Reducing the harms associated with risk assessments

Risk assessments are the intellectual products of dedicated public health and environmental professionals. Like many other products, risk assessments carry with them the potential for both good and harm. This paper briefly examines some of the harms to which risk assessments have contributed, and then suggests that the legal “duty to warn” doctrine offers a logical and practical way to reduce some of these harms. The paper suggests concepts that could be incorporated into warnings accompanying every formal risk assessment as routine “boiler plate” addenda, just as other potentially harmful products, such as lawn mowers and cook stoves, are accompanied by warnings. Finally, the paper briefly examines the “Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice for Environmental Professionals” (promulgated by the National Association of Environmental Professionals) and shows that the suggested warnings are consistent with recommended practices for environmental professionals.     

Health impact assessment in multinationals: A case study of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group

Health impact assessment is part of the risk management process of multinational corporations/companies. Sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, and the “paradox of plenty” are used as examples of the challenges they face. The “business case” for impact assessment is explained. The policies, procedures, standards, and activities used by Shell to manage such risks are described. An approach to capacity building and competency development is presented that applies to both company staff and external contractors.     

The precautionary principle stimulus for solutions- and alternatives-based environmental policy

The precautionary principle is increasingly discussed in debates over appropriate measures to address complex and uncertain risks. The principle has generally been defined as having two main components: preventive action in the face of uncertainty and reversing the burden of proof. In isolation, these two components would suggest that precaution is primarily reactive to potential problems rather than proactive. More recent statements have suggested that thorough assessment of alternatives is critical to the effective implementation of the precautionary principle. Alternatives assessment—also referred to as options analysis and facility planning—redirects environmental science and policy debates from characterizing problems to identifying solutions. In this commentary, we examine the rationale for a focus on alternatives assessment in implementing the precautionary principle. We examine methods and examples of alternatives assessment, as well as opportunities for the principle's integration in environmental policy. We argue that a greater focus on alternatives assessment can enhance the ability of decision makers to make truly precautionary decisions, stimulate innovation toward sustainable production, and more effectively place burdens on to those creating risks. Such a focus forms an essential component of a shift from “problem-based” environmental policy to “solutions-based” policy. This shift requires adequate research resources, tools, and a government commitment to a new paradigm of environmental protection. We conclude that we will only reach the goal of sustainable production if we change our environmental protection focus from figuring out how bad the situation will be to seeking alternatives to problematic activities and designing the conditions for a more sustainable future.     

Environmental design implementation in Taiwan's industries

This study investigated Taiwan's industries to identify the characteristics of companies most advanced in environmental design. Thirty design principles in five categories were used to define advanced environmental design. The five categories are: use of raw materials, use of energy, design for recyclability, product life cycle assessment, and packaging optimization. We found that of the 30 design principles only eight were applied consistently by Taiwanese manufacturers. Most effort was given to the “use of energy” category. The most advanced environmental design was found at large companies—those with over 2000 employees, 3 billion in capital, and/or 3 billion in annual sales.     

Building consensus on divisive issues: a case study of the Yukon wolf management team

This article presents a case study of a successful effort to reach agreement on one of the most intractable environmental issues of our time: wolf management. This case is unusual in several ways. In this case, the members of the negotiating team were ordinary citizens rather than leaders of organized groups. This team was given an unusually high level of authority to write the plan as they saw fit; the agency pledged to implement “whatever they came up with.” The agency convened the process, but agency personnel were not members of the team and attended only when they were invited. The team members were able to reach agreement on this tough issue even though polar opposites were at the table—one who felt that wolves are a “spiritual essence” and another who felt that, as he put it, “wolves, coyotes, and cockroaches have a lot in common”. They produced a detailed plan that addressed all the issues in just 5 months. Another unusual aspect of this effort is that the final agreement does not list the team members. They explained that they wanted their plan to “stand alone” and be judged based on what it said, not on who was involved.However, just after their agreement was completed, a new, pro-wolf control government was elected that refused to endorse the plan. While the government gave various reasons for not ratifying the plan, more and more diverse interest groups came out in support for both the plan and the process that created it. Eventually, overwhelming public support forced the government to sign and implement the plan as written. This demonstrates that, while it is important for a team to seek the sanction of decision-makers, it is perhaps even more important for the general public to see the effort and the final agreement as fair. Strong support from a broad spectrum of the public can help win the necessary political support.In addition to discussing the unorthodox aspects of this consensus-building effort, this article also attempts to give the reader a front row seat to this process by using the informants' own words—words rich in detail, brimming with color and spoken straight from the heart. Certainly their experience dispels any notion that such efforts are simply a matter of following a recipe. During the process, members of the negotiating team experienced the entire gamut of emotions—anger, defeat, humor and, finally, a genuine sense of pride. As team member Patty Denison put it, “We showed that a random group of people could work together and do something truly monumental.”     

