Fit for Strategic Purpose? The Quality of Strategic Environmental Assessment Guidelines in Three East African Nations.

High-quality strategic environmental assessment (SEA) guidelines are essential for ensuring effective SEA implementation. However, empirical studies appraising the quality of existing guidelines are scarce, particularly in Africa. This paper evaluates the quality of national SEA guidelines in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, focusing on their potential to support strategic thinking and practice. Data were drawn from guideline documents and analysed using content analysis against best practice, strategic criteria. The analysis reveals that while guidelines share some commonalities, they differ in scope, specificity and strategic orientation. They all incorporate important guiding principles, but only partially address other best practice criteria. Notably, they offer inconsistent guidance on structuring the assessment process and engaging decision windows, which may limit their practical usefulness. The findings highlight opportunities for improving future guideline development, revision and updates. This research and policy recommendations will benefit practitioners, policy-makers and other stakeholders in the case countries and similar jurisdictions.

The Performance of Environmental and Health Impact Assessment Implementation: A Case Study in Eastern Thailand.

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) performance has remained of interest, and over the past ten years, the evaluation technique has evolved. Thailand implemented an EIA with a health impact assessment (HIA) as an environmental health impact assessment (EHIA), which necessitated investigating and developing these instruments; however, its implementation performance has been questioned. The main goal of this study is to comparatively assess how well EIAs and EHIAs are performed in projects in an area in Thailand. Six projects in various sectors that were implemented in Eastern Thailand were studied. The 162 residents (nine local authorities and 153 villagers) closest to the project completed a survey and evaluated the performance according to three aspects (i.e., substantive, procedural, and transactive), using a rating scale and evaluation checklists. The results were presented as a percentage of the total scores and interpreted according to the five scales. The overall performance reached a satisfactory level, albeit not significantly different between cases; however, it was pointed out that the shortcomings of EHIAs and EIAs, particularly their dependability, lack of public involvement, and the need for more transparency, could be addressed through the establishment of an open access database, which would help to simplify the assessment of all stages of EIAs and EHIAs.

Assessing nutrient fate from terrestrial to freshwater systems using a semi-distributed model for the Fuxian Lake Basin, China.

The growing and increasingly intensified agricultural sector exerts major pressures on the environment. Specifically, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) runoff can induce eutrophication in freshwater ecosystems. To formulate environmental strategies for controlling eutrophication, decision-makers commonly consider the importance of pollutant contributors before developing sector-specific environmental policies. These types of science-based decisions benefit from nutrient models that quantify nutrient transport and fate. However, due to a lack of fertilizer application data, distributed models are generally not suitable for most rural regions with extensive agriculture, while lumped models cannot properly characterize the spatial variation of nutrient fate in these regions. To assess the nutrient contributions from different emission sources to freshwater, we developed a localized semi-distributed model to simulate total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) in 52 inflow rivers of Fuxian Lake Basin in China. The results show that diffuse sources contributed 82 % TN and 92 % TP loading to the inflow rivers. The highest eutrophication potentials (i.e., loading per area) is from the built environment, which is more than 10 times that of forests, but the contribution of the built environment to total diffuse loading is only the second-highest as it occupies 8.7 % of the surface area. Farmland is the main contributor, generating 49 % of diffuse TN and 57 % TP, respectively. Our results show that promoting a 10 % increase in nutrient use efficiency would reduce 5 % of N and 30 % of P diffuse loadings to the rivers. Through examining the impact of nutrient use efficiency, we emphasize the potential trade-offs between food productivity and environmental effects. This analysis workflow can be applied to other agricultural regions.

Impact assessment of temporary activities and events.

