Strategic Environmental Assessment : Improving Water Resources Governance and Decision Making

The overall goal of this report is to
assist water resources and environment professionals within
the Bank and client countries to use Strategic environmental
assessment (SEAs) to effectively implement the principles of
Integrated water resources management (IWRM). It (a)
delineates environmental issues related IWRM; (b) identifies
opportunities for SEAs to addressing these environmental
issues; (c) uses the literature and ten Bank and non-Bank
case studies to identify procedural and substantive factors
and institutional drivers that lead to effective SEAs in the
water sector at the policy, strategy, program, and plan
levels; (d) reviews four national and state water policies
to understand the inclusions of environment; (e) observes
the introduction of SEAs in a developing country as an
in-depth pilot study to identify practical issues arising
from the introduction of SEAs for the water sector; and (f)
recommends how the Bank can expand the use of SEAs to
improve the integration of environmental issues in water
resources investments.