Network and system diagrams revisited: Satisfying CEA requirements for causality analysis

Published guidelines for Cumulative Effects Assessment (CEA) have called for the identification of cause-and-effect relationships, or causality, challenging researchers to identify methods that can possibly meet CEA's specific requirements. Together with an outline of these requirements from CEA key literature, the various definitions of cumulative effects point to the direction of a method for causality analysis that is visually-oriented and qualitative. This article consequently revisits network and system diagrams, resolves their reported shortcomings, and extends their capabilities with causal loop diagramming methodology. The application of the resulting composite causality analysis method to three Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) case studies appears to satisfy the specific requirements of CEA regarding causality. Three “moments” are envisaged for the use of the proposed method: during the scoping stage, during the assessment process, and during the stakeholder participation process.     

Not so Black and White: environmental justice and cumulative impact assessments

A growing number of scientific studies in recent years have investigated disparate exposure to ecological hazards in American society. Working from an environmental justice perspective, this body of research consistently reveals that poor communities of color are most likely to bear a disproportionate burden of negative externalities. These studies utilize a wide range of research methodologies, including various indicators of ecological hazards (e.g., proximity to waste sites, industrial emissions, ambient air quality), but few, if any, utilize composite measures to approximate cumulative environmental impact. Consequently, the environmental justice (EJ) literature is characterized by a failure to effectively measure overall impact from an extensive range of ecological hazards. Limitations on available data make this a serious problem for present and future studies. We argue that cumulative measures of environmental impact can play an important role in furthering our understanding of environmental injustices in the United States. In this study of Massachusetts, we develop and implement such a cumulative measure of negative environmental impacts. By controlling for the density and severity of ecological hazardous sites and facilities within every community in the state, we demonstrate that exposure patterns take a generally linear distribution when analyzed by race and class. So, while our results reaffirm previous findings that low-income communities and communities of color bear significantly greater ecological burdens than predominantly White and more affluent communities, our findings also suggest that environmental injustices exist on a remarkably consistent continuum for nearly all communities. In other words, as the minority population and lower-income composition of a community increases, correspondingly, so does cumulative exposure to environmental hazards. In this respect, communities which are more racially mixed and of moderate income status that are not typically identified as meeting EJ criteria (in demographic terms) also face more significant ecological hazards. Thus, the strict bifurcation of communities into categories of Environmental Justice and Non-Environmental Justice is problematic, and poses a serious dilemma for policy makers, public health officials, and community activists. To overcome this challenge requires the adoption of a cumulative environmental justice impact assessment (CEJIA), which in addition to the demographic characteristics of a community, also takes into account the total environmental burden and related health impacts upon residents. Furthermore, through the adoption of the precautionary principle, source reduction, and alternative forms of “cleaner” production, environmental justice advocates must work for policies which reduce the environmental threat for the full range of communities, as well as their own.     

