Strategic environmental assessment’s role in formulating environmentally sound development plans in Botswana

ABSTRACT Examining SEA effectiveness is a complex yet critical component of any well-functioning SEA system. This article reflects on SEA’s substantive effectiveness and examines the influence of SEA on development planning for environmental sustainability and the challenges of integrating SEA with decisional processes in Botswana. The paper is set within the context of three government plan-SEAs. Results indicate that despite the strong legislative requirement and understanding of the significance of integrating SEA into development planning, the general effectiveness of the tool is rather limited. Also, the results indicate that the successful integration of SEA findings and recommendations into decision-making in Botswana is threatened by financial constraints, the presentation of SEAs, technical inadequacies, politics, and conflicting stakeholder value expectations. The paper therefore argues that for SEA to guide environmentally sound planning in Botswana, obstacles to environmentally sound decision-making must be addressed. This will require behavioural, institutional, and legislative reforms.