CERES :: Browsing by Author "Prpich, George"

Browsing by Author "Prpich, George"

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Open Access
Assessing bioavailability of complex mixtures in contaminated soils: progress made and research needs
(Elsevier, 2017-10-17) Cipullo, Sabrina; Prpich, George; Campo, Pablo; Coulon, Frederic
Understanding the distribution, behaviour and interactions of complex chemical mixtures is key for providing the evidence necessary to make informed decisions and implement robust remediation strategies. Much of the current risk assessment frameworks applied to manage land contamination are based on total contaminant concentrations and the exposure assessments embedded within them do not explicitly address the partitioning and bioavailability of chemical mixtures. These oversights may contribute to an overestimation of both the eco-toxicological effects of the fractions and the mobility of contaminants. In turn, this may limit the efficacy of risk frameworks to inform targeted and proportionate remediation strategies. In this review we analyse the science surrounding bioavailability, its regulatory inclusion and the challenges of incorporating bioavailability in decision making process. While a number of physical and chemical techniques have proven to be valuable tools for estimating bioavailability of organic and inorganic contaminants in soils, doubts have been cast on its implementation into risk management soil frameworks mainly due to a general disagreement on the interchangeable use of bioavailability and bioaccessibility, and the associated methods which are still not standardised. This review focuses on the role of biotic and abiotic factors affecting bioavailability along with soil physicochemical properties and contaminant composition. We also included advantages and disadvantages of different extraction techniques and their implications for bioavailability quantitative estimation. In order to move forward the integration of bioavailability into site-specific risk assessments we should (1) account for soil and contaminant physicochemical characteristics and their effect on bioavailability; (2) evaluate receptor's potential exposure and uptake based on mild-extraction; (3) adopt a combined approach where chemical-techniques are used along with biological methods; (4) consider a simplified and cost-effective methodology to apply at regulatory and industry setting; (5) use single-contaminant exposure assessments to inform and predict complex chemical mixture behaviour and bioavailability.
Open Access
Assessing unconventional natural gas development: understanding risks in the context of the EU
(Elsevier, 2018-05-04) Prpich, George; Coulon, Frederic
Unconventional natural gas development (UNGD, e.g. shale gas) poses a threat to the environment and human health. While the Member States of the European Union (EU) decide whether to develop this resource, they require evidence to assess the associated risks. Much of the evidence regarding the risks (e.g. contamination, exposure, disturbance) comes from the US, and we argue this evidence cannot be used by the Member States to conduct risk assessments due to demographic differences, geological differences, and differences in regulation. The EU, as a whole, has recognized their need for evidence and has funded research partnerships to explore the environmental effects of UNGD. We argue that such research efforts need to be extended further in order to address the gaps in human health studies and to develop comprehensive environmental baseline studies.
Open Access
Assessment of consequences of notifiable fish disease incursions in England and Wales
(Taylor & Francis, 2013-01-02T00:00:00Z) Morant, M. P.; Prpich, George; Peeler, E.; Thrush, M.; Rocks, Sophie A.; Pollard, Simon J. T.
A consequence assessment framework was developed to evaluate the economic and environmental consequences of an exotic disease in the context of supporting policy level decisions on mitigation strategies. The framework adopted a semi-qualitative analysis of impacts supported by expert judgement. The efficacy of the framework was illustrated via assessment of the notifiable fish disease, Gyrodactylus salaris. In this example, the economic cost of an illustrative outbreak of G. salaris ranged from £0.22 million to £90 million. The cost of the most likely scenario (regional spread) was estimated to be £7.5 million (minimum to maximum range of £2–22 million), reflecting the uncertainty in the extent of spread of the parasite before detection. The environmental impacts vary by a factor of 35 between incursion scenarios reflecting the number of affected catchments in the scenarios.