Planning for sustainability at the local government level

While the primary objective of the 1992 Earth Summit was to generate new commitments from national governments on global environmental issues, one of the most tangible outcomes of the summit was to focus international attention on the role of cities as central actors in the Earth's ecosystem. As a result, the recent UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) extended its focus, originally on housing only, to sustainable human settlements. The final product of the meeting, the Habitat Agenda, provides the greatest recognition ever offered by the United Nations to the role of local governments in the sustainable development process. The success of the Habitat Agenda will be defined by the ability of local governments to effectively adopt its recommendations.This article is a “report from the field” on local adaptations of environmental assessment andplanning procedures in order to implement the various components of the sustainable development mandate.     

Siting a liquid hazardous waste incinerator: Experience with California's tanner act

The siting of hazardous waste facilities is complex, controversial, time-consuming, expensive, and sometimes impossible. Pressures for and against these facilities are immense. California is developing the “Tanner process,” a one-stop concept in which a single agency serves as the focal point (lead agency) for all the state institutions involved. In this paper I review the experience gained to date with the proposal for the largest liquid toxic waste incinerator proposed for California. I present positive and negative aspects of the process, and draw some policy conclusions. I explore a key policy goal: the search for win/win solutions such that both the community and industry come out ahead environmentally and economically. The experience, especially the approach to negotiation/discussion, is a model for possible use elsewhere in California and the nation.     

Local agenda 21: Practical experiences and emerging issues from the South

The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) actively participated in the formulation of chapter 28 titled “Local Agenda 21” of the Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development, often called Agenda 21. To support the process of developing and implementing Local Agenda 21 at the municipal level, ICLEI launched an international action-research project called the LA 21 Model Communities Program in early 1994. In November 1995, all the municipalities participating in this program came together to review and share their experiences. This article is based specifically on the experiences of the municipalities from the South.     

Understanding why impact assessment fails; a case study of theory and practice from Wafi-Golpu,Papua New Guinea

From an instrumental or management perspective, impact assessment (IA) is a process of identifying impacts, finding solutions and achieving project approval. A recipient community, however, has a completely different perspective. For them the IA is about living with impacts, individually and collectively, perhaps over generations, and contested processes of self-determination, consultation and exclusion. IA practitioners live in a third space, usually bound to the proponent but also aware of responsibilities to communities and eco-systems. Seeking to better understand how IA is practiced and experienced, we explore the proposed Wafi-Golpu mine, located in the Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. Determinably focused on local effects we situate the proposed mine within the context of the national mining experience and discuss how IA practices see local and/or Indigenous communities. We find that the Wafi-Golpu IA is blind to local ways of being and seeing the world, with an opaque and arbitrary assessment that reflects its technical and Western basis and bias. We finish with observations about the proposed Wafi-Golpu mine and IA that is relevant to the approval process, as well as making a decolonial, Southern contribution to IA theory and practice, extractive industry regulation and mining-affected communities elsewhere.     

HIA, the next step: Defining models and roles

If HIA is to be an effective instrument for optimising health interests in the policy making process it has to recognise the different contests in which policy is made and the relevance of both technical rationality and political rationality. Policy making may adopt a rational perspective in which there is a systematic and orderly progression from problem formulation to solution or a network perspective in which there are multiple interdependencies, extensive negotiation and compromise, and the steps from problem to formulation are not followed sequentially or in any particular order. Policy problems may be simple with clear causal pathways and responsibilities or complex with unclear causal pathways and disputed responsibilities. Network analysis is required to show which stakeholders are involved, their support for health issues and the degree of consensus.From this analysis three models of HIA emerge. The first is the phases model which is fitted to simple problems and a rational perspective of policymaking. This model involves following structured steps. The second model is the rounds (Echternach) model that is fitted to complex problems and a network perspective of policymaking. This model is dynamic and concentrates on network solutions taking these steps in no particular order. The final model is the “garbage can” model fitted to contexts which combine simple and complex problems. In this model HIA functions as a problem solver and signpost keeping all possible solutions and stakeholders in play and allowing solutions to emerge over time. HIA models should be the beginning rather than the conclusion of discussion the worlds of HIA and policymaking.     

