环境风险评价内涵与外延研究

在简要介绍环境风险评价(Environmental Risk Assessment,ERA)发展历程的基础上,总结现阶段国内外普遍采用的ERA定义,深入分析ERA的内涵和类型,在重新给出涵盖性更全面的ERA定义的同时,对3种评价内容的评价程序和评价方法进行了横向比较。收集整理了ERA的研究进展和应用现状,从时间、范畴和应用范围3个方面划定了ERA的外延。

Exploration of the denotation and connotation of the environmental risk assessment

The present paper intends to make an exploration of the denotation and connotation of the environmental risk assessment by introducing the primary efforts made by the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP),the USA,the European Environment Agency,Japan and China in recent years,respectively.To make the general review of the advancements in the research in the environmental risk assessment(ERA),it seems necessary to have a retrospect of the problems ever encountered in the general risk assessment.That is to say,in terms of research advances at home and abroad,it is necessary to make a comment on a few popularly used ERA concepts proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) of the USA,UNEP and some other authoritative free-lance researchers in this connection,which can probably indicate that such unilateral ideas would not be enough to reflect the overwhelming significance of ERA in our time.According to an in-depth analysis of the denotation and connotation of ERA,a new idea with more comprehensive connotation has been proposed,in which it is recommended to perform a more comprehensive comparison of assessment procedures and methods involving three different evaluation indexes(hazardous source item evaluation,human health risk assessment,and ecological risk assessment),and then ascribe the common features and correlated factors of the above three risk assessment indexes to the essential connotation of ERA.Moreover,technical supports for human health risk assessment and eco-environment risk assessment have been provided by using the probability risk assessment method,which can serve as a theoretical basis for ecological risk assessment.And,in turn,ecological risk assessment can also provide a scientific guide to the environment-protection decision-making.Besides, this paper has also made a survey of the application status of ERA in different fields,on the basis of which,we have delineated the extension of ERA from the perspectives of time,scope and prospect of utilization,respectively.Thus,it can be concluded that the traditional risk assessment conditions,as well as the ERA types,which can be adopted for environmental pollution remediation and corresponding decision making,should also be taken into full account,along with the evaluation of adverse influences caused by the climate change,transgenic edible crops and vegetables,the recycled use of waste water could be excluded from ERA application areas discussed here.Through a synthetic and systematical analysis of ERA’s denotation and connotation,a clear identification of assessment content and eco-developmental trend are of primary importance so as to provide a theoretical basis for successful promotion of ERA research.