A METHODOLOGY FOR IMPACT AND RISK ASSESSMENT IN INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

Most of the Earth’s living resources are found in specific geographical locations such as the global coastal environment and the catchment basins of large river systems. Furthermore, a large proportion of the world's population lives in close proximity to these regions and is frequently dependent upon it for either part or much of its food supply and industrial raw materials. The consequence of this situation is that much of the waste, both industrial and domestic, and various other types of habitat destruction generated by the human population, occurs in those areas that are of greatest biological and economic significance. The overall problem is, how to develop effective procedures for environmental/ecological impact and risk assessment? One of the major difficulties in impact and risk assessment is to link harmful effects of chemical pollutants in individual animals and plants with the ecological consequences. Consequently, this obstacle has resulted in a “knowledge-gap ” for those seeking to develop effective policies for sustainable use of resources and environmental protection. However, diagnostic “clinical-type ” ecotoxicological tests or “biomarkers ” and immunochemical tests for contaminants are now increasingly available; and there is a concerted international research effort to improve and extend this predictive capability. These ecotoxicological tools can provide information on the health-status of populations based on relatively small samples of individuals