Green chemistry

A grand challenge facing government, industry, and academia in the relationship of our technological society to the environment is reinventing the use of materials. To address this challenge, collaboration from an interdisciplinary group of stakeholders will be necessary. Traditionally, the approach to risk management of materials and chemicals has been through inerventions intended to reduce exposure to materials that are hazardous to health and the environment. In 1990, the Pollution Prevention Act encouraged a new tact-elimination of hazards at the source. An emerging approach to this grand challenge seeks to embed the diverse set of environmental perspectives and interests in the everyday practice of the people most responsible for using and creating new materials—chemists. The approach, which has come to be known as Green Chemistry, intends to eliminate intrinsic hazard itself, rather than focusing on reducing risk by minimizing exposure. This chapter addresses the representation of downstream environmental stakeholder interests in the upstream everyday practice that is reinventing chemistry and its material inputs, products, and waste as described in the “12 Principles of Green Chemistry”.     

Coping with “latent time bombs” in public policy

If government is confronted with “latent time bombs”—potentially major, sudden disasters such as earthquakes, droughts, floods, or financial collapse—when will it react? This exploratory study's hypothesis is that government is more likely to address threats after they actually occur, rather than before they might occur, i.e., the propensity is not to intervene. This is counter to the observed propensity of governments to intervene against the perceived threats posed by nonsudden environmental risks, e.g., hazardous substances. This study contrasts government's differing responses to latent time bombs and hazardous substances. It attributes the difference in response to the differing visibility of intervention costs and the differing distribution of these costs. In the case of hazardous substances, the propensity to intervene may be accounted for by the availability of an intervention mode, i.e., regulation, whose costs are difficult to discern and are spread thinly over the entire population. The hypothesis is explored with the help of three case studies of confronting latent time bombs in Israel.     

Derivation of no-effect and reference-level sediment quality values for application at Saskatchewan uranium operations

To date, the majority of empirical approaches used to derive sediment quality values (SQVs) have focused on metal concentrations in sediment associated with adverse effects on benthic invertebrate communities. Here, we propose the no-effect (NE) approach. This SQV derivation methodology uses metal concentrations in sediment associated with unaffected benthic communities (i.e., from reference sites and lightly contaminated no-effect sites) and accounts for local benthic invertebrate tolerance and potential chemical interactions at no-effect exposure sites. This NE approach was used to propose alternative regional SQVs for uranium operations in northern Saskatchewan. Three different sets of NE values were derived using different combinations of benthic invertebrate community effects criteria (abundance, richness, evenness, Bray–Curtis index). Additionally, reference values were derived based solely on sediment metal concentrations from reference sites. In general, NE values derived using abundance, richness, and evenness (NE1 and NE2 values) were found to be higher than the NE values derived using all four metrics (NE3 values). Derived NE values for Cr, Cu, Pb, and V did not change with the incorporation of additional effects criteria due to a lack of influence from the uranium operations on the concentrations of these metals in sediment. However, a gradient of exposure concentrations was apparent for As, Mo, Ni, Se, and U in sediment which allowed for tolerable exposure levels of these metals in sediment to be defined. The findings from this assessment have suggested a range of new, alternate metal SQVs for use at uranium operations in northern Saskatchewan.     

Coal mining and the resource community cycle: A longitudinal assessment of the social impacts of the Coppabella coal mine

Two social impact assessment (SIA) studies of Central Queensland's Coppabella coal mine were undertaken in 2002–2003 and 2006–2007. As ex post studies of actual change, these provide a reference point for predictive assessments of proposed resource extraction projects at other sites, while the longitudinal element added by the second study illustrates how impacts associated with one mine may vary over time due to changing economic and social conditions. It was found that the traditional coupling of local economic vitality and community development to the life cycle of resource projects—the resource community cycle—was mediated by labour recruitment and social infrastructure policies that reduced the emphasis on localised employment and investment strategies, and by the cumulative impacts of multiple mining projects within relative proximity to each other. The resource community cycle was accelerated and local communities forced to consider ways of attracting secondary investment and/or alternative industries early in the operational life of the Coppabella mine in order to secure significant economic benefits and to guard against the erosion of social capital and the ability to cope with future downturns in the mining sector.     

