Strategic Environmental Assessment Mining Case
Good practice for Mozambique
Using Mozambique's Zambezi Valley as an example, this publication explains how a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) for mining can be successfully carried out.
Key Messages
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Proposals to convert the Zambezi Valley into Mozambique's second socio-economic development pole by developing the agricultural and mining sectors resulted in increased pressure on land and water, posing major challenges.
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While there are no blueprints for completing a SEA, the Zambezi Valley assessment shows key elements that can provide inspiration, both for a specific area and for a specific sector, such as mining.
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The SEA was fundamental for creating an enabling environment for mining sector governance. It identified environmental and social priorities in the mining sector and assessed existing capacities for addressing these priorities.
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SEAs should be integrated into the decision-making process about plans that are key to mining.
A SEA is an approach for assessing the impacts of proposed policies, plans, and programs. It can enhance the mining sector’s contribution to sustainable development and help countries to avoid or reduce negative social and environmental consequences. Through a policy dialogue with different stakeholders, the Zambezi Valley SEA brought environmental and social aspects into the region’s planning process.
This publication makes the case for mining actors to carry out SEAs in relation to their own policies, plans, and programs. The case study shows how SEAs for mining can be developed in practice and how they can be included in decision making about plans that are key to mining. It also presents core elements of a high-quality SEA.
Building on the Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Mining Sector: Lessons From Country Case Studies report, this publication shares insights into the development of SEAs and how they can be integrated into the decision-making process.
Participating experts
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