STRATEGIC RISK ASSESSMENT - PRIORITIZING ENVIRONMENTAL-PROTECTION

Environmental protection and improvement comes at a price, and regulat ors must ensure that resources are targeted at the highest priority ri sks. Risk assessment at a strategic level is now an essential tool. Ri sks can arise from natural sources such as flooding and radon, as well as anthropogenic sources such as discharges of pollutants or the intr oduction of alien fish species. In deciding which environmental pressu re to tackle next, and which to leave, regulators have to compare the full range of risks on a sound and consistent basis. Comparing risks f rom such diverse sources poses a significant challenge and traditional hazard assessments are now no longer sufficient. Consideration now ne eds to be given to a much wider range of factors if risk assessment is to be used as an aid to strategic decision-making. In general, Strate gic Risk Assessment can be broken down into four main tasks. (i) Harm assessment-where the impact of a given level of exposure on a predefin ed receptor group is determined. (ii) Risk significance-where the harm evaluated in (i) is placed in the geographical (regional, national in ternational) context in relation to the overall population of receptor s, and the range of different receptors. (iii) Risk uncertainty-where the probability of occurrence, exposure and harm is quantified togethe r with the range of uncertainties involved in the overall assessment. (iv) Risk importance-where the costs and benefits of various actions/o ptions together with a measure of society's view of the risk are broug ht together. All the above have been included in the Strategic Risk As sessment Methodology which has been developed by the Environment Agenc y, and will be used to direct the organisation's manpower and financia l resources to maximise its contribution to sustainable development. ( C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.