Preface

Summary

This book intends to create a professional standard for ‘honest and complete’ environmental risk assessments.

Complete risk assessments are defined as those that undertake all stages of the risk management cycle guided by stakeholders, a marriage of risk analysis methods, adaptive management, decision tools, monitoring and validation.

Honest risk assessments are defined as those that are faithful to assumptions about the kinds of uncertainties embedded in an assessment, that carry these uncertainties through chains of calculations and judgements, and that represent and communicate them reliably and transparently.

The philosophy of this book is that it is incumbent on risk analysts to make all relevant uncertainties, and the sensitivity of decisions to these uncertainties, as plain and as accessible as possible. This book treats both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of risk assessment. It takes the position that in most circumstances, the best use of models is to interrogate options, resulting in choices that are robust to a range of assumptions and uncertainties.

Reconciling the dispassionate and personal elements is the essence of creating an honest and complete environmental risk assessment.

The book explores a variety of approaches to risk assessment relevant to the management and conservation of the environment without providing full coverage. Thus, it does not explore the full details of ecotoxicology, but focuses instead on the kinds of models used by ecotoxicologists to solve environmental problems, and on the conventions used to represent uncertainty.