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Transgenic plants are now being used to develop pharmaceutical and industrial products in addition to their use in crop improvement. Using confinement requirements, these transgenic plants are grown and processed under conditions that prevent intermixing with commodity crops. Regulatory agencies in the United States have provided guidance of zero tolerance of these new industrial crops with commodity crops. While this is a worthy goal, it is theoretically unattainable. In spite of the best containment practices, there is a potential risk using any system of production due to unforeseen incidences including natural disasters or exposure to workers. The precautionary principle has been used for numerous regulated articles in addressing the potential risks of new products and technology based on a risk assessment in similar situations. We present here a risk assessment model that could be used as a start to develop an accepted model for the industry. The model is based on current risk models used for other regulated articles, but adapted for these types of products. This could be used to determine action levels in the event of an unintended exposure or to ensure that detection or confinement methods are adequate to avoid risks. As an example, aprotinin, a therapeutic protein now being produced in maize, was evaluated for potential risk to humans using this model. 相似文献
3.
Towards an Integrated Approach to Natural Hazards Risk Assessment Using GIS: With Reference to Bushfires 总被引:5,自引:0,他引:5
This paper develops a GIS-based integrated approach to risk assessment in natural hazards, with reference to bushfires. The
challenges for undertaking this approach have three components: data integration, risk assessment tasks, and risk decision-making.
First, data integration in GIS is a fundamental step for subsequent risk assessment tasks and risk decision-making. A series
of spatial data integration issues within GIS such as geographical scales and data models are addressed. Particularly, the
integration of both physical environmental data and socioeconomic data is examined with an example linking remotely sensed
data and areal census data in GIS. Second, specific risk assessment tasks, such as hazard behavior simulation and vulnerability
assessment, should be undertaken in order to understand complex hazard risks and provide support for risk decision-making.
For risk assessment tasks involving heterogeneous data sources, the selection of spatial analysis units is important. Third,
risk decision-making concerns spatial preferences and/or patterns, and a multicriteria evaluation (MCE)-GIS typology for risk
decision-making is presented that incorporates three perspectives: spatial data types, data models, and methods development.
Both conventional MCE methods and artificial intelligence-based methods with GIS are identified to facilitate spatial risk
decision-making in a rational and interpretable way. Finally, the paper concludes that the integrated approach can be used
to assist risk management of natural hazards, in theory and in practice. 相似文献
4.
Serveiss VB 《Environmental management》2002,29(2):145-154
Considerable progress in addressing point source (end of pipe) pollution problems has been made, but it is now recognized
that further substantial environmental improvements depend on controlling nonpoint source pollution. A watershed approach
is being used more frequently to address these problems because traditional regulatory approaches do not focus on nonpoint
sources. The watershed approach is organized around the guiding principles of partnerships, geographic focus, and management
based on sound science and data. This helps to focus efforts on the highest priority problems within hydrologically-defined
geographic areas. Ecological risk assessment is a process to collect, organize, analyze, and present scientific information
to improve decision making. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sponsored three watershed assessments and found
that integrating the watershed approach with ecological risk assessment increases the use of environmental monitoring and
assessment data in decision making. This paper describes the basics of the watershed approach, the ecological risk assessment
process, and how these two frameworks can be integrated. The three major principles of watershed ecological risk assessment
found to be most useful for increasing the use of science in decision making are (1) using assessment endpoints and conceptual
models, (2) holding regular interactions between scientists and managers, and (3) developing a focus for multiple stressor
analysis. Examples are provided illustrating how these principles were implemented in these assessments. 相似文献
5.
W. Cully Hession Daniel E. Storm C. Thomas Haan Sterling L. Burks Marty D. Matlock 《Journal of the American Water Resources Association》1996,32(5):1039-1054
ABSTRACT: We present an ecological risk assessment methodology at the watershed level for freshwater ecosystems. The major component is a pollutant transport and fate model (a modified EUTROMOD) with an integrated uncertainty analysis utilizing a two-phase Monte Carlo procedure. The uncertainty analysis methodology distinguishes between knowledge uncertainty and stochastic variability. The model assesses the ecological risk of lentic (lake) ecosystems in response to the stress of excess phosphorus resulting in eutrophication. The methodology and model were tested on the Wister Lake watershed in Oklahoma with the lake and its trophic state as the endpoint for ecological risk assessment. A geographic information system was used to store, manage, and manipulate spatially referenced data for model input. 相似文献
6.
