The conference was jointly organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Russian Federation, UNDP/GEF/Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Russian Federation project 'Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation into Russia's energy sector policies and operations', United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) secretariat of the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context and its Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), and WWF Russia.

 The purpose of the conference was to familiarize participants with the SEA practice in various countries as well as to present existing Russian experience with SEA and with assessments based on the SEA approaches. The event gathered representatives of federal and regional authorities, whose activities relate to the development and adoption of strategic documents (including programs in energy and other sectors), experts, as well as representatives of NGOs and the business sphere.