POST-DISASTER STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT (SEA)

Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) have the capacity to study & assess environmental, social, economic, cultural and political impacts of strategic decisions - policies, plans and programmes (PPPs). Many governments and international organisations (IOs) have stressed the importance of using SEAs as a decision-aiding tool in the formulation of PPPs and other important strategic decisions before and after disasters. Following the 2004 Asian tsunami, UNEP emphasised the importance of assessing impacts of post-tsunami PPPs. In spite of this, in many of the countries, a number of important post-tsunami PPPs were executed without them being subjected to the recommended SEAs. This raises serious questions about the practicalities of executing SEAs soon after major disasters. This research investigates the benefits, constraints and opportunities for conducting post-disaster SEAs by focusing on the ‘Safe Islands’ Development Programme in the Maldives. This humble work should prove useful to researchers, organisations and individuals working in the fields of development, planning, policy-making, governance and impact assessment.