.
A National Plan for Irrigated Lands (Plan Nacional de Regadíos) has just had an environmental assessment done. This is an important step in the introduction of SEA in Spain. Also an academic proposal for the implementation of the SEA methodology in the Marginal Agricultural Lands Afforestation Programme in Spain has been elaborated (González Alonso, 1997).
Due to the new Directive 97/11/CE, the Spanish environmental department (Ministerio de Medio Ambiente) has elaborated a new National Act, now awaiting approval from the EU, which modifies the actual EIA Act for projects, including the SEA for plans and programmes. It includes the assessment and guidelines for plans and programmes such as forestry, industry, mining, tourism, etc. The assessments include various reports: a preliminary report, an informative report, and environmental statement and a monitoring report. The contents of the report include (from González Alonso, 1997):
1. definition of objectives and aims of the plan or programme, and justify the its needs; 2. environmental features of all the areas affected; 3. environmental problems relating to areas of special environmental importance; 4. objectives about environmental protection that are related to the plan or programme and how these have been taken into account during the elaboration process; 5. possible significant repercussions on the environment through cummulative or synergy effects of the actions; 6. definition of all the alternatives; 7. measures taken for the prevention, mitigation or compensation of any impact, and 8. any difficulty to compile the requested information.
The Environmental Report has to be done with the help of scoping, monitoring, consultations and submittion to public participation. The decision is to be made by the Competent Authority.
Regional level
At the regional level, SEA has been introduced through the extention of cases submitted to EIA, with the incorporation of certain plans and programmes into the administrative procedure of projects. Nine EIA laws contain references to SEA, some including regional and local plans. Most of the EIAs related to SEA carried out have been for land management plans. Other types include special plans for natural beauties conservation, forest management and forestry plans, solid residues plans, plans and programmes for construction or infrastructures, etc (Herranz, 1997). Most regions do not differente between plans, programmes and policies. Only in Andalucía has an SEA procedure for strategic actions established that is different from projects. There a Forestry Plan (for Andalucía) has been done using some notions and methodologies of SEA when elaborating and approving the plan.
The Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands have expanded theirlegislation based on the 1302/1986 Law on EIA which only includes assessment for large projects, to include other minor developments which could have an important impact on the ecology of the islands. This Regional Development Plan (the ley 11/1990 de 13 de junio de Prevención de Impacto Ecológico) is stricter than the National Law due to the various fragile and rare ecosystems found in the islands that need more protection. The assessment depends on the location (whether the development is on a sensitive ecological area), on the finance (whether it is a public or private project) and on the activity.
In Castilla-León the legislation has an exclusive way of evaluating sectoral plans and programmes: they include plans/prpgrammes for forestry, transport, agriculture, energy and others. The assessment includes a report done with scoping and public participation. This legislation on SEA appears to be the most advanced in Europe.
