Scenario Analysis and Strategic Environmental Assessment

The European Union (EU) has introduced the Strategic Environmental Assessment (Directive 2001/42/EC), with the aim to support the implementation of actions in the long run and evaluate the impacts of policy, plan and programs The strategic thinking and the participation of the stakeholders to the decision-making process represent the main innovations in contrast to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). In this context the paper presents scenarios analysis developed within Future studies literature as a tool to facilitate strategic thinking in SEA and to support an integrated planning process based on the participation of the main stakeholders involved. Starting from an analysis of the literature on case studies developed in different contest where scenario methods are test within SEA process, a cognitive methodological framework is pro-posed with the aim to underline the role of scenario analysis in each phase of SEA decision-making process, from the definition of the main scenarios to the evaluation of the strategic action and the monitoring after the plan implementation.