Temporary activities and events may have significant environmental impacts. However, they are often outside the scope of environmental assessment (EA) processes. Environmental requirements in authorization processes of activities are rare, except for some major events in sensitive areas. This article analyzes, first, the environmental impacts of outdoor temporary activities and events through a literature review; all the analyzed activities may have significant negative impacts. Then, the authorization of temporary activities, and their inclusion in EA systems, in a sample of jurisdictions worldwide was analyzed. Applying EA processes is more an exception than a rule for temporary activities. The article discusses the factors that influence activities' impacts, the conflict between precaution and operation, and the benefits and drawbacks of the application of different EA schemes to temporary activities, concluding with some proposals to improve the consideration of environmental aspects in activities' authorization. Before the authorization of activities and events, their environmental impacts should be analyzed and taken into account. This can be achieved through regulations in management plans submitted to strategic EA, through screening processes, or through environmental impact assessment when significant impacts are expected. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2023;19:1320-1332. © 2023 SETAC.

OECD Case Studies of Integrated Regional and Strategic Impact Assessment: What Does 'Integration' Look Like in Practice?

Increasingly, protocols for assessing the impacts of land-uses and major resource development projects focus not only on environmental impacts, but also social and human health impacts. Regional and Strategic Environmental Assessment (RSEAs) are one innovation that hold promise at better integrating these diverse land-use values into planning, assessment, and decision-making. In this contribution, a realist review methodology is utilized to identify case studies of "integrated RSEA"-those which are strategic, have a regional assessment approach, and seek to integrate environmental, community and health impacts into a singular assessment architecture. The results of a systematic literature review are described and six RSEA-like case studies are identified: Kimberly Browse LNG SEA; HS2 Appraisal of Sustainability; Lisbon International Airport SEA; Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment; Nordstream 2 Transboundary EIA; and the Portland Harbour Sustainability Project. The case studies are examined according to their unique contexts, mechanisms and outcomes of their assessment protocols to determine the degree to which they consider more than environmental valued components, and the means by which they were included. Findings suggest that RSEA has a contentious relationship with the integration of more than environmental values, but that there are significant lessons to be learned to support project planning, especially for assessment contexts characterized by large, transboundary projects.

Meta-analysis of SEA's effectiveness evaluation criteria: A comparison between the Chinese and international contexts.

By considering environmental factors in the earliest stage of decision-making, strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is seen as an important preventive measure to realize sustainable development. Despite a great expansion of SEA effectiveness research in the past 10 years, no study statistically reviews how frequently the evaluation criteria are adopted. The present meta-analysis considers 68 academic papers published from 2009 to 2019, with 41 articles relating to the international context and 27 relating to China. After ascertaining the number of times each criterion is mentioned, the adoption frequency is calculated and a comparison is made between the Chinese and international contexts. The result reveals that the criteria adopted in studies evaluating China's SEA largely accord with those used to evaluate international SEA. Both focus on procedural and contextual effectiveness. The distribution of substantive and normative effectiveness evaluation criteria is very similar. However, the significant differences lie in the criteria of assessment methods and communication, which are all of the drawbacks influencing SEA implementation in China. In addition, the problems of China's SEA pointed out by past scholars are statistically analyzed. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:997-1006. © 2021 SETAC.

The Potential of Strategic Environmental Assessment to Improve Urban Planning in Sierra Leone.

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is a proactive and collaborative method for environmental management designed to integrate environmental considerations into decision-making; and it is good for Sierra Leone. To understand whether SEA would be useful in the context of Sierra Leone, the authors interviewed 64 out of 78 experts face to face from March to July 2019. In addition, government policies and regulatory documents on environmental management and sustainable development, published articles served as secondary sources of data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. These Sierra Leonean experts agreed that SEA would be useful for integration and achievement of improved sustainable urban planning strategies. However, the barriers identified to integrating SEA include: not addressing environmental issues during the preparation of policies and programs, insufficient political will, the absence of clear objectives, targets, principles and approaches, overlapping mandates among environmental institutions, and inadequate institutional coordination and non-integrated development framework as barriers to integrating SEA into their work. The study shows that SEA has the potential to have a positive impact on environmental concerns in decision-making, but it would need to be supported by stronger political will, legal frameworks, and improved technical guidance from the policy perspective. Moreover, we propose a conceptual framework for the inclusion of SEA into the urban planning process in Sierra Leone.

