Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in Thailand

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in Thailand has developed gradually over the past few decades:

Early 2000s :

Thailand began recognizing the importance of SEA as a tool for sustainable development.

2004 - 2005 :

The National Environment Board (NEB) initiated efforts to introduce SEA procedure in parallel with regional and sectoral development planning process / appointed SEA sub-committee to develop and implement national SEA system.

2009 :

The Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) developed guidelines for SEA implementation.

2015 - 2018 :

  • -SEA was included in the 20-Year National Strategy (2018-2037) and the 12th National Economic and Social Development Plan (2017-2021).
  • -The government approved the "Strategic Environmental Assessment Guideline” in Thailand"

2019-2021 :

Pilot SEA projects were conducted in various sectors, including river basin/water resource management, mineral resource management and land use planning.

Recent years :

Efforts have been made to strengthen the legal framework and institutional capacity for SEA implementation and capacity building for government agencies and other stakeholders.

Despite these developments, full integration of SEA into Thailand’s planning and decision-making processes is still ongoing. The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) in close collaboration with other key agencies, particularly the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) continually mainstream SEA and overcome all challenges including limited public participation, inadequate data availability, and the need for further capacity building for government agencies, planners and other stakeholders in understanding and implementing SEA thus NESDC carried out 4 main missions as follows:

Enhancement of the knowledge and understanding of SEA for proponent government agencies

To create accurate, comprehensive, transparent, and up-to-date knowledge and understanding of SEA, together with foster interaction and raise awareness of SEA’s benefits for sustainable development among internal divisions of NESDC, proponent government agencies, educational institutions, and consulting firms that will be assigned by proponent government agencies to prepare SEA.

SEA Guideline preparation for proponent government agencies

To enable various sectors, especially proponent government agencies to understand the process and steps of plan formulation using SEA and to be able to use it as a tool to support their planning process and plan development.
NESDC has prepared SEA Guidelines (Revised Edition) as a tool to support plan formulation with SEA process.

Enforcement mechanism of the Draft Regulation of the Official Prime Minister on Strategic Environmental Assessment B.E. ….

To enforce the plan formulation using SEA, proponent government agencies related to 8 types of plans, including 1) transportation, 2) energy, 3) industry, 4) water resource, 5) forest resources and biodiversity, 6) marine and coastal resources, 7) land use plans, and 8) special development zones determined to be planning by using SEA process. This enforcement will elevate the importance of plan formulation using SEA in Thailand, which is a crucial policy tool in mainstreaming the use of SEA process into targeted development/conservation plans.If approved by the Cabinet, the next phase of SEA mainstream will be carried out under the Strategic Environmental Assessment Development Committee (SEADC), chaired by the Prime Minister. This will include two subcommittees: the Technical and Participatory Subcommittee and the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Development of SEA Mechanisms Subcommittee.

SEA manual preparation

To facilitate proponent government agencies and stakeholders in applying the SEA process to formulate the plan conveniently and efficiently.
In the past, NESDC has prepared applied manuals for various plan as follows:

Get in touch

Please speak with us early in your planning and design stages. If you have any other questions, please contact the Natural Resource and Environment Development Strategy Division, Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council, the Prime Minister’s Office on either: