‘White Elephants’ are countries that lack SEA legislation
and/or SEA application in policy planning. ‘White Elephants’
are also countries that have SEA legislation but are unable to
implement it due to ambitious and burdensome legislative
requirements and/or weak policy implementation as well as
countries that attempt to apply SEA practice without a
structured SEA legislative framework. Characteristics of
‘White Elephants’ are countries that have failed to implement
and enforce their mammoth legislative EPI initiatives or
attempt to implement SEA application through ad-hoc measures. This often results in SEA legislation that in the
short-term appear robust but in the long-term is resource
intensive and non-pragmatic.