RISK-DISASTER-AND-INSURANCE

Comparing environmental risks: tools for setting government priorities J. Clarence Davies 0 Resenhas Resources for the Future, 1996 - 157 páginas The budgetary squeeze occurring at all levels of government in the 1990s has made it obvious that the nation cannot address every existing and prospective environmental problem. Criticism of current programs focuses especially on the low levels of risk posed by many of the problems being subjected to regulation while more important problems may go unaddressed. Comparative risk assessment is increasingly advanced as the appropriate means for setting realistic priorities. Comparing Environmental Risks: Tools for Setting Government Priorities illuminates the increased efforts of the executive branch of the federal government to use risk assessment in its decisionmaking. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pioneered the use of comparative risk assessment (CRA) in its programs and routinely uses risk assessments of individual pollutants, the agency has not made use of CRA throughout the full range of its activities. Nor has any other federal agency. The President's Office of Science and Technology Policy has sought the assistance of Resources for the Future in formulating methods to make broader use of CRA throughout the executive branch. RFF's Center for Risk Management commissioned background papers from leading experts on CRA for presentation at a meeting with federal regulatory officials in February 1994. Comparing Environmental Risks presents the papers of this workshop, revised to include input from the meeting. The book outlines the evolution of CRA and its surrounding controversy, summarizes lessons learned from past efforts at implementation, and identifies new ways for using CRA. Representing the state of the art on programmatic CRA, the methodological analyses andpractical recommendations contained in Comparing Environmental Risks will be invaluable to all public officials and other analysts faced with

Global Risk Governance: Concept and Practice Using the IRGC Framework Ortwin Renn, K. Walker 0 Resenhas Springer, 2007 - 367 páginas The establishment of the international risk governance council (IRGC) was the direct result of widespread concern within the public sector, the corporate world, academia, and society at large that the complexity and interdependence of health, environmental, and technological risks facing the world was making the development and implementation of adequate risk governance strategies ever more difficult. IRGC set out to conduct a thorough examination of the fundamental principles and structures that guide the way emerging risks and issues are identified, assessed, managed, and communicated. From this process, a framework for risk governance was developed and proposed, which forms part I of this volume. This IRGC framework was then subjected to rigorous peer review and comments from other experts and the public at large were invited; these comments make up part II of the volume. The framework was also tested by applying it in a series of diverse, international case studies on such diverse topics as genetically modified crops, acrylamide in food in Germany, construction of the Nagara River Estuary Barrage in Japan, energy security in the Baltic, and nanotechnology, among others. This constitutes part III of the work. The last part of the book, part IV, consolidates the lessons learned, and proposes a path forward that, it is hoped, will lead to better management of global risks.

Comparative risk assessment and environmental decision making Igor Linkov, Abou Bakr Ramadan 0 Resenhas Springer, 2004 - 436 páginas Decision making in environmental projects is typically a complex and confusing process characterized by trade-offs between socio-political, environmental, and economic impacts. Comparative Risk Assessment (CRA) is a methodology applied to facilitate decision making when various activities compete for limited resources. CRA has become an increasingly accepted research tool and has helped to characterize environmental profiles and priorities on the regional and national level. CRA may be considered as part of the more general but as yet quite academic field of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). Considerable research in the area of MCDA has made available methods for applying scientific decision theoretical approaches to multi-criteria problems, but its applications, especially in environmental areas, are still limited. The papers show that the use of comparative risk assessment can provide the scientific basis for environmentally sound and cost-efficient policies, strategies, and solutions to our environmental challeng

Does The Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill Mean That The U.S. Is Headed For Gas Lines, Higher Food Prices And A Broken Economy? The Economic Collapse June 23, 2010 As the Gulf of Mexico oil spill crisis enters a third month, the economic impact of this environmental nightmare is starting to become clearer.  The truth is that the "oil volcano" spewing massive amounts of oil into the Gulf has absolutely decimated the seafood, tourism and real estate industries along the Gulf coast.  Not only that, but energy industry insiders are now warning that the chilling effect that this crisis will have on offshore drilling could precipitate a new 1970s-style energy crisis.  Considering the fact that the U.S. economy was already on incredibly shaky ground even before the oil leak, the last thing we needed was a disaster of this magnitude.  But it has happened, and the reality is that the long-term effects of this crisis are potentially going to reverberate for decades.  The American people certainly have a negative view on the impact that this oil spill will have on the economy.  According to a new poll, about eight out of every 10 Americans expect the oil spill to damage the U.S. economy and drive up the cost of gas and food. But is a new 1970s-style energy crisis really a possibility? Could we actually soon be headed for blackouts and gas lines? Well, former Shell executive John Hofmeister believes that is exactly what we are headed for…. "Within a decade I predict the energy abyss looks like brownouts, blackouts and gas lines."  In fact, Hofmeister claims that some of his fellow energy industry insiders expect things to be even worse than he is projecting in the years ahead. Why? Hofmeister says that the problem is the U.S. government…. "Our federal government, when it comes to energy and the environment, is dysfunctional, it's broken, and it's unfixable in its current form." Without a doubt, the oil spill will have a chilling effect

Assessment and management of environmental risks: cost-efficient methods and applications Igor Linkov, José Palma-Oliveira 0 Resenhas Springer, 2001 - 440 páginas The management of environmental contamination requires decision makers to weigh existing risks against the potential effects of implementing environmental policies, considering both the benefits and disruptions that may result from different courses of action. The present book represents an major advance in the development and application of cost-efficient methods of risk assessment, especially under circumstances of budget constraints and in developing countries. The book explores the potential of risk assessment to act as a unified and unifying technique for addressing a wide range of environmental problems. A wide range of issues are discussed, ranging from specific and local studies through global decision and management frameworks. The approaches developed range from specific methods through widely applied public policies. The book shows that the use of risk assessment can provide the scientific basis for environmentally sound, cost-effective policies, strategies and solutions to our environmental challenges.

The government of risk: understanding risk regulation regimes Christopher Hood, Henry Rothstein, Robert Baldwin 3 Resenhas Oxford University Press US, 2001 - 217 páginas Why does regulation vary so dramatically from one area to another? Why are vast sums spent on controlling some risks but not on others? Is there any logic to the techniques we use in risk regulation? In this work, Hood explores these crucial questions explored. It looks at a number of risk regulations' regimes, considers the respects in which they differ, and examines how these differences can be justified.

Handbook of environmental risk assessment and management Peter Calow 0 Resenhas Wiley-Blackwell, 1998 - 590 páginas At the heart of environmental protection is risk assessment: the likelihood of pollution from accidents; the likelihood of problems from normal and abnormal operation of industrial processes; the likely impacts associated with new synthetic chemicals; and so on. Currently, risk assessment has been very much in the news--the risks from BSE and E. coli, and the public perception of risks from nuclear waste, etc. This new publication explains how scientific methodologies are used to assess risk from human activities and the resultant objects and wastes, on people and the environment. Understanding such risks supplies crucial information--to frame legislation, manage major habitats, businesses and industries, and create development programmes. Unique in combining the science of risk assessment with the development of management strategies. Covers science and social science (politics, economics, psychology) aspects. Very timely - risk assessment lies at the heart of decision making in various topical environmental questions (BSE, Brent Spar, nuclear waste).