Establishment Of An Analytical Framework For Performance Evaluation On Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) And Its Application To The Republic Of Benin

SEA is an analytical and participatory approach that aims to integrate environmental considerations into the formulation of policies, plans and programs; and evaluate their inter linkages with economic and social considerations. It has emerged and established itself as a good practice and widely recognized as a key mechanism for asserting sustainable development objectives since its potential role in attaining sustainable development objectives was explicitly recognized during the1992Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro (United Nations,1992).Despite the many apparent advantages of SEA known through various literatures, little research has been conducted to describe how SEA is performed within a given situation. The lack of empirical research to evaluate and learn from this wealth of practical experience can be considered as a major lost opportunity for the development of our understanding of SEA (planning process in which it occurs; the ways to improve its implementation based on the evaluation of existing SEA process; and the methodological aspects to consider for its implementation).In response to this, it is important to evaluate the practical experience with SEA in order to improve the use of the tool. To this end, the current research has been proposed to provide an analytical framework for SEA process performance evaluation.The methodology used in this research is based on two complementary approaches including:the development of the analytical framework that can be used to analyze, from a methodological point of view, the practice of SEA and, the application of this framework to a case study (here designed by SEA for Poverty reduction strategy in the Republic of Benin, West Africa). These approaches have both been mainly based on data collected from a literature review and direct communication with experts. These data have been well-detailed and analyzed which has helped to identify and select the relevant components of the analytical framework as well as the possible reasons explaining the performance of the case study on each criterion of the framework.The methodology used has led to various findings or results, including:a) The research has established an analytical framework first, with respect to various criteria (generic and specific criteria) on SEA performance evaluation and second, with respect to the link between SEA process and strategic/participatory planning process. Concretely, the analytical framework is built up of21criteria including:06generic criteria and15specific criteria (grouped into8,5and2criteria respectively for the process stages, actor involved and tools used). Each criterion was assigned to2or4levels of scale according to the type of the evaluation on each criterion. Furthermore, the research has also led to the description of the usefulness of each criterion of the analytical framework as well as the identification of constraints to be taken into account for the proper use of the analytical framework.b) The application of the analytical framework to a case study revealed that:-Considering the overall result based on the analytical framework, the case study is generally successful in that it responds positively to16criteria of the analytical framework out of21(11out of15specific criteria and5out of6generic criteria). The weaknesses points of the case study under the analytical framework are mainly related to SEA stages, public involvement, and the inability to incorporate flexibility into process design.-The case study is reasonably well linked with the characteristics of strategic planning with8criteria of good score out of9criteria. However, the case study is relatively poor linked with the characteristics of participatory planning. The reasons for this could be due to the highly political nature of the Plan and the need for the PRSP within established timeframes.c) Finally, the approaches adopted in the thesis have led to the development of various recommendations concerning the aspects that should be considered for the implementation of an effective SEA. In term of recommendation, the research has also proposed a scientific procedure for alternative assessments based on extension theory. The result showed through its application to Cotonou urban traffic plan case study, that the extension planning and priority evaluation present a more efficient and scientific procedure to develop range of alternatives and confirm the preferred one with the capacity of solving the contradictions caused by the interests and needs of various stakeholders.