ECO27-USHE: Chemicals: Assessment of Risks to Ecosystem Services (CARES)

Description

Aim: To facilitate engagement of the chemical industry, academia and regulators to help develop and evaluate the ecosystem service approach in guiding risk assessment schemes for any type of xenobiotic chemical.

Objectives:

1. Review and evaluate state of knowledge and available approaches and tools for applying an ecosystem services approach to chemical risk assessment. Consider what is needed by different legislation.
2. Reach consensus across stakeholders on the current state of knowledge, approaches and key information gaps. Outline possible ways forward.
3. Explore the use of novel approaches from ecology, ecotoxicology and ecological modelling to address gaps. Illustrate approaches using case studies.
4. Reach consensus across stakeholders on the merits and feasibility of an ecosystem services approach to risk assessment.
5. Explore how an ecosystem services approach could be implemented and consider the implications for regulatory risk assessment (i.e. implementation road map).
6. Reach consensus on implementation road map and disseminate findings to regulators, chemical industry representatives and academics.

Approach: To establish a core group of key stakeholders from the chemical industry, regulatory agencies and academia to participate in a series of workshops to develop consensus views on how the ecosystem services concept might be used in chemical risk assessment/management and what would need to be done to implement it (i.e. implementation road map).  A multidisciplinary team of ecologists, ecotoxicologists and risk assessors, with considerable experience of interacting with the chemical industry and relevant regulatory agencies, will facilitate workshop discussions via the production of discussion papers reviewing the current state of knowledge and using case studies to illustrate possible novel approaches and development needs.

Click here to read the Executive Summary.