Scientific and engineering improvement of environmental risk management - Environmental Deterioration and Contamination: Problems and their Management - page 398

Figure 11.7 Scope of various environmental risk management concepts and tools.
and social aspects because none of them can fully characterize the environmental
problems and provide advice to decision makers. They should be used as complemen-
tary tools after having been harmonized and their scopes and limits have been defined.
Figure 11.7 shows the areas covered by the different risk management concepts
and methods using the integrated risk model, showing source, transport routes,
environmental compartments, and receptors in the background.
There are basic differences in the management of the global, regional and local
environment. One can evaluate and manage risks at regional and global levels in a
generic way, assuming that Europe or the globe have the same values everywhere
and the heterogeneities can be accounted for by uncertainties. An opposing approach
would take into account every little detail on the earth, but exhaustive information
is not available yet. At local level, we can assess the topographical, geochemical,
hydrogeological, ecological, biological, etc. characteristics and manage the risk based
on full information.
Global/regional and local management need different tool boxes: global/regional
ERM uses generic risk assessment applying mathematical models, hazard-based
estimations and source-based risk mitigation, mainly by prevention and restriction