Risk evaluation and assessment have been used as tools to regulate and manage the risks to consumers of eating self-caught fish that have high levels of contaminants. Armed with these risk assessments, health agencies issue consumption advisories, and in some cases, close some waters to fishing. Recently, regulatory agencies have used contaminant levels in fish as a benchmark for remedial action on contaminated sites, using human health risk assessment as the justification. The US Environmental Protection Agency's new surface water criterion for mercury is based on mercury levels in fish tissue. When multiple regulatory agencies have jurisdiction over the same waters or remediation site there is the potential for differing risk evaluations. Using the Peconic River on Long Island, New York as a case study, the paper examines how and why county, state, and federal health risk evaluations for fish contaminated with mercury differed. While the same risk methodology was applied by all agencies, the assessments were conducted for different purposes, applied different consumption and fish biomass assumptions, and arrived at different conclusions. The risk evaluations invoked to design fish consumption advisories use mercury levels currently in fish, and are designed to prevent current exposure. However, the risk assessments that provide a basis for remediation consider many different pathways of exposure (not just ingestion), and deal with long-term exposure. The risk evaluations, and recommendations promulgated by those agencies, differ because they have different goals, use different assumptions, and often fail to communicate among agencies. It is suggested that it is valuable to have these different levels of risk evaluations to adequately address health issues. However, there are policy implications, which include making the distinctions between the types of risk assessments, their methods and assumptions, and the rationale for these assumptions. Further, assessors and managers should involve all interested stakeholders (including regulators and state health officials) in discussions about the use of risk, the assumptions of risk assessment, and the goals of those evaluations. The difficulties in the case of the Peconic were not due to differences in the original data, but rather in the goals and type of risk assessments performed. If all deliberations had been transparent during all phases of the decision-making and management process, the conflicts within the minds of the public, regulators and other agencies might have been avoided. This case study suggests that more reliability, circumspection and transparency should be built into the process where multiple agencies and multiple objectives are involved. 相似文献
7.
Corburn J 《Environmental management》2002,29(4):451-466
While risk assessment continues to drive most environmental management decision-making, its methods and assumptions have been
criticized for, among other things, perpetuating environmental injustice. The justice challenges to risk assessment claim
that the process ignores the unique and multiple hazards facing low-income and people of color communities and simultaneously
excludes the local, non-expert knowledge which could help capture these unique hazards from the assessment discourse. This
paper highlights some of these challenges to conventional risk assessment and suggests that traditional models of risk characterization
will continue to ignore the environmental justice challenges until cumulative hazards and local knowledge are meaningfully
brought into the assessment process. We ask whether a shift from risk to exposure assessment might enable environmental managers
to respond to the environmental justice critiques. We review the US EPA's first community-based Cumulative Exposure Project,
piloted in Brooklyn, NY, and highlight to what extent this process addressed the risk assessment critiques raised by environmental
justice advocates. We suggest that a shift from risk to exposure assessment can provide an opportunity for local knowledge
to both improve the technical assessment and its democratic nature and may ultimately allow environmental managers to better
address environmental justice concerns in decision-making. 相似文献
8.
This study demonstrates the integration of rehabilitation and flood management planning in a steep, boulder-bedded stream
in a coastal urban catchment on the South Island of New Zealand. The Water of Leith, the primary stream flowing through the
city of Dunedin, is used as a case study. The catchment is steep, with a short time of concentration and rapid hydrologic
response, and the lower stream reaches are highly channelized with floodplain encroachment, a high potential for debris flows,
significant flood risks, and severely degraded aquatic habitat. Because the objectives for rehabilitation and flood management
in urban catchments are often conflicting, a number of types of analyses at both the catchment and the reach scales and careful
planning with stakeholder consultation were needed for successful rehabilitation efforts. This included modeling and analysis
of catchment hydrology, fluvial geomorphologic assessment, analysis of water quality and aquatic ecology, hydraulic modeling
and flood risk evaluation, detailed feasibility studies, and preliminary design to optimize multiple rehabilitation and flood
management objectives. The study showed that all of these analyses were needed for integrated rehabilitation and flood management
and that some incremental improvements in stream ecological health, aesthetics, and public recreational opportunities could
be achieved in this challenging environment. These methods should be considered in a range of types of stream rehabilitation
projects. 相似文献
9.
Kan-Kan Wu 《Journal of Environmental Planning and Management》2016,59(5):826-842
Environmental risk assessment (ERA) is a powerful technical tool for analyzing potential and extreme adverse environmental impacts, and has found wide application in supporting decision-making processes over the last two decades. However, to date there has been no interrelated application of ERA to support the processes of strategic decision-making (SDM), especially in coastal areas.
