AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS IN STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT IN CHINA

This paper advocates a modification of the impact-based approach to strategic environmental assessment (SEA) which seems unable to address institutional weaknesses in most conventional SEA cases in China. It identifies a possible alternative approach, i.e. an impact-centred SEA with institutional components, and presents an analytical framework for institutional analysis, including a four-phase methodology to address and improve institutional weaknesses. Subsequently, the analytical framework is applied to an SEA pilot for a provincial transport plan in China. The case study demonstrates (1) that the proposed approach is adequate even in relatively fixed SEA processes; and (2) that the components and the logical relationships among factors elaborated on in the analytical framework are reasonable. In addition, the components of the framework that need to be improved and the perspectives for future application are discussed.