On Monday 21 September 2009, SNIFFER and IEMA hosted a joint Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) event at the Innovation Centre, Belfast. It was attended by 50 delegates from Government, Government Agencies, Environmental NGOs, Local Authorities, Planning and Consultancies.
The event launched SNIFFER’s SEA guidance on Air, Soil and Water, which has been released as a website www.seaguidance.org.uk and as research reports (available on the SNIFFER website, project UKCC09).
The event was opened by Stephen Aston, NIEA’s Acting Head of Environmental Protection, who emphasized the importance of SEA to Northern Ireland, and how the SNIFFER guidance will help practitioners to better assess their programmes, plans and strategies.
Neil Deasley (SEPA), Lucila Lantschner (EnviroCentre) and Silvia Cagnoni Watt (SEPA) introduced the new SNIFFER guidance for SEA practitioners on how to take account of Air, Soil and Water. Delegates heard about the drivers for the project, the approach taken to develop the research reports, and the final production of the website to make the guidance easily accessible to practitioners.
Wendy McKinley (NIEA) gave an overview of the Services and Standards that NIEA will provide to practitioners in Northern Ireland. She also highlighted the key topics and sources of information that is covered by NIEA.
Delegates then heard about other guidance that is being developed for SEA practitioners. Ainhoa Gonzalez del Campo spoke on behalf of the Republic of Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency about the guidance on how to make best use of Geographic Information Systems when carrying out SEA. To wrap up the morning, Neil Deasley (SEPA) presented guidance on how to take account of climate change in SEA, which SEPA have developed on behalf of the Scottish Government.
Presentations from the event can be downloaded here:
1. SNIFFER’s SEA guidance on Air, Soil and Water
2. NIEA’s SEA Services and Standards
3. EPA’s GISEA guidance
4. SEPA’s Climate Change guidance