In this paper, we attempt to verify the feasibility of the proposed integrated ERA–SDM approach and its methodology by applying it to two case studies (in Xiamen Bay and Luoyuan Bay) of the principal coastal functional zoning (PCFZ, a kind of SDM and similar to the coastal and marine spatial planning in western). The results show that the integrated ERA–SDM approach could integrate ERA into the entire SDM process, directly support the PCFZ, and avoid or mitigate dire environmental risk that can be introduced by SDM processes. 相似文献
10.
Model-Based Selection of Areas for the Restoration of Acrocephalus paludicola Habitats in NE Germany 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
The global Aquatic Warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola, Vieillot, 1817) population has suffered a major decline due to the large-scale destruction of its natural habitat (fen mires). The species is at risk of extinction, especially in NE Germany/NW Poland. In this study, we developed habitat suitability models based on satellite and environmental data to identify potential areas for habitat restoration on which further surveys and planning should be focused. To create a reliable model, we used all Aquatic Warbler presences in the study area since 1990 as well as additional potentially suitable habitats identified in the field. We combined the presence/absence regression tree algorithm Cubist with the presence-only algorithm Maxent since both commonly outperform other algorithms. To integrate the separate model results, we present a new way to create a metamodel using the initial model results as variables. Additionally, a histogram approach was applied to further reduce the final search area to the most promising sites. Accuracy increased when using both remote sensing and environmental data. It was highest for the integrated metamodel (Cohen’s Kappa of 0.4, P < 0.001). The final result of this study supports the selection of the most promising sites for Aquatic Warbler habitat restoration. 相似文献
11.
Assessing ecological risk on a regional scale 总被引:17,自引:0,他引:17
Carolyn T. Hunsaker Robin L. Graham Glenn W. Suter II Robert V. O'Neill Lawrence W. Barnthouse Robert H. Gardner 《Environmental management》1990,14(3):325-332
Society needs a quantitative and systematic way to estimate and compare the impacts of environmental problems that affect
large geographic areas. This paper presents an approach for regional risk assessment that combines regional assessment methods
and landscape ecology theory with an existing framework for ecological risk assessment. Risk assessment evaluates the effects
of an environmental change on a valued natural resource and interprets the significance of those effects in light of the uncertainties
identified in each component of the assessment process. Unique and important issues for regional risk assessment are emphasized;
these include the definition of the disturbance scenario, the assessment boundary definition, and the spatial heterogeneity
of the landscape.
Although the research described in this article has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) through Interagency Agreement Number DW89932112-01-2 to the U.S. Department of Energy, it has not been subjected
to EPA review and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of EPA and no official endorsement should be inferred. 相似文献
12.
The study of a method of regional environmental risk assessment 总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2
Regional environmental risk assessment can be defined as risk assessment which deals with a spatial scale that contains multiple habitats with multiple sources of many stressors affecting multiple endpoints. The characteristics of the landscape also affect the estimated risk. In this paper, an information diffusion method based on a grid system is proposed to assess regional environmental risk. The risk information on a single environmental risk source can be diffused effectively by using fuzzy set theory. Regional environmental risk values obtained from information diffusion can be clustered on classification criteria and different environmental risk levels can be depicted in a spatial partition map. Huangge Town and Nansha Town located in the Nansha Area of Guangzhou City in China were selected as model cases. The results derived from this information diffusion method will help the local government to optimize the distribution of industrial areas and establish risk prevention measurements and emergency management procedures. 相似文献
13.
The management of risk from disinfection by-products (DBPs) in drinking water has become a critical issue over the last three decades. The areas of concern for risk management studies include (i) human health risk from DBPs, (ii) disinfection performance, (iii) technical feasibility (maintenance, management and operation) of treatment and disinfection approaches, and (iv) cost. Human health risk assessment is typically considered to be the most important phase of the risk-based decision-making or risk management studies. The factors associated with health risk assessment and other attributes are generally prone to considerable uncertainty. Probabilistic and non-probabilistic approaches have both been employed to characterize uncertainties associated with risk assessment. The probabilistic approaches include sampling-based methods (typically Monte Carlo simulation and stratified sampling) and asymptotic (approximate) reliability analysis (first- and second-order reliability methods). Non-probabilistic approaches include interval analysis, fuzzy set theory and possibility theory. However, it is generally accepted that no single method is suitable for the entire spectrum of problems encountered in uncertainty analyses for risk assessment. Each method has its own set of advantages and limitations. In this paper, the feasibility and limitations of different uncertainty analysis approaches are outlined for risk management studies of drinking water supply systems. The findings assist in the selection of suitable approaches for uncertainty analysis in risk management studies associated with DBPs and human health risk. 相似文献
14.