Open Access
China's soil and groundwater management challenges: Lessons from the UK's experience and opportunities for China
(Elseveir, 2016-03-10) Coulon, Frederic; Jones, Kevin; Li, Hong; Hu, Qing; Gao, Jingyang; Li, Fasheng; Chen, Mengfang; Zhu, Yong-Guan; Liu, Rongxia; Liu, Ming; Canning, Kate; Harries, Nicola; Bardos, Paul; Nathanail, C. Paul; Sweeney, Rob; Middleton, David; Charnley, Maggie; Randall, Jeremy; Richell, Martin; Howard, Trevor; Martin, Ian; Spooner, Simon; Weeks, Jason; Cave, Mark; Yu, Fang; Zhang, Fang; Jiang, Ying; Longhurst, Philip J.; Prpich, George; Bewley, Richard; Abra, Jonathan; Pollard, Simon J. T.
There are a number of specific opportunities for UK and China to work together on contaminated land management issues as China lacks comprehensive and systematic planning for sustainable risk based land management, encompassing both contaminated soil and groundwater and recycling and reuse of soil. It also lacks comprehensive risk assessment systems, structures to support risk management decision making, processes for verification of remediation outcome, systems for record keeping and preservation and integration of contamination issues into land use planning, along with procedures for ensuring effective health and safety considerations during remediation projects, and effective evaluation of costs versus benefits and overall sustainability. A consequence of the absence of these overarching frameworks has been that remediation takes place on an ad hoc basis. At a specific site management level, China lacks capabilities in site investigation and consequent risk assessment systems, in particular related to conceptual modelling and risk evaluation. There is also a lack of shared experience of practical deployment of remediation technologies in China, analogous to the situation before the establishment of the independent, non-profit organisation CL:AIRE (Contaminated Land: Applications In Real Environments) in 1999 in the UK. Many local technology developments are at lab-scale or pilot-scale stage without being widely put into use. Therefore, a shared endeavour is needed to promote the development of technically and scientifically sound land management as well as soil and human health protection to improve the sustainability of the rapid urbanisation in China.
Open Access
Design, process simulation and construction of a 100 kW pilot-scale CO2 membrane rig: Improving in situ CO2 capture using selective exhaust gas recirculation (S-EGR)
(Elsevier, 2017-12-01) Darabkhani, Hamidreza Gohari; Jurado Pontes, Nelia; Prpich, George; Oakey, John E.; Wagland, Stuart T.; Anthony, Edward J.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) from natural gas-fired systems is an emerging field and many of the concepts and underlying scientific principles are still being developed. Preliminary studies suggest this approach can boost the CO2 content in the feed gas up to 3 times compared to the ‘no recycle’ case (CO2 concentration increased to 18% vs. 6%), with a consequent reduction in flow to the post-combustion capture unit by a factor of three compared to conventional, non-S-EGR. For this project, Cranfield University developed a pilot-scale 100 kW CO2 membrane rig facility in order to investigate simultaneously EGR and S-EGR technologies, the latter being achieved by using a CO2 sweep air polymeric membrane. A bench-scale membrane rig has also been developed to investigate the permeability and selectivity of different polymeric membranes to CO2. Currently a small-scale polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane module is also being investigated to study its selectivity/permeability. The tests include exploring the performance improvement of the PDMS membrane using different operating conditions with a view to developing scale-up procedures for the membrane unit for the actual 100 kW pilot-scale rig. Process simulations were performed using Aspen Plus software to predict the behaviour of the pilot-scale rig using a model developed based on empirical parameters (i.e., mass transfer coefficient of CO2 through the membrane and permeance), measured in the bench-scale membrane test unit. The results show that CO2 concentrations of up to 14.9% (comparable to CO2 level in coal combustion) can be achieved with 60% EGR, with a 90% CO2 removal efficiency of the membrane units. However, the results generated with the membrane model in which specific permeance values to PDMS were applied, predicted concentrations of CO2 in flue gases up to 9.8% (v/v) for a selective recycle of 60%. The study shows that the S-EGR technique is an effective method that can provide similar conditions to that of a coal-fired power plant for the post-combustion capture system operating on natural gas-fired units, but also highlights the fact that more research is required to find more suitable materials for membranes that optimise the CO2 removal efficiencies from the flue gas.
