title: Ecosystem services in risk assessment and management.
abstract: The ecosystem services (ES) concept holds much promise for environmental decision making. Even so, the concept has yet to gain full traction in the decisions and policies of environmental agencies in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. In this paper we examine the opportunities for and implications of including ES in risk assessments and the risk management decisions that they inform. We assert that use of ES will: 1) lead to more comprehensive environmental protection; 2) help to articulate the benefits of environmental decisions, policies, and actions; 3) better inform the derivation of environmental quality standards; 4) enable integration of human health and ecological risk assessment; and 5) facilitate horizontal integration of policies, regulations, and programs. We provide the technical basis and supporting rationale for each assertion, relying on examples taken from experiences in the United States and European Union. Specific recommendations are offered for use of ES in risk assessment and risk management, and issues and challenges to advancing use of ES are described together with some of the science needed to improve the value of the ES concept to environmental protection. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:62-73. © 2016 SETAC.
authors.affiliation: US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Narragansett, Rhode Island.
authors.forename: Wayne R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Munns
authors.affiliation: French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety, Maisons-Alfort, France.
authors.forename: Veronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Poulsen
authors.affiliation: Chevron Energy Technology Company, San Ramon, California, USA.
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Gala
authors.affiliation: Unilever Colworth, Bedford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Stuart J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.affiliation: US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Safe and Sustainable Water Resources Research Program, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Anne W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Rea
authors.affiliation: Ramboll Environ, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: Mary T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Sorensen
authors.affiliation: NEK Associates, Allston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: von Stackelberg
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D003657:Decision Making; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005062:European Union; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012308:Risk Management
keywords: Decision making; Ecosystem services; Human health and well-being; Risk assessment; Risk management