About the SEA
The SEA has been put in place in order to assess the consequences of the NMWPP implementation, including both benefits and negative impact on the environment. In line with the Directive 2001/42/EC, the strategic assessment aims at “ensuring a high level of environmental protection and better addressing environmental aspects in the process of drafting and approving plans and programmes in order to support continuous development by ensuring that the strategic environmental assessment of selected plans and programmes that may potentially cause a significant impact on the environment is performed in line with the Directive.” The prognosis will help to answer the question whether the implementation of the NMWPP can promote more intelligent use of environment, help to prevent the occurrence and emissions of environmental pollutions and encourage protection of the natural values.
The environmental assessment of the NMWPP project evaluates the following:
• The current environmental status and potential changes of the said status in case the drafted document is not implemented;
• Environmental status on the areas covered by the expected significant impact;
• Existing problems encountered by the environmental protection, essential in view of the implementation of the drafted document, in particular the ones that concern areas protected pursuant to the Act of 16 April 2004 on the Protection of Nature;
• Goals of the environmental protection set forth on the international, community and national level, particularly vital in light of the drafted document and the ways in which those goals and other environmental issues have been included during the process of drafting documents;
• Expected, significant impacts, including direct, indirect, secondary, cumulated, short-term, mid-term, long-term, constant and temporary as well as positive and negative consequences for the goals and the issue of the protection of the Natura 2000 and integrity of the area, as well as for the environment, in particular for: biodiversity, humans, animals, plants, water, air, earth, landscape, climate, natural resources, historic heritage, material goods including relations between those elements of the environment and the impact on those elements.
The strategic environmental assessment presents:
• Solutions aiming at preventing, reducing or natural compensation of negative environmental impacts that may be the consequence of the implementation of the drafted document, including goals connected with the protection of Natura 2000 and integrity of the area;
• Solutions alternative to the solutions included in the drafted document and the reasons for choosing thereof as well as described methods of performing assessment leading to making the aforesaid choice or explanation for lack of alternative solutions, including presentation of encountered difficulties resulting from the technical shortcomings or gaps in contemporary knowledge, including goals and geographical range of the document as well as goals and the issue of the protection of Natura 2000 and integrity of the area.