Thailand's experience in SEA introduction reaffirms an important
lesson in SEA adoption by a number of other countries: that legal
framework for SEA is necessary and critical especially in its initial
adoption. It will boost political and management leadership commitment,
factors which highly influence elements of planning process
such as cooperation between officials, resource allocation, and task
prioritization. Particular design of the legal instruments and mandate
can also closely bind decision-making and planning to SEA. On the
other hand, public participation in SEA needs to be supported too and
institutionalized for the tool to fulfill its promise of improving
environmental governance and optimizing potentials of development
projects vis-a-vis various social and environmental concerns. To
support the participatory aspect, decision makers have to sincerely
welcome the public in the arena of decision-making. At the same time,
a specific and explicit supporting law (i.e. participation law), needs to
be enacted to further legitimate the right of the public and enable
resource mobilization and development of appropriate procedures to
be followed in the conduct of public participation. More importantly,
it would bind the relevant agencies to undertake collaborative
planning and responsive actions. Creating momentum for public
participation as one of the important elements of SEA, in turn, may
lead to building the capacity of stakeholders, interest groups and
public, which are all necessary for generating meaningfulness of the
exercise in public participation in the long run.