Assessing the potential for collaborative governance to support cumulative effects assessment in the Indigenous Cree territory of Eeyou Istchee, Canada.

This paper explores the potential for collaborative governance approaches to support Cumulative Effects Assessment (CEA) in the Cree territory of Eeyou Istchee, located in Northern Quebec, Canada, where a long history of large-scale hydroelectricity development, mining and forestry activities have negatively affected wildlife populations, imposing burdens on the traditional food systems and livelihoods of local Indigenous communities. Drawing on key informant interviews with policy actors from government, non-government and private sector organizations working on Impact Assessment in Eeyou Istchee, the potential for more decentralized and networked approaches to regional wildlife monitoring and baseline data collection in support of CEA is considered. Results suggest a shared willingness to collaborate towards improving the overall regional environmental conditions and to generate long-term data on wildlife population and distribution. Challenges include the absence of essential supporting programs (land-use plans, regional environmental frameworks, lead monitoring agencies, designated funding), and high levels of distrust between proponents and NGOs which combine to suppress the initiation of collaborative governance processes as well as the potential utility of any regional monitoring program that might be established. The need for leadership to facilitate reciprocal knowledge flows among actors, build trust and enable long-term cooperative structures based on a shared vision and goal congruency is identified.

Analysing students' environmental awareness profile using strategic environmental assessment.

Background: Environmental awareness (EA) is a part of character education ignored by most students. This indifference tends to affect other students' by not only in protecting and preserving the current environment but also in preventing and repairing the damage that occurs in the environment. This research analyses students' EA profile, based on the findings of LISREL 8.8 Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Methods: Research subjects included 131 students from Senior High School State 1 Selomerto Wonosobo, Central Java Province, Indonesia. Based on the Slovin formula, the number of samples is representative of the total population (N: 185; error tolerance: 0.05). Data were collected through non-test questionnaires and observation of Strategic Environmental Awareness (SEA). Quantitative descriptive data analysis on EA indicators (Care, Curiosity, Critical, Dependability, Responsibility, and Local Wisdom). Results: The EA profile of high school students was categorised sufficiently. This revealed the following results: a) the SEA instrument is effective in identifying students' awareness about current environmental issues and meets model fit criteria (P-value 0.25>0.05; RMSEA 0.095; NFI 0.67); b) the SEA instrument is valid and reliable in accurately determining students' EA profile; c) although the Responsibility profile was significant (t >1.96), other variables did not meet this significance criteria (EA 1a: 'Care towards environmental damage' under the Care profile; EA 3b: 'Contributing towards preserving the environment' under the Critical profile; and EA 6b: 'Aware of local potentials' under the Local Wisdom profile); d) evaluation of the expected changes in SEA is modified through an ethnoscience approach and the socioscientific issues strategy. Conclusions: Students' lack of awareness of the environment and understanding of their regional potential fails to contribute towards creating a sustainable environment. Profile analysis in exploring attitudes, values, and ethics towards the environment are important, as it helps recognize students' behaviour.

Analysis of Health in Environmental Assessments-A Literature Review and Survey with a Focus on Denmark.

In the European Union, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive (2014/52/EU) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive (2011/92/EU) emphasise the assessment of population and human health. The directives require health to be considered within Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). To date, health is mainly considered in connection with negative environmental factors and in terms of risk assessments. The integration of health in EIA as well as SEA has not been investigated in a Danish context, and this study aims to address the missing knowledge. There is a need for a more comprehensive health assessment within EIA and SEA to comply with the EIA and SEA directives. An integration of health into EIA and SEA will ensure a sound examination of health determinants which can improve decision making and thus comprehensively promote and protect health. To establish the status of the inclusion of the assessment of impacts on health into EIA and SEA, a literature review was performed. In addition, a survey addressed to researchers and practitioners was conducted and analysed through a comparative analysis. The survey examined the needs of practitioners and researchers, focusing on the Danish context, regarding the inclusion of health into EIA and SEA. Enhanced intersectoral cooperation of the health and environmental sectors, more specific guidance documents, and underlying this, stronger political support, were identified among needs for more comprehensive health assessments.

