• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.179-193
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• 2005

As the world's attention turns to sustainability and the considerations of cumulative effects, the concept of Strategic Environmental Assessment(SEA) has become more significant and urgent and increasing number of countries and international organizations now undertake some forms of SEA. The term SEA, however, is variously defined and understood; generally it means a formal process of systematic analysis of the environmental effects on development policies, plans, programmes and other proposed strategic actions. This process extends the aims and principles of EIA upstream in the decision-making process, beyond the project level in which major alternatives are still open. There is a shift toward more integrative approaches and greater use of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) as sustainability tools in cooperation with Environmental Management System (EMS). Currently, Korea has EIA system and Prior Environmental Review System (PERS) which is different type of SEA as Environment Assessment (EA) system. APEMI IA MODEL integrated following three pillar(refer to attached figure.1) ; First pillar symbolized decision making cycle with planning process. Second pillar symbolized integrated assessment which tying SEA and EIA with specific impacts assessment(eg: social impact assessment, economic impact assessment, health impact assessment etc) in cooperation with EMS. Third pillar symbolized EA best practical procedure of International Association for Impact Assessment(IAIA). Considering the above, we applied new conceptual model(APEMI IA MODEL) into Impact Assessment for better integrated decision-making in KOREA as an alternative IA system(IS IA MODEL A and B refer to attached figure 4, 5).

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.104-112
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• 2015

In this study, several factors which can have an effect on soil during strategic environmental assessment (SEA) are analyzed against a total of 86 administrative plans and development basic plans of the SEA. Other factors which could have influences on soil are also analyzed after examining contents and rules required for preparing the SEA statement. Then, we propose assessment factors on soils during the SEA procedure. We think that this study could give baseline data to set up assessment items, criteria, and techniques that are highly necessitated in preparation of the SEA statement in the near future.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.269-279
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• 2011

Sustainability assessments tend to integrate ecological, social, and economic concerns. Sustainability assessment could be considered the highest rung in the assessment ladder. Broad strategies that seek to integrate individual SEA(Strategic Environmental Assessment) could be subjected to a sustainability assessment. Sustainability assessment could incorporate global and transboundary effects and priorities into SEA and project-level EIA(Environmental Impact Assessment). SEA could provide an environmental context and direction for project-level EIA. Procedural and substantive EIA requirements can be addressed through tiering such as sustainability assessment, SEA, project-level EIA. In Korea, PERS(Prior Environmental Review System) that has been utilized to evaluate administrative plans related with various kinds of development projects should be evolved not only to incorporate environmental impacts into early stage decision-making, but also to implicate sustainability assessments that include social equity and economic efficiency. Integration of SEA and sustainability assessment can be initiated through the application of DPSIR (Driving Force - Pressure - State - Impact - Response ) framework that was developed by European Environmental Agency.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.107-120
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• 2007

The introduction of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) has strengthened and extended the value of environmental impact assessment (EIA) as a foundational tool for sustainable development. In particular, SEA helps to overcome the limitation of project EIA as a 'stand alone' approach, applied relatively late in the decision making cycle. SEA is applied to policy, plan and programme (3P) proposals, when major alternatives are open and systematic consideration can be given to their environmental effects. This process also corresponds to options appraisal of development proposal to find the best practical outcome having regard to all potential impacts. There are imperatives for sustainable development (SD) that are shaping future directions for EIA and SEA internationally, regionally and locally. There is a shift toward more integrative approaches of using EIA and SEA as sustainability tools in cooperated environmental management system (EMS). Korea has established and applied EIA for over twenty years for various projects. Given its coverage, the current EIA system is SEA exclusive. The Prior Environmental Review System (PERS), which is a SEA-type of system, was applied in the late 1990s, mainly for various developing planning programs. The current PERS has been modified as a SEA type system, but in general, policy is not going to be covered.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.139-155
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• 2006