Open Access
Engaging with comparative risk appraisals: Public views on policy priorities for environmental risk governance
(Wiley, 2016) Rocks, Sophie A.; Schubert, Iljana; Soane, Emma; Black, Edgar; Muckle, Rachel; Petts, Judith; Prpich, George; Pollard, Simon J. T.
Communicating the rationale for allocating resources to manage policy priorities and their risks is challenging. Here, we demonstrate that environmental risks have diverse attributes and locales in their effects that may drive disproportionate responses among citizens. When 2,065 survey participants deployed summary information and their own understanding to assess 12 policy-level environmental risks singularly, their assessment differed from a prior expert assessment. However, participants provided rankings similar to those of experts when these same 12 risks were considered as a group, allowing comparison between the different risks. Following this, when individuals were shown the prior expert assessment of this portfolio, they expressed a moderate level of confidence with the combined expert analysis. These are important findings for the comprehension of policy risks that may be subject to augmentation by climate change, their representation alongside other threats within national risk assessments, and interpretations of agency for public risk management by citizens and others.
Open Access
Environmental management of oil contaminated sites in Nigeria: improving policy and risk-based framework
(Cranfield University, 2016-10) Sam, Kabari Simeon; Coulon, Frederic; Prpich, George
Contaminated land management has become a major concern for Nigeria. Sites affected by petroleum hydrocarbons from oil exploitation activities have been identified as a major environmental and socio-economic problem in the Niger Delta region. Though air and water regulations have received the most attention, the regulatory system for contaminated land remains largely undeveloped. As a result, Nigeria oil contaminated land governance lacks a clear and well-established policy framework; administrative structure and capacity; technical methods; and incentive structures. A consequence of these limitations is the inevitable ad hoc management of contaminated land in Nigeria. This thesis aims to provide a comprehensive and integrated contaminated land management policy framework for Nigeria. This work adopts a qualitative approach including critical review methodology and field surveys to investigate the current practice in contaminated land management in Nigeria. Key findings from this research clearly indicate an urgent need for a regulatory policy supported by a holistic and coordinated structure, coupled with improved technical capacity and additional resources to prevent new contamination and to address legacy contaminated sites. A technical strategy to identify and characterise contaminated land in terms of Source-Pathway-Receptor (S-P-R) linkages, a liability regime and the establishment of land use standards are required in Nigeria. Field surveys were used to pilot a proposed stakeholder engagement approach that integrates consideration of social values that could influence contaminated land management policy. Top ranked social values included drinking water, soil quality, and food and local supply chain. Based on this research a pathway for improving the current policy was proposed. The pathway identifies the need to engage stakeholders, educate and improve awareness, increase trust and transparency and integrate societal values into contaminated land management decision- making. An integrated risk assessment framework for contaminated land management in Nigeria was also proposed, and completed with a pathway for integrating the social values and sustainability indicators identified previously. The study proposes a timeline for achieving comprehensive contaminated land management policy in Nigeria. Finally, a multi-attribute methodology for contaminated land prioritisation in Nigeria was developed to identify and promptly respond to sites that pose the highest risk to receptors, considering the limited nature of resources for contaminated land management.
Open Access
Insights into mixed contaminants interactions and its implication for heavy metals and metalloids mobility, bioavailability and risk assessment
(Elsevier, 2018-07-18) Cipullo, C.; Snapir, B.; Tardif, S.; Campo Moreno, Pablo; Prpich, George; Coulon, Frederic
Mobility of heavy metals at contaminated sites is mainly influenced by the soil physicochemical properties and environmental conditions, therefore assessing heavy metals (HMs) and metalloids fractionation can provide insights into their potential risk and the mechanisms that regulate bioavailability. A 12-months mesocosms experiment was setup to investigate the effect of physicochemical factors (pH, moisture, and temperature) and weathering (time) on HMs and metalloids fractionation in three different multi-contaminated soil matrices (low, medium, and high contamination) collected from a soil treatment facility located in the United Kingdom, and two rural contaminated soil samples. The study demonstrates that even though Pb and Zn were found associated with the exchangeable fraction in the soil with the highest contamination (total average Pb 3400 mg/kg, and total average Zn 2100 mg/kg in Soil C), neither the condition applied nor the weathering caused an increase in their mobility. Although it was expected that lower pH (4.5) would favours the dissociation of HMs and metalloids, no significant differences were observed, potentially due to the initial alkaline pH of the genuine-contaminated soil samples. The results show that even though total concentration of Pb, Cu, and Zn exceed the soil standards and guideline values, HMs were predominantly associated with the non-exchangeable fraction, while only 5% were dissolved in the pore water fraction (potentially bioavailable). In addition, the mobility and bioavailability of HMs remained constant over the 12 months monitoring, suggesting that these soils pose negligible risk to the environment.
