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Sustainable solutions for challenges in land governance – whether caused by changes in population dynamics, land use, climate change, pandemics or
other – require resilient mechanisms that may go beyond what is currently being used in land governance systems. Often, decisions are taken without
involving people that have a direct stake in the land. Or, even if more participatory planning is done, not all stakeholders are invited to take part. How could this be done differently? Also, with the fundamental changes in landscape and ecology that people face through climate change, should
solutions not look at the longer term and use alternative approaches? Finally, how to anchor jointly agreed solutions in formal decision making in such
a way that future generation decision makers also understand and respect them, yet allowing flexibility in implementation when circumstances and
new insights require so?

Strategic Environmental Assessment is increasingly used to include environmental and social considerations in formal decision making at strategic planning level. It frequently deals with land issues. We see that SEA for land and landscape governance allows for coalitions to form and formalise, between government authorities, business and civil society actors, across legal/administrative boundaries and through an integrated, cross-sectoral approach. If well applied, SEA creates more equality in decision-making by making the planning and assessment process more transparent. Also, SEA creates linkages between that transparent and inclusive process and formal decision making and strengthens ownership – two important factors in support of enforcement of choices made. In this session, UU and the NCEA aim to explore the relation between SEA and land governance. When governments start out using SEA, it often gets applied to national plans or sectoral policies. SEA for regional planning, land use planning, delta or river basin management seems to be gaining momentum. Could it be even more widely applied?

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