AUDITING STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PRACTICE IN CANADA

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is taking place in diverse forms, and SEA requirements vary considerably from one nation to the next. While the true measure of effectiveness of SEA is its influence on decision output and policy, plan and program (PPP) outcomes, an effective SEA requires a quality assessment process. This paper suggests that there is no generic set of audit criteria that is appropriate for evaluating the quality of all SEA applications. Auditing SEA quality performance requires criteria that reflect the guidelines and procedural requirements of the institutional arrangements within which SEA is practised. Based on a proposed set of SEA quality performance criteria for Canada, this paper presents the findings of an audit of five national-level Canadian SEA applications.