The introduction of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has strengthened and extended the value of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as a fundamental tool for sustainable development. In particular, SEA helps to overcome the limitation of project EIA as a stand alone approach that is applied relatively late in the decision making cycle. SEA is applied to proposals of policy, plan, and/or programme when major alternatives are open. In Korea, similar to SEA, the Prior Environmental Review System (PERS) was introduced to overcome the limitations of the EIA, by checking the environmental impacts on major policy and administrative actions in the early stage of decision making process. SEA appears in various national, regional and international laws. SEA is addressed specifically in the UNECE SEA protocol to the Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a transboundary context, as well as the European Commission SEA Directive (2001/42/EC). SEA is a valuable tool for integrating sustainability decisions into country's policies, plans and programmes. This paper reviews the policy direction for implementation of the SEA and efficient Environmental Assessment (EA) through integration of the PERS and the EIA.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.419-427
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• 2009

Methodology and application of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for policies, plans, and programs are still new approach in Vietnam. With a support from Vietnam-Swedish Project (SEMLA) and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), SEA for the Tonkin Gulf Coastal Economic Belt Development Plan was conducted in 2008. Lessons obtained from this SEA may contribute to improving methods and practicing SEAs for regional development. The main lessons summarized in this paper are: (i) close cooperation between the planning and environmental teams from the beginning phase of a master plan; (ii) SEA should focus not only on impacts to the natural environment but also on main issues of socio-economic aspects; (iii) approaches and methods used in SEA should be appropriate to properly predict the impacts at regional-levels and cumulative impacts; (iv) a good SEA study may be achieved when detailed data on the environment and socio-economy of the study area are available and have active engagement of stakeholders, including project affected sectors, ecologists, planners, policy makers, etc. This paper is useful for whom, those work in SEA in regional development.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.125-135
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• 2004

Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) in Korea has been used to improve environmental conservation and decision-making. Since environmental impact statement(EIS) was introduced in 1981 with the promulgation of the Environmental Preservation Act in 1977, which replaced the Pollution Control Act legislated in 1963. With a rapid growth of environmental perception as well as the diversification of development activities, however, it has recently bring about a strong demand for a new assessment process related to the strategic level of policies, plan, programs. Method of this study includes analyses of the situation of local EIA and its problematic issues through survey and analysis of information and data, analysis of the level of environmental awareness of professionals and case studies including analysis of foreign strategic environmental assessment. Accordingly, I have elicited a concept of SEA. In addition, I have studied on costs of environmental assessment, and efficiency of internalization of HIA. The survey was carried between September and November 2003, and 177 professionals were asks to complete a questionnaire. As a result of questionnaire survey of environmental pundits, it revealed that 83.8% of participants were in favor of introduction of strategic assessment. This result demonstrated more or less higher approval rate than those of awareness survey done by the Ministry of Environment, i.e. 86.0% ayes, and 14.0% nays. 22.8% of participants agreed to the opinion; "For introduction of this system, earlier is better," 50% reported having an opinion such as, "Will introduce this system in an earliest possible time after correcting problems," 26.3% reported having an opinion such as, "Let's decide the time for introduction of this system after correcting problems first,' and 0.9% reported having an opinion, "it's too early to introduce this system." Specifically, the ratio of ayes on introduction of the system marked 72.8%, and it revealed that a majority of respondents have an opinion such as, "Will introduce this system in an earliest possible time after correcting problems." As means of solutions for the problem regarding the limits of applications that existed in SEA System, factors, such as collecting a wide variety of opinions, securing experts, and faithful implementation, etc. were reported important, and in addition to these factors, respondents revealed having opinions such as, consistent research and development, reflection of public interest, establishment of professional organization, enforcement of after-management service, expanding investments in large, systemizing reference materials, and encouraging public participation, etc. To improve problems involving with present EIA system, it has been identified through this study that SEA is efficient and useful. In order to have SEA introduced successfully, it has been cleared that internalization of effectiveness of environmental cost together with HIA must be accomplished.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.5-31
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• 1997

