SEA in Eastern Europe, caucasus and central Asia

This chapter reviews the development of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) systems in the Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) countries that were once part of the former Soviet Union. Although diverse, these countries share a number of similar structures that have in?uenced the evolution of their SEA systems. Speci?cally, SEA in the EECCA region is based on State Environmental Reviews (SER) and Assessment of Environmental Impacts (OVOS in the Russian abbreviation) procedures inherited from the Soviet era. Their main features, and implications for recent reforms aimed at incorporating internationally accepted standards of SEA practice, are presented, providing essential background to understand regional issues and challenges of introducing effective SEA systems. These perspectives are further developed through a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis of the status of SEA systems in EECCA countries and an evaluation of key requirements and directions for targeted efforts to build the capacity for SEA in this region. Our review is based on the studies cited and particularly on papers and discussions at the EECCA regional session of the Prague SEA conference