Social Perception of Systemic Risks

The article distinguishes between two types of risks: conventional and systemic risks. Conventional risks can be contained in space and time, follow linear cause–effect relationships and can be addressed with effective and pointed interventions into the cause–effect chain. Systemic risks, however, are characterized by high complexity, transboundary effects, stochastic relationships, nonlinear cause–effect patterns with tipping points, and are often associated with less public attention than they require. The article addresses the reasons why systemic risks seem to be attenuated in public perception. The article goes on to consider how the social amplification of risk framework is useful in the context of systemic risks and describes needed extensions of that framework. It identifies practical tools for assessing the significance of perceptions for systemic risk situations. Finally, it argues that a graphic representation and simulation of evolving systemic risks and potential countermeasures as well as a participatory deliberative approach of inclusive risk governance are suitable governance strategies for preventing, mitigating, or managing systemic risks

Social tipping points and adaptation limits in the context of systemic risk : Concepts, models and governance

Funding Information: SJ acknowledges the funding from the Finnish Academy, grant no 329239. TF is thankful to the support from the European Research Council (ERC) project #758014 under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program, and from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) project #191.015. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Juhola, Filatova, Hochrainer-Stigler, Mechler, Scheffran and Schweizer.Physical tipping points have gained a lot of attention in global and climate change research to understand the conditions for system transitions when it comes to the atmosphere and the biosphere. Social tipping points have been framed as mechanisms in socio-environmental systems, where a small change in the underlying elements or behavior of actors triggers a large non-linear response in the social system. With climate change becoming more acute, it is important to know whether and how societies can adapt. While social tipping points related to climate change have been associated with positive or negative outcomes, overstepping adaptation limits has been linked to adverse outcomes where actors' values and objectives are strongly compromised. Currently, the evidence base is limited, and most of the discussion on social tipping points in climate change adaptation and risk research is conceptual or anecdotal. This paper brings together three strands of literature - social tipping points, climate adaptation limits and systemic risks, which so far have been separate. Furthermore, we discuss methods and models used to illustrate the dynamics of social and adaptation tipping points in the context of cascading risks at different scales beyond adaptation limits. We end with suggesting that further evidence is needed to identify tipping points in social systems, which is crucial for developing appropriate governance approaches.Peer reviewe

Modernizing persistence–bioaccumulation–toxicity (PBT) assessment with high throughput animal-free methods

The assessment of persistence (P), bioaccumulation (B), and toxicity (T) of a chemical is a crucial first step at ensuring chemical safety and is a cornerstone of the European Union’s chemicals regulation REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals). Existing methods for PBT assessment are overly complex and cumbersome, have produced incorrect conclusions, and rely heavily on animal-intensive testing. We explore how new-approach methodologies (NAMs) can overcome the limitations of current PBT assessment. We propose two innovative hazard indicators, termed cumulative toxicity equivalents (CTE) and persistent toxicity equivalents (PTE). Together they are intended to replace existing PBT indicators and can also accommodate the emerging concept of PMT (where M stands for mobility). The proposed “toxicity equivalents” can be measured with high throughput in vitro bioassays. CTE refers to the toxic effects measured directly in any given sample, including single chemicals, substitution products, or mixtures. PTE is the equivalent measure of cumulative toxicity equivalents measured after simulated environmental degradation of the sample. With an appropriate panel of animal-free or alternative in vitro bioassays, CTE and PTE comprise key environmental and human health hazard indicators. CTE and PTE do not require analytical identification of transformation products and mixture components but instead prompt two key questions: is the chemical or mixture toxic, and is this toxicity persistent or can it be attenuated by environmental degradation? Taken together, the proposed hazard indicators CTE and PTE have the potential to integrate P, B/M and T assessment into one high-throughput experimental workflow that sidesteps the need for analytical measurements and will support the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability of the European Union.ISSN:0340-5761ISSN:1432-073

Public values and goals for public participation

Over the past half century, it has become commonplace for environmental managers and policy makers to engage the public in decision making, a set of diverse activities known collectively as public participation. Despite widespread support for public participation, there is no explicit consensus on the purpose of this practice. In this study, we developed and tested a first-of-its-kind quantitative measure of public participation goals among a sample of the U.S. public. Survey data indicate a classification of four participation goals\u27 orientations: functionalist-deliberative, instrumental, emancipatory, and coercive. A subsequent survey with a separate sample of the public explored the antecedents and consequences of these goal orientations. Regression analyses reveal that four common dimensions of the Schwartz Value Survey (altruism, egoism, traditionalism, and openness to change) are significant predictors of these goal orientations. For example, altruistic values predict adherence to emancipatory participation goals, while egoism (i.e., self-interest) is associated with a coercive goal orientation. In turn, preferences for public participation goals are predictors of respondents\u27 levels of satisfaction with two common public participation techniques, public hearings and public advisory boards. Instrumental participation goals are associated with greater satisfaction with public hearings, but a functionalist-deliberative goals\u27 orientation predicts satisfaction with advisory boards. This study has implications for the effective design and implementation of public participation programs and indicates a need for greater study of public participation goals among practitioners and participants

Risk Governance: Application to Urban Challenges

Abstract Urban areas face multiple risks: they range from natural hazard-induced disasters, fires, and building code violations to social risks such as vandalism, crime, and social disorientation, among others. These risks often interact with each other and cannot be dealt with in isolation. As a means to identify, assess, and manage multiple risks, the concept of “risk governance” has been developed, which promises to provide integrative and comprehensive tools to deal with the many manifestations of risks. In this article, risk governance concept has been specifically applied to complex risk situations in urban areas. The concept of risk governance pertains to the many ways in which multiple actors, individuals and institutions, public and private, deal with risks. It includes formal institutions and regimes and informal arrangements. The article first develops an adaptive and integrative model of risk governance and applies this model to the urban environments. After a short summary of the roots of risk governance, key concepts, such as simple, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous risks, are discussed. The main emphasis is on each of the five phases of risk governance: pre-estimation, interdisciplinary assessment, risk evaluation, risk management, and risk communication

Characterizing Landscapes of Regional Risk Governance

In a world of increasingly complex and tightly coupled systems, hazard managers face new challenges of interconnecting hazards. Hazards associated with these risk systems cannot be managed in isolation. A plurality of actors each with their peculiar interests, abilities, and constraints engage in individual and coordinated actions in the context of multiple and sometimes overlapping political and institutional boundaries. This paper attempts to simplify and make sense of this complex risk environment by using the notion of a decision landscape. A decision landscape in a conceptual space to locate potential actions, implications of such actions, actors, purposes, resources, and scene. Using the example of hydraulic fracturing in the United Sates we suggest how a risk decision landscape can be structured and populated with information relevant to risk managers

Precautionary Risk Appraisal and Management: an orientation for meeting the precautionary principle in the European Union,

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