Open Access
Insights into the biodegradation of weathered hydrocarbons in contaminated soils by bioaugmentation and nutrient stimulation
(Elsevier, 2016-07-18) Jiang, Ying; Brassington, Kirsty J.; Prpich, George; Paton, Graeme; Semple, Kirk T.; Pollard, Simon J. T.; Coulon, Frederic
The potential for biotransformation of weathered hydrocarbon residues in soils collected from two commercial oil refinery sites (Soil A and B) was studied in microcosm experiments. Soil A has previously been subjected to on-site bioremediation and it was believed that no further degradation was possible while soil B has not been subjected to any treatment. A number of amendment strategies including bioaugmentation with hydrocarbon degrader, biostimulation with nutrients and soil grinding, were applied to the microcosms as putative biodegradation improvement strategies. The hydrocarbon concentrations in each amendment group were monitored throughout 112 days incubation. Microcosms treated with biostimulation (BS) and biostimulation/bioaugmentation (BS + BA) showed the most significant reductions in the aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon fractions. However, soil grinding was shown to reduce the effectiveness of a nutrient treatment on the extent of biotransformation by up to 25% and 20% for the aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon fractions, respectively. This is likely due to the disruption to the indigenous microbial community in the soil caused by grinding. Further, ecotoxicological responses (mustard seed germination and Microtox assays) showed that a reduction of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration in soil was not directly correlable to reduction in toxicity; thus monitoring TPH alone is not sufficient for assessing the environmental risk of a contaminated site after remediation.
Open Access
Integrating horizon scanning and strategic risk prioritisation using a weight of evidence framework to inform policy decisions
(Elsevier, 2016-04-17) Garnett, Kenisha; Lickorish, Fiona A.; Rocks, Sophie A.; Prpich, George; Rathe, A. A.; Pollard, Simon J. T.
Poor connection between data on emerging issues and credible policy decisions continues to challenge governments, and is only likely to grow as demands on time and resources increase. Here we summarise recent efforts to integrate horizon scanning and risk prioritisation approaches to better connect emerging issues to the political discourse on environmental and food-related issues. Our categorisation of insights including potential future risks and opportunities to inform policy discussions has emerged from a structured three-year programme of horizon scanning for a UK pan-governmental futures partnership led by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Our efforts to integrate horizon scanning and risk prioritisation, utilising a qualitative weight of evidence framework, has created a systematic process for identifying all signals of potential future change with significant impact for the strategic mission and underlying values of policy actors. Our approach encourages an exploration of factors out of the control of organisations, recognising that resilience depends on the flexibility of management strategies and the preparedness to deal with a variety of unexpected outcomes. We discuss how this approach addresses key cultural and evaluative challenges that policy actors have had in embedding horizon scanning in evidence-based policy processes, and suggest further developments to build confidence in the use of horizon scanning for strategic planning.