This paper addresses environmental monitoring through a robust dynamic integration between biomonitor and biosensor systems, a strategy that has not been attempted before. The two systems are conceptually interrelated and methodologically correlated to a cooperative/synergistic scheme (CSS) with a view to minimise uncertainty and monitoring costs and increase reliability of pollution control and abatement. The structures and operations of the biosensor component (in terms of sensitivity, device and method versatility, nature-mimicking physicochemical mechanisms, prospects and technological input) are such that they reinforce or promote the structures and operations of the natural component (in terms of bio-surveillance, impact assessment, environmental quality indexing, stress responses, metabolic pathways, etc.) and vice versa. The bioindicator ontology presented herein, including concepts, relations and controlled vocabulary aiming at establishing an integrated methodology for mapping/assessing negative environmental externalities, provides a useful tool for the design/development/implementation of an environmental network for the monitoring of a variety of pollutants over time and space and the assessment of environmental quality; the collection of the available information and its classification into taxonomic and partonomic relations allows the construction of a database that links pollutants with organisms' response, at a phenomenological and in-depth level, considering ecological parameters, relations and geomorphologic characteristics. As a result, a computer program has been designed/developed as a decision support system and has been successfully tested on a representative population of species indigenous to southern Greece. Significantly, a novel system in the form of a rational framework at the conceptual design level has been developed, that actually contributes towards achieving a cost-effective long-term monitoring program, with the flexibility to counter on-course any (anticipated or not) variations/modifications of the surveillance environment. This novel and pioneering approach will further offer a dynamic system utilised in (a) environmental impact studies and risk assessment (positive/analytic approach), (b) decision-making in the short-run (normative/tactic approach), and (c) policy-making in the long-run (normative/strategic approach). The proposed CSS, based on the integration of multiple data sources, can establish a local area network, incorporated into/expanding to a wide area network, thus offering the potential of better predictive ability and greater lead-time warning at alarm conditions than that provided by separate, stand-alone surveillance modalities. 相似文献
15.
Charles R. Malone 《Environmental management》1990,14(1):25-32
The US Department of Energy (DOE) plans to conduct site characterization studies at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, to determine if
the location is a suitable site for a nuclear waste repository. In lieu of traditional environmental review in accordance
with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the DOE is relying on an environmental assessment (EA) mandated by the
Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 as the cornerstone of its environmental program for the Yucca Mountain Project. Because of
statutory restrictions, the EA is not based on comprehensive baseline information. Neither does it address fundamentals of
environmental analysis such as ecological integrity and assessment of cumulative impacts. Consequently, the present environmental
program for Yucca Mountain reflects decisions made without complete information and integrated environmental review. The shortcomings
of the program risk compromising the natural integrity of Yucca Mountain and invalidating future assessment of the ability
of a nuclear waste repository located at the site to protect the environment. Significant improvements are needed in the repository
siting program before it can serve as a model of how society can evaluate the long-term environmental consequences of advanced
technologies, as has been suggested. 相似文献
16.
Nicola J. van Wilgen Núria Roura-Pascual David M. Richardson 《Environmental management》2009,44(3):590-607
Assessing climatic suitability provides a good preliminary estimate of the invasive potential of a species to inform risk
assessment. We examined two approaches for bioclimatic modeling for 67 reptile and amphibian species introduced to California
and Florida. First, we modeled the worldwide distribution of the biomes found in the introduced range to highlight similar
areas worldwide from which invaders might arise. Second, we modeled potentially suitable environments for species based on
climatic factors in their native ranges, using three sources of distribution data. Performance of the three datasets and both
approaches were compared for each species. Climate match was positively correlated with species establishment success (maximum
predicted suitability in the introduced range was more strongly correlated with establishment success than mean suitability).
Data assembled from the Global Amphibian Assessment through NatureServe provided the most accurate models for amphibians,
while ecoregion data compiled by the World Wide Fund for Nature yielded models which described reptile climatic suitability
better than available point-locality data. We present three methods of assigning a climate-match score for use in risk assessment
using both the mean and maximum climatic suitabilities. Managers may choose to use different methods depending on the stringency
of the assessment and the available data, facilitating higher resolution and accuracy for herpetofaunal risk assessment. Climate-matching
has inherent limitations and other factors pertaining to ecological interactions and life-history traits must also be considered
for thorough risk assessment.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
17.