2006—2012年江苏省环境安全综合评估研究

从江苏省环境安全形势出发,借鉴“压力-状态-响应”（PSR）模型的框架思路,构建了环境安全度量的层次指标体系。从环境安全的压力、状态、响应3个方面确定相应的指数及对应的评估指标,通过基于德尔斐法的层次分析法确定权重,计算环境安全综合指数,并建立环境安全等级划分标准。应用建立的环境安全评估体系,对2006-2012年江苏省环境安全进行了评估。结果表明：2006-2012年,全省环境安全综合指数呈明显下降趋势,安全等级由中警状态好转为预警状态,江苏省环境安全形势不断改善。但2012年以来,大气灰霾、酸雨等复合型污染有所加重,环境安全接近中警状态,全省环境安全形势亟需进一步采取措施进行有效保障。     

Biotic Diversity of Natchez Trace State Forest, Western Tennessee

We carried out a multiple-scale assessment of biotic resources within Natchez Trace State Forest (NTSF) in western Tennessee, focusing on the relation between biotic communities and seven previously developed ecological land types (ELT, based on topography and soils). We wanted to test the functional ability of ELTs for biodiversity stewardship. Woody and herbaceous flora as well as herpetofauna and avifauna communities had substantial differences between upland and lowland forests. However, none of the faunal communities distinguished among upland ELTs. In addition, herbaceous taxa also failed to distinguish upland ELTs. The results suggest the present use of ELTs at NTSF will not be a helpful guide to land stewardship focusing on biodiversity. The disturbance history of the Forest and the mobility of animals are given as potential explanations for a poor relationship between abiotic ELTs and the resident biota.     

Environmental Impact Assessment of the Mining and Concentration Activities in the Kola Peninsula, Russia by Multidate Remote Sensing

On the Kola Peninsula, the mining and concentration industry exerts anthropogenic impact on the environment. Tailing dumps cause airborne pollution through dusting, and waterborne pollution due to direct dumping and accidental releases. The objectives were: (1) to analyse multidate satellite imagesfor 1964–1996 to assess the environmental pollution from themining and concentration activity in the Kola in temporal perspective; (2) to evaluate remote sensing methods for integrated environmental impact assessment. The area of mining and industrial sites steadily expands and amounted to 94 km² in 1996. The polluted water surface amounted to at least 150 km² through dumping in 1978 and to 106 km² in1986 due to dusting. Thus, the impact from the mining and concentration activity should be reconsidered as more significant than it was officially anticipated. In the past the main mechanism of pollution wasdirect dumping into the lakes. Currently and in future, airborne pollution after dusting storms will dominate. The effective recultivation of the tailing dumps will be a long-term process. For effective assessment of impacts from the mining and concentration industry, remote sensing methods should be complemented by in-situ measurements, fieldwork, and mathematical modelling.     

System dynamic simulation: A new method in social impact assessment (SIA)

Many complex social questions are difficult to address adequately with conventional methods and techniques, due to the complicated dynamics, and hard to quantify social processes. Despite these difficulties researchers and practitioners have attempted to use conventional methods not only in evaluative modes but also in predictive modes to inform decision making. The effectiveness of SIAs would be increased if they were used to support the project design processes. This requires deliberate use of lessons from retrospective assessments to inform predictive assessments. Social simulations may be a useful tool for developing a predictive SIA method. There have been limited attempts to develop computer simulations that allow social impacts to be explored and understood before implementing development projects. In light of this argument, this paper aims to introduce system dynamic (SD) simulation as a new predictive SIA method in large development projects. We propose the potential value of the SD approach to simulate social impacts of development projects. We use data from the SIA of Gareh-Bygone floodwater spreading project to illustrate the potential of SD simulation in SIA. It was concluded that in comparison to traditional SIA methods SD simulation can integrate quantitative and qualitative inputs from different sources and methods and provides a more effective and dynamic assessment of social impacts for development projects. We recommend future research to investigate the full potential of SD in SIA in comparing different situations and scenarios.