A guide to undertaking strategic assessments

2013
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities

First published 2011. Reprinted (minor amendments) March and November 2012 and June 2013
Product code: BIO179.0312

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Introduction

The purpose of this guide is to explain the strategic assessment process under the Australian Government’s national environment law—the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

Strategic assessments are a landscape scale assessment and unlike project-by-project assessments, which look at individual actions (such as a port or a mine), they can consider a much broader set of issues; for example, a large urban growth area that will be developed over many years or a fire management policy across a broad landscape.

This guide:

  • provides an introduction to national environment law and strategic assessments
  • outlines the environmental and planning outcomes that can be achieved
  • walks through the assessment process
  • discusses the necessary ingredients for a successful strategic assessment
  • outlines the fundamentals that need to be in place to conduct the assessment.