Comparative Risk Assessment and Environmental Decision Making

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Introduction

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Comparative Risk Assessment: Past Experience, Current Trends and Future Directions

      • C. J. Andrews, D. S. Apul, I. Linkov

      Pages 3-14

   3. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis: A Framework for Structuring Remedial Decisions at Contaminated Sites

      • I. Linkov, A. Varghese, S. Jamil, T. P. Seager, G. Kiker, T. Bridges

      Pages 15-54

3. Comparative Risk Assessment: Methods, Tools and Applications

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 55-55

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   2. Using Comparative Exposure Analsis to Validate Low-Dose Human Health Risk Assessment: The Case of Perchlorate

      • R. B. Belzer, G. M. Bruce, M. K. Peterson, R. C. Pleus

      Pages 57-74

   3. Comparison of Risks from Use of Traditional and Recycled Road Construction Materials: Accounting for Variability in Contaminant Release Estimates

      • D. S. Apul, K. H. Gardner, T. T. Eighmy

      Pages 75-82

   4. Environmental Risk Assessment of Pesticides in Nepal and Hindukush-Himalayan Region

      • S. Schumann

      Pages 83-98

   5. A Comparative Risk Approach to Assessing Point-of-Use Water treatment Systems in Developing Countries

      • A. Varghese

      Pages 99-112

   6. Risk-Based Evaluation of the Surface Cover Technology of a Red Sludge Waste Disposal Site in Hungary

      • T. Madarász

      Pages 113-123

   7. Towards a More Coherent Regional Environment Agenda in the Middle East: Exploring the Role of Comparative Risk Assessment

      • A. Tal

      Pages 125-131

   8. Lessons from the New Jersey Comparative Risk Project

      • C. J. Andrews

      Pages 133-148

   9. A Proposed Framework for Multinational Comparative Risk Analysis: Pesticide Use, Impacts and Management

      • J. A. Shatkin, I. Andreas, D. S. Apul, A. Attia, M. Brambilla, F. Carini et al.

      Pages 149-168

4. Environmental Decision Making

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 169-169

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   2. The Value of Information for Conflict Resolution

      • M. J. Small

      Pages 171-194

   3. Integrated Assessment Modeling

      • L. James Valverde Jr.

      Pages 195-211

   4. Classification Schemes for Priority Setting and Decision Making

      • J. A. Shatkin, S. Qian

      Pages 213-243

   5. Uncertainty as a Resource in Risk Comparisons

      • D. Hassenzahl

      Pages 245-252

   6. Incorporating Habitat Characterization Into Risk-Trace Software for Spatially Explicit Exposure Assessment

      • I. Linkov, L. Kapustka, A. Grebenkov, A. Andrizhievski, A. Loukashevich, A. Trifonov

      Pages 253-265

   7. Use of GIS as a Supporting Tool for Environmental Risk Assessment and Emergency Response Plans

      • S. Girgin, K. Unlu, U. Yetis

      Pages 267-274

Decision making in environmental projects is typically a complex and confusing process characterized by trade-offs between socio-political, environmental, and economic impacts. Comparative Risk Assessment (CRA) is a methodology applied to facilitate decision making when various activities compete for limited resources. CRA has become an increasingly accepted research tool and has helped to characterize environmental profiles and priorities on the regional and national level. CRA may be considered as part of the more general but as yet quite academic field of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). Considerable research in the area of MCDA has made available methods for applying scientific decision theoretical approaches to multi-criteria problems, but its applications, especially in environmental areas, are still limited. The papers show that the use of comparative risk assessment can provide the scientific basis for environmentally sound and cost-efficient policies, strategies, and solutions to our environmental challenges.

• classification
• environment
• environmental risk assessment
• pesticides
• risk assessment
• ecotoxicology

• ICF Consulting, Lexington, USA

  Igor Linkov

• Cambridge Environmental, Inc., Cambridge, USA

  Igor Linkov

• Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo, Egypt

  Abou Bakr Ramadan

Policies and ethics