Network model-based analysis of the goals, targets and indicators of sustainable development for strategic environmental assessment.

Strategic environmental assessment is a decision support technique that evaluates policies, plans and programs in addition to identifying the most appropriate interventions in different scenarios. This work develops a network-based model to study interlinked ecological, economic, environmental and social problems to highlight the synergies between policies, plans, and programs in environmental strategic planning. Our primary goal is to propose a methodology for the data-driven verification and extension of expert knowledge concerning the interconnectedness of the sustainable development goals and their related targets. A multilayer network model based on the time-series indicators of the World Bank open data over the last 55 years was assembled. The results illustrate that by providing an objective and data-driven view of the correlated variables of the World Bank, the proposed layered multipartite network model highlights the previously not discussed interconnections, node centrality measures evaluate the importance of the targets, and network community detection algorithms reveal their strongly connected groups. The results confirm that the proposed methodology can serve as a data-driven decision support tool for the preparation and monitoring of long-term environmental policies. The developed new data-driven network model enables multi-level analysis of the sustainability (goals, targets, indicators) and will make it possible to plan long-term environmental strategic planning. Through relationships among indicators, relationships among targets and goals can be modelled. The results show that sustainable development goals are strongly interconnected, while the 5th goal (gender equality) is linked mostly to 17th (partnerships for the goals) goal. The analysis has also highlighted the importance of the 4th (quality education).

Can Resilience Thinking Be Integrated into the Strategic Environmental Assessment Process?

This commentary discusses strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in the context of global environmental change and presents a brief overview of the science of social-ecological systems and the resilience thinking and practices that result from it. Resilience thinking and assessment have the potential to make a significant contribution to SEA, if SEA is applied (as intended) as a proactive tool for assessing development sustainability during the process of making plans, policies, and programs. So far, there is little indication that social-ecological system (SES) resilience ideas are being applied to SEA, and from a complex systems perspective, it seems that cognitive and social biases may be the primary barriers to both the improvement of SEA practice and the application of SES resilience science to SEA practice. Resilience thinking can be integrated into SEA, provided that leadership in the SEA community can create a social movement for change in practice and the policies that affect SEA procedures. Principles of complexity, uncertainty, self-organization, and cooperative problem solving may be the most important cognitive barriers to change and can be overcome through education and a learning-by-doing approach to the application of resilience assessment when appropriate in a SEA process. A deliberate change process can be undertaken in an action research approach that monitors and adapts the process according to the lessons learned in practice. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2018;14:571-577. © 2018 SETAC.

Avaliação ambiental estratégica e planejamento do setor de transportes paulista / Strategic environmental assessment and transportation sector planning in the state of São Paulo

RESUMO A Avaliação Ambiental Estratégica (AAE) é considerada o instrumento apropriado para integrar a sustentabilidade no planejamento. Foram aplicados os critérios de desempenho da Associação Internacional de Avaliação de Impacto a casos brasileiros de AAE de transporte, utilizando análise de conformidade e de conteúdo. Os resultados demonstraram um relativo ajuste dos estudos nacionais à expectativa de qualidade desejada para eficácia no uso da AAE, com algumas práticas satisfatórias e outras limitadas. Este artigo propõe orientações para o uso da AAE no planejamento de transportes do estado de São Paulo, a partir de contribuições identificadas nos estudos nacionais, complementadas por boas práticas internacionais.

