Strategic Environmental Assessment Approaches for the Solid Waste sector and “beat marine litter”

Abstract

The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is an instrument that has a set of analytical and methodological approaches designed to integrate environmental considerations at the level of public policies and has the opportunity to play an important role in the planning and management of the solid waste sector in the face of the challenges of “beat marine litter”. This research aimed to explore SEA approaches to identify a suitable methodology for application in the solid waste and marine litter sector or suggest elements for developing a new SEA methodological approach. For this, the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method was used based on the recommendation of Main Items for Reporting Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis. The databases Google Scholar, Periódico CAPES, SciELO-Scientific Electronic Library Online, Web of Science were used. For qualitative analysis, content analysis and categorical analysis methods were used. Seven approaches were identified and explored: Compliance-based SEA; EIA-like SEA; Strategic futures SEA; Strategic transitions SEA; ANSEA; Ecosystem services-based SEA; ST4S approach. Studies on SEA applied to the solid waste sector are limited and mainly explore the tiering of public policies. No applications of SEA were found in the context of combating litter at sea. The SLR was effective in answering the key research questions, allowing us to describe existing SEA approaches and applications in the solid waste and marine litter sector.