Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive in the European Union

To reach the objective of a SEA as a “strategic tool” to evaluate the effects of transport plans and programmes on the environment, the definition of a set of transport indicators is crucial to measure and appraise the environmental effects of a plan. In order to define which transport indicators are suitable to appraise the effects of the transport plans and programmes, main criteria would help to choose the most appropriate indicators to be used even when decision makers need to carry out the evaluation without going into a great detail or when they miss relevant data. Current transportation planning in different European countries (Calderon, Pronello, Goger, 2009) shows a certain degree of complexity due to the sophisticated models used and the urge of for a continuous monitoring to collect the necessary data. This situation has led to collect and manage large amounts of data (albeit not always consistent at the different geographical levels) and, hence, to build national/regional/local data bases spurred by the need to know in-depth the transport, land use and environmental situations: planning has to be rooted on a well-know current scenario in order to provide sustainable policy options for the future If this approach can be good at project level, it becomes more and more complex when the planning level is strategic and covers larger geographical levels. The current situation in the appraisal of transport infrastructures is focused on detailed studies allowing cost-benefit analysis as a final tool for the decision makers, and this evaluation is suitable for EIA. Where some attempts have been made to appraise plans, the same approach used for individual infrastructure projects seems to be followed, so that the SEA becomes, in fact, an ”extended” EIA. Data availability and models allow for this trade-off where the difference is the application of the tools at higher geographical level (e.g. an entire nation) and implies simply a stronger computation power. It has been argued that the strategic approach should not go into great detail; thence, not all currently available data are needed. Just the most strategic transport information, allowing understanding current trends – car ownership, yearly kilometres travelled, the characteristics and evolution of supply in respect to the demand – is required Correlating monitored transportation and environmental data after plan implementation is also essential In any case, a more qualitative approach leading to a transport and environmental balance could be more useful than long and detailed calculations. SEA is necessary for TEN-T; as part of the EU policy it should answer to strategic questions and need suitable indicators to give proper answers. Systematic and objectives-led SEA is needed to support decision making in social dilemma situations as, for example, in the case of the of High speed line Torino-Lyon (TAV Torino-Lyon): - is there a big misunderstanding ? - what about the distinction between not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) and locally unwanted-land-use (LULU) attitudes AND the right to protect the environment and the human health ? - representative governments may sometimes have to intervene in favour of the collective public interest and need appropriate support instruments.