ABSTRACT Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is the appropriate tool for achieving sustainability in planning. Performance criteria of the International Association for Impact Assessment were applied to Brazilian transport cases of SEA by using compliance and content analysis. The results showed a relative alignment of the national studies to the expectation of quality for fostering SEA efficiency, with some satisfactory practices and limited other ones. This paper proposes guidelines for using SEA in transport planning in the state of São Paulo from contributions identified in the national studies, complemented by international good practice.

O planejamento integrado de bacia hidrográfica e uso do solo na Escócia / Water basin management plan integrated in spatial plans in Scotland

RESUMO A implementação da Diretiva da Água 2000/60/EC demandou a articulação entre a gestão da água e a gestão territorial na comunidade europeia, fomentando a integração entre diferentes níveis de planejamento, como o regional, aplicado na escala da bacia hidrográfica, e o local, aplicado em âmbito municipal. Na Escócia, a integração entre os diferentes setores e escalas de planejamento é conduzida pela aplicação da Avaliação Ambiental Estratégica (AAE). Neste artigo, foram comparados os procedimentos e etapas de elaboração de dois instrumentos de planejamento territorial realizados para a mesma área: o Plano de Bacia Hidrográfica da Escócia para 2009/2015 e sua AAE e o Plano de Desenvolvimento Local de Glasgow para 2010/2015 e sua respectiva AAE. Como resultado, as diferentes características dos instrumentos de planejamento analisados influenciam nos objetivos e no nível de detalhamento utilizado pelas AAEs, cujos resultados conduziram gradativamente à integração dos planos. Como conclusão, o uso da AAE mostrou-se efetivo para propiciar a integração dos diferentes instrumentos de planejamento, atendendo aos requisitos da Diretiva da Água.

ABSTRACT The Water Directive 2000/60/EC regards the water basin management plans integrated in spatial plans in the European community, affecting the regional and local planning. In Scotland, the Strategic Environmental Assessment is used to combine distinct sectors and planning scales. This paper compared the procedures and steps of spatial planning for the same area: Scottish River Basin Management Plan 2009/2015 and Local Development Plan for Glasgow 2010/2015, with their Strategic Environmental Assessment as well. As a result, features of each planning tools affect the aims and details of Strategic Environmental Assessment, which conducts gradually the planning integration. The practice of Strategic Environmental Assessment is useful regarding the Water Directive objectives.

Application of the WEAP model in strategic environmental assessment: Experiences from a case study in an arid/semi-arid area in China.

This article investigated how the use of a water resources assessment model contributed to one of the first strategic environmental assessments (SEA) conducted for arid/semi-arid regions in China. The study was based on the SEA of a coal industry development plan in Ordos, an arid/semi-arid region of northwest China, where a temporally and spatially simplified version of the WEAP (Water Evaluation And Planning System) model was applied for assessing the impact of the planned activities on local water resource system. Four scenarios were developed to simulate various alternatives using a diverse range of water utilisation measures such as irrigation efficiency, treatment and the reuse of water. The WEAP model itself was found to be a useful tool for efficient water resources assessment in SEA: 1) WEAP provides built-in simulation modules for water assessment, which improve the SEA's efficiency significantly; 2) WEAP temporally has the flexibility in both delivering information on a reasonably aggregated level by evaluating water resource on an annual time step, which fits most SEA cases, and being possible to take a finer time step analysis monthly, weekly even daily; 3) Spatially, WEAP has advantage in dealing with distributed demand sites in large spatial scale. However, although WEAP appears as a useful tool in providing support for decision-making, in this SEA case we experienced difficulty in building a feasible scenario to mitigate the impact of the proposed activities on the local water system, so that solution had to be found outside of the assessed scenarios - which led to the discussion on the fact that the proposed activities in SEA cases are rarely regarded as an uncertainty. Therefore future research on the scope of SEA scenarios could be valuable.

Indicators' role: How do they influence Strategic Environmental Assessment and Sustainable Planning - The Chinese experience.

