Introducing SEA effectiveness

The idea for this special issue – IAPA 2019, issues 3 and 4–startedwitharesearchprojectonSEAeffectivenessin Ireland commissioned by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 2018). As part of the project, we were to examine and learn from SEA effectiveness in other countries. At Thomas Fischer’s prompting, this evolved into inviting people to write articles about SEA effectiveness in their country. We wrote to about 20 people, expecting a few responses. Instead, we got more than a dozen. This confirms that SEA effectiveness is an important and timely topic – as does the ongoing European Commission ‘REFIT’ of the SEA Directive (EC 2018). This special issue not only provides insights into the performance of SEA across Europe and globally, but can also inform the EU REFIT. We are delighted to present, in this issue, articles about SEA effectiveness in Austria, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, England, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Spain, Slovenia and Thailand. Most of the contributors have carried out primary research in the form of questionnaires or discussion groups. This has allowed an analysis of SEA’s performance on the ground, by looking at actual changes to the plan and plan implementation, as well as tapping into authors’ personal knowledge. In turn, this enables a more comprehensive examination of SEA effectiveness, rather than simply whether SEA reports cover specific aspects and topics, which has been the focus of most previous effectiveness studies. This introductory editorial gives brief background information about the dimensions of effectiveness that we asked the article authors to address (i.e. contextual, pluralist, substantive, normative, knowledge and learning, and transactive); the procedural dimension which we explicitly asked them to not address; and some of the issues emerging from the articles.