Introduction

The intractability of many environmental problems, and the scarcity of meaningful solutions to them, make environmental management tools such as strategic environmental assessment (SEA), which are intended to deliver environmental improvement and raise environmental awareness, particularly important. SEA has the potential to reduce the negative and enhance the positive environmental impacts associated with the implementation of land use plans. SEA and, in many countries, land use planning, have the achievement of sustainable development as a central aim. As land use plans can encompass wide geographical areas, which, in some cases, have very large populations, the potential beneficial impacts of the SEA of land use plans are great.