As an information carrier and communication medium, indicators provide useful decision-making assistance in setting process goals and effectively reaching the goals. The main focus of this article is to investigate indicators' role in influencing planning through Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) especially related to Chinese experiences. From the perspective of planning and decision-making theory, the influence on planning is studied as influence of planning structure and influence of planning actors. Such a conceptual framework is applied in order to demonstrate how the use of indicators can influence planning through a SEA process. The study holds two empirical levels. On a general level, based on an online survey, this article investigates SEA practitioners' experiences in using indicators. On a case level, two urban plans are selected to provide more detailed experiences. The case level investigation is based on a documentary study and individual interviews with SEA practitioners/planners. By exploring how indicators influence planning through the structure of and the actors within SEA, this study tries to provide an overview of indicators' role in SEA. The results indicate that indicators are perceived as a useful tool in the Chinese SEA system. By improving and simplifying the procedures of SEA, the indicators exert more structural influence on SEA and on plan making. On the other hand, indicators are also shown to have more influence through political actors than found among technical actors.

Strategic Environmental Assessment Framework for Landscape-Based, Temporal Analysis of Wetland Change in Urban Environments.

This paper presents and demonstrates a spatial framework for the application of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in the context of change analysis for urban wetland environments. The proposed framework is focused on two key stages of the SEA process: scoping and environmental baseline assessment. These stages are arguably the most information-intense phases of SEA and have a significant effect on the quality of the SEA results. The study aims to meet the needs for proactive frameworks to assess and protect wetland habitat and services more efficiently, toward the goal of advancing more intelligent urban planning and development design. The proposed framework, adopting geographic information system and remote sensing tools and applications, supports the temporal evaluation of wetland change and sustainability assessment based on landscape indicator analysis. The framework was applied to a rapidly developing urban environment in the City of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, analyzing wetland change and land-use pressures from 1985 to 2011. The SEA spatial scale was rescaled from administrative urban planning units to an ecologically meaningful area. Landscape change assessed was based on a suite of indicators that were subsequently rolled up into a single, multi-dimensional, and easy to understand and communicate index to examine the implications of land-use change for wetland sustainability. The results show that despite the recent extremely wet period in the Canadian prairie region, land-use change contributed to increasing threats to wetland sustainability.

Avaliação Ambiental Estratégica orientada pela transdisciplinaridade / Transdisciplinarity-oriented Strategic Environmental Assessment

Situada na interface entre ciência, política e sociedade, a Avaliação Ambiental Estratégica (AAE) envolve múltiplas áreas de saber e questões sujeitas a juízos de valor. Este trabalho visou analisar a inter-relação entre perfil transdisciplinar da AAE, conhecimento local (CL), participação do público e efetividade da avaliação. A AAE orientada à transdisciplinaridade (AAEt) permite melhor abordagem do contexto em estudo, por integrar concepções e perspectivas de agentes com diferentes formações, saberes, experiências e visões de mundo. O CL atua como um conhecimento contextual, que complementa o conhecimento científico. A AAEt deve pautar-se por uma política de envolvimento continuado entre cientistas e leigos, por meio da participação colaborativa de atores sociais. Em conjunto, esses elementos levam à maior aceitação dos resultados pelos interessados, aumentando a efetividade da ferramenta.

Located at the interface between science, politics and society, Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) involves multiple knowledge areas and issues subject to value judgments. This study aims to analyze the interrelation between transdisciplinary profile of SEA, local knowledge (LK), public engagement and effectiveness of assessment. Transdisciplinarity-oriented SEA (SEAt) allows better approach of the context under study, because it integrates concepts and perspectives of agents with different backgrounds, knowledge, experiences and worldviews. The LK acts as a contextual knowledge and it complements the scientific knowledge. SEAt should be guided by a policy of continued involvement between scientists and lay people, through collaborative participation of social actors. Together, these factors lead to greater acceptance of the results by stakeholders, increasing the tool's effectiveness.

