Govender, KHounsome, RSWeaver, AV2009-01-122009-01-122006-09Govender, K, Hounsome, RS and Weaver, AV. 2006. Sustainability assessment: dressing up SEA - experiences from South Africa. Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management, Vol. 8(3), pp 321-3401464-3332http://www.worldscinet.com/jeapm/08/0803/S14643332060803.htmlhttp://hdl.handle.net/10204/2803Copyright: 2006 Imperial College PressSustainability Assessment is a recent addition to the environmental assessment toolbox that is not currently applied in South Africa in any formal way. However, there appear to be remarkable similarities between what is commonly proposed as Sustainability Assessment and how Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has been conceptualised and promoted in South Africa. This paper therefore investigates the following questions: Could the South African concept and application of SEA be what is required for Sustainability Assessment? If Sustainability Assessment is "dressing up" SEA, is there really a need to introduce a new tool? If there is a need for a new tool, are there lessons learnt from the application of SEA in South Africa, which can be used to inform the further development and indeed practice of Sustainability Assessment? This paper identifies from the literature some key criteria that should underpin Sustainability Assessment that are then used to identify some of the shortcomings of SEA, both as promoted and as practised in South Africa. Two sets of criteria form the basis of the analysis: one relating to sustainability assessment processes and the other to the concept of sustainability itself. As a result of this analysis, the paper makes recommendations as to how the practice of SEA in South Africa may be improved to better align with the principles of Sustainability Assessment. These recommendations are also likely to be relevant to other countries seeking to develop Sustainability Assessment processes based upon SEA. Finally, the potential for the emerging field of sustainability science as an underpinning body of knowledge is introducedenSustainability assessmentSustainabilityStrategic environmental assessmentSustainability scienceSustainability assessment: dressing up SEA - experiences from South AfricaArticleGovender, K., Hounsome, R., & Weaver, A. (2006). Sustainability assessment: dressing up SEA - experiences from South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/2803Govender, K, RS Hounsome, and AV Weaver "Sustainability assessment: dressing up SEA - experiences from South Africa." (2006) http://hdl.handle.net/10204/2803Govender K, Hounsome R, Weaver A. Sustainability assessment: dressing up SEA - experiences from South Africa. 2006; http://hdl.handle.net/10204/2803.TY - Article AU - Govender, K AU - Hounsome, RS AU - Weaver, AV AB - Sustainability Assessment is a recent addition to the environmental assessment toolbox that is not currently applied in South Africa in any formal way. However, there appear to be remarkable similarities between what is commonly proposed as Sustainability Assessment and how Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has been conceptualised and promoted in South Africa. This paper therefore investigates the following questions: Could the South African concept and application of SEA be what is required for Sustainability Assessment? If Sustainability Assessment is "dressing up" SEA, is there really a need to introduce a new tool? If there is a need for a new tool, are there lessons learnt from the application of SEA in South Africa, which can be used to inform the further development and indeed practice of Sustainability Assessment? This paper identifies from the literature some key criteria that should underpin Sustainability Assessment that are then used to identify some of the shortcomings of SEA, both as promoted and as practised in South Africa. Two sets of criteria form the basis of the analysis: one relating to sustainability assessment processes and the other to the concept of sustainability itself. As a result of this analysis, the paper makes recommendations as to how the practice of SEA in South Africa may be improved to better align with the principles of Sustainability Assessment. These recommendations are also likely to be relevant to other countries seeking to develop Sustainability Assessment processes based upon SEA. Finally, the potential for the emerging field of sustainability science as an underpinning body of knowledge is introduced DA - 2006-09 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR KW - Sustainability assessment KW - Sustainability KW - Strategic environmental assessment KW - Sustainability science LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2006 SM - 1464-3332 T1 - Sustainability assessment: dressing up SEA - experiences from South Africa TI - Sustainability assessment: dressing up SEA - experiences from South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/2803 ER -