Interpretation and evaluation of the US Environmental Protection Agency ecological risk assessment guidelines

Abstract

In order to facilitate a common understanding, on-going debate and increasing application of ecological risk assessment (ERA) in South Africa, the ERA process of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been summarised and evaluated for South African conditions, Many of the individual steps in the process have been interpreted and reworded in order to improve communication of the concepts. The basic process is unchanged though a few minor changes are recommended as improvements. A comparison is also made with integrated environmental management (IEM). It is noted that ERA addresses many of the key principles underpinning IEM, including consultation with interested and affected parties which provides an opportunity for public and specialist input into the decision-making process. However, there are some differences though more in degree than in principle. Of importance is that the ERA framework provides explicitly for quantification of all aspects of an assessment in an IEM procedure.