From chemical risk assessment to environmental quality management: the challenge for soil protection.
The 40 years that have passed since the beginning of the 'environmental revolution' has seen a large increase in development of policies for the protection of environmental media and a recognition by the public of the importance of environmental quality. There has been a shift from policy in reaction to high profile events, then to control of releases to single environmental media, and to the present position of moving toward integrated management of all environmental media at present. This development has moved away from classical chemical risk assessment toward environmental holism, including recognition of the ecological value of these media. This work details how policy developments have taken place for air and water, with examples from the USA and EU, in order to compare this with policy development regarding soil. Soil, with quite different policy frameworks and distinct uses, understanding, and threats compared to other environmental media, is currently attracting attention regarding the need for its protection independent of use. Challenges for soil policy are identified and evaluated, and recommendations on how these challenges can be overcome are discussed with relevance to water and air protection policy.
Bone
James
J
Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
Head
Martin
M
Jones
David T
DT
Barraclough
Declan
D
Archer
Michael
M
Scheib
Catherine
C
Flight
Dee
D
Eggleton
Paul
P
Voulvoulis
Nikolaos
N
D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D058735:Environmental Policy; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011050:Policy Making; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014481:United States
D012989:Soil Pollutants