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Strategic Environmental Assessment and Ecosystem Services. What is this?. What is this?. What is this?. Ecosystem services. Provisioning Goods produced or provided by ecosystems. Cultural Non-material benefits obtained from ecosystems. Regulating
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Strategic Environmental Assessment and Ecosystem Services
Ecosystem services Provisioning Goods produced or provided by ecosystems Cultural Non-material benefits obtained from ecosystems Regulating Benefits obtained from control of natural processes by ecosystems
What’s leading to ecosystem change? Direct drivers • Physical changes that can be identified and monitored Indirect drivers • Alter the level or rate of change of one or more direct drivers
Understand the link between ecosystems and development People impact nature Nature provides people benefits
North Site A Site B MA framework used for ecosystem assessment in Rwanda.
What is Strategic Environmental Assessment, SEA? • A planning tool; a process to improve strategic decision making • An analysis and assessment of environmental issues and their linkage with socio-economic issues • A means to dialogue on these issues • A mechanism for influence on institutions and governance
Benefits of SEA • Identify better development opportunities and win-win options • Prevent costly mistakes • Build public engagement in decision-making • Facilitate trans-boundary co-operation • Preventing conflicts • Do cheaper and more effective EIA
Why should an SEA address ecosystem services? • Include ecosystems as a form of capital • PPP that ignore services may be ineffective or have unintended consequences • Make PPP more holistic in their approach
Connecting points between ecosystem services and SEA • PPP activities affect direct drivers of change • The spatial focus of a PPP allows for identification of sensitivity to specific drivers of change • PPP affects indirect drivers of change such as economic and societal processes
Ecosystem services in SEA at policy level • What are the main ecosystem services that the country’s economy relies on? • How will the proposed policy change the indirect and direct drivers affecting these ecosystem services? • What capacity development is needed?
Key steps in SEA Inform, influence, and make recommendations Establish the SEA context Implement the SEA Monitor and evaluate
Establish the SEA context • Screen – identify ecosystem services depended upon or impacted • Set objectives – how can ecosystem service analysis inform the SEA? Should any ecosystem service targets be established up front? • Stakeholders – identify them and stay in continuous consultation
Implement the SEA • Scope in dialogue with stakeholders • Collect baseline data • Identify alternatives and their impacts • Incorporate options for mitigation and compensation • Review and assure quality of SEA • Report
Inform, influence and make recommendations for decision-making • Consider adopting policy tools • Identify and remove policies that degrade services • Decide whether to do a valuation of ecosystem services • Consider implementing payments for ecosystem services • Incorporate financial needs into the plan/program
Monitor and Evaluate • Monitor decisions taken on the plan/programme and its implementation • Evaluate the SEA and plan/ programme
Addressing the institutional dimension of SEA Assess and strengthen legislation; government agencies and institutions; incentive mechanisms; and mechanisms for accountability; and identify capacity development needs for integration of ecosystem services