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is an assessment process integrated with policy and planning processes considering environmental impacts, not at the level of individual project, but at higher level of policy and plan. Presently, two systems for the SEA are being implemented in Korea. One is "the consultation of environmental investigation into a change in national land utilization", which is to be pre-discussed with the head of the related central administrative organizations, based on the respective individual code. The other is "the consultation of environmental investigation into an administrative plan and project", which is to be pre-discussed with the minister of the environments for the administrative plan. However, these two systems are not integrated procedures with the planning process. In other words, there is a separate post-environmental assessment after planning. Also concrete proposal is not yet prepared for the method and procedure of environmental investigation about details of the planning. Therefore, they do not playa role in taking precautions for environmentally sustainable development. In this study, for the effective environmental investigation at the level of planning, environmental assessment model to be integrated with urban comprehensive plans was developed. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: First, based on the analysis of systematic problems in environmental investigation of this country, the study compared and analysed the SEA method of foreign countries. derived the potential limitations in its applications to this country. Also, the new method in this study, is integrated into planning process by improving the limitations. Thus, we developed the SEA model for this country, which consists of seven steps ; Phase 1; establishing a work program, Phase 2; defining the scop. of the SEA, Phase 3; analyzing an existing environmental situation, Phase 4; examining the consistency with environmental policy, Phase 5; appraising and synthesizing the plan content, Phase 6; proposing recommendations, Phase 7; monitoring and feedback. Second, the two types of application program of the developed assessment model were proposed. One is to integrate this model into planning process, and the other is for the institute and ministry of environments to implement SEA after planning. An aim of this study was developing an environmental assessment model at the planning level which was not yet established in this country and was to apply the model to urban comprehensive plan for inspection. This research will make the effective operation of environmental investigation system possible at the planning level in this country and contribute to the environmental protection at the global level.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.244-259
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• 2015

The Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment(SEIA) in Korea has been introduced and implemented for 15 policy-level plans and 86 project-level plans since 2012. Lately an important issue of the Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) policy has been emerged regarding the expansion of the policy-level plans subjected to SEIA. Thus, we propose the plans that need to be included in the system, compared with those subjected to the Strategic Environmental Assessment(SEA) enforced in the law or the guideline of 10 foreign counties, especially with those of Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Netherlands. Specifically the study suggests that plans related to energy as well as land use, which are well known to cause potential environmental impacts and subjected to the federal-level SEA in those countries, should be the subject of SEIA.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.171-188
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• 2003

Environmental Impact Assessment(ElA) in Korea has been used to improve environmental conservation and decision-making since environmental impact statement(EIS) was introduced in 1981 with the promulgation of the Environmental Preservation Act in 1977. which replaoed the Pollution Control Act legislated in 1%3. Together with a rapid growth of environmental perception as well as the diversification of development activities, however, it has recently bring about a strong demand for a new assessment process related to the strategic level of policies, plan, programs. In order to overcome such a limit in ElA system, Prior Environmental Review System(PERS) was introduced for assessment of administrative plans mainly concerned with development projects in 1993. In 1999. the regulations for PERS have been established by an amendment of the Basic Environmental Policy Act.Therefore the foundation of EIA system to integrate environmental concerns in planning processes and project works has been refonned. However the results of the execution of PERS were somewhat insuffident due to the institutional and technical matters. As the world's attention turns to sustainability and the considerations of cumulative effects, the concept of strategic envirorunental assessment(SEA) has taken on more significance and urgency and increasing number of countries and international organizations now undertake some form of SEA. The term SEA, however, is variously defined and understood, generally it means a formal process of systematic analysis of the envirorunental effects of development policies, plans, programmes and other proposed strategic actions. This process extends the aims and principles of EIA upstream in the decision-making process, beyond the project level and when major alternatives are still open. In this paper, we are discussing the significance of SEA and its relevance to EIA and the international trends and institutionalization of SEA. In conclusion we are discussing the comprehensive developing plan for SEA in Korea, then proposing a plan to make institutional arrangements for its application.