The aim of the Relative Effectiveness of Agricultural Countermeasures
Techniques workshop (REACT) was to provide a forum in which to evaluat
e current knowledge of different agricultural countermeasures. Initial
decisions about the possible need for intervention in a particular ar
ea will be made at national or regional government level. The argument
s that underlie these decisions were outside the remit of this worksho
p. Instead, attention was directed towards the basis for practical dec
isions about countermeasures that could be employed in a particular si
tuation. Countermeasures differ, both in their effectiveness and their
economic, ecological and social impact. In certain situations counter
measures developed before and since the Chernobyl accident have genera
l applicability. However, this is not always the case and in general a
fundamental understanding of the processes involved is needed to pred
ict the effect that a given countermeasure might have under a range of
different circumstances.