Preston BL 《Environmental management》2002,29(3):311-323
Understanding toxicant effects at higher levels of biological organization continues to be a challenge in ecotoxicology and
ecological risk assessment. This is due in part to a tradition in ecotoxicology of considering the direct effects of toxicants
on a limited number of model test species. However, the indirect effects of toxicity may be a significant factor influencing
the manner in which ecosystem structure and function respond to anthropogenic stressors. Subsequently, failure to incorporate
indirect effects into risk assessment paradigms may be a significant source of uncertainty in risk estimates. The current
paper addresses the importance of indirect effects in an ecotoxicological context. Laboratory, mesocosm, and whole ecosystem
research into indirect effects is reviewed. The implications of indirect effects for ecological risk assessment and potential
areas of profitable future research are also discussed. 相似文献
18.
Marco Ferrante Francesco Napolitano Lucio Ubertini 《Journal of the American Water Resources Association》2000,36(5):1115-1120
ABSTRACT: In this paper a numerical model for flood propagation in urban areas is proposed. It has been applied to evaluate flooding hydraulic characteristics in terms of potential flood elevations, depths, and inundated areas. Furthermore, the algorithm efficiency and the consequent reduced computation time allow the use of the hydraulic model as a part of a more complex system for civil protection actions, planning, and management. During flood events, the transportation network plays a main role both in rescuing people when they are more vulnerable and in moving people and materials from and toward affected areas. The reduced efficiency of this transportation network is evaluated based on a least‐flood‐risk path‐finding algorithm. The results of a case study concerning the northern part of the city of Rome, show that the numerical model for unsteady flow in open channel networks achieves the proposed aims. It has proven to be able to describe the flood hydraulic characteristics and to be suitable for real‐time flood emergency management in urban areas. 相似文献
19.
An integrated assessment model of carbon sequestration benefits: a case study of Liping county, China 总被引:4,自引:0,他引:4
Caldwell IM Maclaren VW Chen JM Ju WM Zhou S Yin Y Boland A 《Journal of environmental management》2007,85(3):757-773
This research attempts to model the complexity of planting trees to increase China's CO(2) sequestration potential by using a GIS-based integrated assessment (IA) approach. We use the IA model to assess the impact of China's Grain for Green reforestation and afforestation program on farmer and state incomes as well as CO(2) sequestration in Liping County, Guizhou Province. The IA model consists of five sub-models for carbon sequestration, crop income, timber income, Grain for Green, and carbon credits. It also includes a complementary qualitative module for assessing program impacts by gender and ethnicity. Using four scenarios with various assumptions about types of trees planted, crop incomes by township, CO(2) credit prices, state subsidies, methods for estimating carbon sequestered, and harvesting of trees, we find great variation in the impact of the Grain for Green program on incomes and on carbon sequestered over a 48 year period at both the county and township levels. 相似文献
20.
Benjamin D. Trump Christy Foran Taylor Rycroft Matthew D. Wood Nirzwan Bandolin Mariana Cains Timothy Cary Fiona Crocker Nicholas A. Friedenberg Patrick Gurian Kerry Hamilton Jan Jeffrey Hoover Corey Meyer Kaytee Pokrzywinski Ryan Ritterson Paul Schulte Christopher Warner Edward Perkins Igor Linkov 《The Environmentalist》2018,38(4):517-527
Synthetic biology has the potential for a broad array of applications. However, realization of this potential is challenged by the paucity of relevant data for conventional risk assessment protocols, a limitation due to to the relative nascence of the field, as well as the poorly characterized and prioritized hazard, exposure, and dose–response considerations associated with the development and use of synthetic biology-derived organisms. Where quantitative risk assessment approaches are necessarily to fulfill regulatory requirements for review of products containing genetically modified organisms, this paper reviews one potential avenue for early-stage quantitative risk assessment for biosafety considerations of synthetic biology organism deployment into the environment. Building from discussion from a March 2018 US Army Engineer Research and Development Center workshop on developing such quantitative risk assessment for synthetic biology, this paper reviews the findings and discussion of workshop participants. This paper concludes that, while synthetic biology risk assessment and governance will continue to refine and develop in the coming years, a quantitative framework that builds from existing practice is one potentially beneficial option for risk assessors that must contend with the technology’s limited hazard characterization or exposure assessment considerations in the near term. 相似文献