ABSTRACT

An increasing number of countries are implementing strategic environmental assessment (SEA) to support the development of environmentally sustainable policies, plans and programs. However, some Global South countries are yet to legislate for SEA and research is needed to understand the contextual challenges to implementing SEA effectively in these jurisdictions. Here, we examine Mexico’s first attempt at applying SEA to assess the potential impacts of urban development plans on a city-wide scale, including those on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Using stakeholder interviews and reflexive thematic analysis, we identify and discuss key factors to consider when formally implementing SEA in Mexico for it to achieve its intended objectives. We relate our findings to existing studies on SEA in Global South countries and discuss contextual challenges that may be shared by these jurisdictions, namely: limited knowledge and experience with SEA, low trust in public institutions, and limited institutional capacity of environmental agencies. We then provide recommendations for addressing these shared challenges, which may also prove useful for countries experiencing difficulties with the application of SEA.

摘要

越来越多的国家正在实施战略环境评估 (SEA)，以支持制定环境可持续的政策、计划和项目。然而，一些南半球国家尚未为 SEA 立法，需要进行研究以了解在这些司法管辖区有效实施 SEA 的背景挑战。在这里，我们研究了墨西哥首次尝试应用 SEA 来评估城市发展计划在全市范围内的潜在影响，包括对生物多样性和生态系统服务的影响。使用利益相关者访谈和反思性主题分析，我们确定并讨论了在墨西哥正式实施 SEA 以实现其预期目标时要考虑的关键因素。我们将我们的发现与全球南方国家现有的 SEA 研究联系起来，并讨论这些司法管辖区可能面临的背景挑战，即：SEA 的知识和经验有限、对公共机构的信任度低以及环境机构的机构能力有限。然后，我们提供了解决这些共同挑战的建议，这也可能对那些在应用 SEA 方面遇到困难的国家有用。