The role of strategic environmental assessment in the EU structural funds evaluation system in Poland

Abstract

The point of this paper is to identify the role of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in the EU structural funds evaluation system in Poland. The constitution of the evaluation system is one of the conditions of structural funds implementation. In the case of Poland such a system was created quite recently and it is still being developed in order to reach its full usefulness. We investigate whether the evaluation system is capable of performing integrated sustainability evaluation and to what extent the evaluations are stitched to environmental issues. Secondly, we try to answer the question of what kinds of instrument and evaluation areas are adequate for the sustainability evaluation task. Finally, the objective of the paper is to assess the use of SEA in the process of sustainability and environmental orientated evaluations. We give coverage of SEA use and experiences of evaluation commissioning agents as well as evaluators on the sustainability assessment issues. The last part of the paper is dedicated to the discussion on the future improvements of SEA use in order to increase its role in the creation of sustainable planning at the national and regional administration level. © 2009 WIT Press.