Second sub-regional workshop on the ‘Practical Application of Strategic Environmental Assessment and Transboundary Environmental Impact Assessment’

The second sub-regional workshop on the ‘Practical Application of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Transboundary Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA’ took place online on 29 June 2022.

The main objectives of the workshop were to: i) facilitate information exchange and experience sharing on SEA and transboundary EIA among the beneficiary countries and with the EU/UNECE countries; ii) discuss the topics of interest / issues identified by the beneficiary countries for the workshop and provide examples of international good practices in SEA and transboundary EIA.

The workshop included the countries’ presentations outlining the achievements and challenges faced when implementing EIAs and SEAs, as well as the case examples from the EU countries with a major focus on SEA in spatial planning. A separate session was devoted to the issues and topics of interest identified by the beneficiary countries, which had been collected by UNECE prior to the event through a survey.

The workshop resulted in a better understanding by the participants of the approaches and methods to be used in SEA and transboundary EIA to effectively apply environmental assessment to specific types of plans and programmes and to analyse the likely impacts on specific environmental aspects and issues. Additionally, the workshop contributed to a more effective implementation of pilot SEA projects in the beneficiary countries where such projects have already started or are being launched.

The workshop aimed at further developing the SEA and EIA systems in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine in line with the UNECE Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention), the Espoo Convention and the EU Directive on SEA and the EU Directive on EIA.