Multi-criteria evaluation in strategic environmental assessment for waste management plan, a case study: the city of Belgrade.

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is one of the key instruments for implementing sustainable development strategies in planning in general; in addition to being used in sectoral planning, it can also be used in other areas such as waste management planning. SEA in waste management planning has become a tool for considering the benefits and consequences of the proposed changes in space, also taking into account the capacity of space to sustain the implementation of the planned activities. In order to envisage both the positive and negative implications of a waste management plan for the elements of sustainable development, an adequate methodological approach to evaluating the potential impacts must be adopted and the evaluation results presented in a simple and clear way, so as to allow planners to make relevant decisions as a precondition for the sustainability of the activities planned in the waste management sector. This paper examines the multi-criteria evaluation method for carrying out an SEA for the Waste Management Plan for the city of Belgrade (BWMP). The method was applied to the evaluation of the impacts of the activities planned in the waste management sector on the basis of the environmental and socioeconomic indicators of sustainability, taking into consideration the intensity, spatial extent, probability and frequency of impact, by means of a specific planning approach and simple and clear presentation of the obtained results.

Evaluación ambinntal estratégica para cuencas pioritarias de los andes Colombiianos: dilemas, desafíos y necesidades / Strategic Environmental Assessment for Priority Basins of the Colombian Andes: Dilemmas, Challenges and Necessities

En Colombia muchos ríos y otros sistemas acuáticos continentales, especialmente en la región Andina (la más poblada del país), sufren varios impactos antropogénicos relacionados con cambios en la cobertura vegetal y el uso y manejo del suelo, que comprometen su calidad y cantidad de agua, y el suministro de otros bienes y servicios ecosistémicos para el futuro. Es necesario que el gobierno colombiano formule nuevas y actualice las políticas, planes o programas, en consulta y cooperación constante con otras instituciones, autoridades civiles y ambientales, e investigadores del país (o del exterior), para alcanzar una corresponsabilidad sobre la gestión sostenible de los ríos en esta región. Esto permitiráimplementar una evaluación más integral de la cuenca y de otros aspectos ribereños, para el uso y manejo del agua dulce, en los actuales, o antes del inicio de nuevos proyectos de desarrollo. La toma de decisión sobre soluciones concertadas se debe integrar desde el nivel más bajo posible, e idealmente con participación de todos los grupos de interés, en un marco de evaluación ambiental estratégica (EAE). En este artículo se plantea una reflexión sobre cómo todos los colombianos y particularmente aquellos de la región Andina, pueden contribuir conjuntamente con el gobierno bajo la visión e implementación de una EAE, para lograr una gestión sostenible, eficaz e integrada, de las cuencas hidrográficas de dicha región y del país en general. Para apoyar la reflexión, se destacan algunos aspectos biofísicos y sociales relativos de la cuenca del río Coello en la zona central del país (departamento del Tolima).

In Colombia many rivers and other inland aquatic systems, especially into the Andean Region (the most populated of the country), suffer several anthropogenic impacts related to land use and land cover compromising their water quality and quantity, and the provision of other goods and ecosystem services for the future. It is imperative that the Colombian government may initiate new and updated policies, plans, programs in constant consultation and cooperation with other institutions, civilian and environmental authorities, and researchers from the country (or elsewhere), to obtain amply responsibility on the sustainable river management, especially in this region. Thus, a more integrative watershed river assessment and related riverine issues are necessaries for the current freshwater use and management, and before that new development projects going to start. Decision making regarding concerted solutions should be carried out at the lowest appropriate level, ideally involving all stakeholders into a strategic environmental assessment framework (SEA). This article discusses several issues about how all Colombians and mainly Andean people, can contribute by working together in partnerships with government under the vision and implementation of a SEA, towards a more effective and integrated sustainable management of river basins in the Andean Region and throughout country. This point-of-view is supported by a biophysical and social vision related to the Coello River Basin in Central Colombia (Department of Tolima).