Open Access
Linking bioavailability and toxicity changes of complex chemicals mixture to support decision making for remediation endpoint of contaminated soils
(Elsevier, 2018-09-27) Cipullo, Sabrina; Negrin, I.; Claveau, Leila; Snapir, Boris; Tardif, S.; Pulleyblank, C.; Prpich, George; Campo Moreno, Pablo; Coulon, Frederic
A six-month laboratory scale study was carried out to investigate the effect of biochar and compost amendments on complex chemical mixtures of tar, heavy metals and metalloids in two genuine contaminated soils. An integrated approach, where organic and inorganic contaminants bioavailability and distribution changes, along with a range of microbiological indicators and ecotoxicological bioassays, was used to provide multiple lines of evidence to support the risk characterisation and assess the remediation end-point. Both compost and biochar amendment (p = 0.005) as well as incubation time (p = 0.001) significantly affected the total and bioavailable concentrations of the total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in the two soils. Specifically, TPH concentration decreased by 46% and 30% in Soil 1 and Soil 2 amended with compost. These decreases were accompanied by a reduction of 78% (Soil 1) and 6% (Soil 2) of the bioavailable hydrocarbons and the most significant decrease was observed for the medium to long chain aliphatic compounds (EC16–35) and medium molecular weight aromatic compounds (EC16–21). Compost amendment enhanced the degradation of both the aliphatic and aromatic fractions in the two soils, while biochar contributed to lock the hydrocarbons in the contaminated soils. Neither compost nor biochar affected the distribution and behaviour of the heavy metals (HM) and metalloids in the different soil phases, suggesting that the co-presence of heavy metals and metalloids posed a low risk. Strong negative correlations were observed between the bioavailable hydrocarbon fractions and the ecotoxicological assays suggesting that when bioavailable concentrations decreased, the toxicity also decreased. This study showed that adopting a combined diagnostic approach can significantly help to identify optimal remediation strategies and contribute to change the over-conservative nature of the current risk assessments thus reducing the costs associated with remediation endpoint.
Open Access
Management of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated sites in Nigeria: Current challenges and future direction
(Elsevier, 2017-04-05) Sam, Kabari; Coulon, Frederic; Prpich, George
Sites affected by petroleum hydrocarbons from oil exploitation activities have been identified as a major environmental and socio-economic problem in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The current Nigerian regulatory instruments to manage these contaminated sites are fragmented and the roles and responsibilities of government agencies, such as the Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR), and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), are not well defined. This lack of coordination has led to ineffective land contamination policy and poor enforcement more generally. Appropriate, risk-based policy instruments are needed to improve regulatory capacity, and to enhance the regulator's ability to manage new and existing petroleum hydrocarbons contaminated sites. Lessons can be learned from countries like the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States America (USA) that have experience with the management and clean up of historically contaminated land. In this paper, we review the status of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated sites management in Nigeria and identify the gaps in existing policy and regulation. We review the contaminated land policies and regulation from the UK and the USA, and identify lessons that could be transferred to the Nigerian system. Finally, we provide a series of recommendations (e.g. source – pathway-receptor approach, soil screening criteria, clean-up funding, liability) that could enhance contaminated land legislation in Nigeria.
Open Access
A multi-attribute methodology for the prioritisation of oil contaminated sites in the Niger Delta
(Elsevier, 2016-12-02) Sam, Kabari; Coulon, Frederic; Prpich, George
The Ogoniland region of the Niger Delta contains a vast number of sites contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons that originated from Nigeria's active oil sector. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported on this widespread contamination in 2011, however, wide-scale action to clean-up these sites has yet to be initiated. A challenge for decision makers responsible for the clean-up of these sites has been the prioritisation of sites to enable appropriate allocation of scarce resources. In this study, a risk-based multi-criteria decision analysis framework was used to prioritise high-risk sites contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons in the Ogoniland region of Nigeria. The prioritisation method used a set of risk-based attributes that took into account chemical and ecological impacts, as well as socio-economic impacts, providing a holistic assessment of the risk. Data for the analysis was taken from the UNEP Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland, where over 110 communities were assessed for oil-contamination. Results from our prioritisation show that the highest-ranking sites were not necessarily the sites with the highest observed level of hydrocarbon contamination. This differentiation was due to our use of proximity as a surrogate measure for likelihood of exposure. Composite measures of risk provide a more robust assessment, and can enrich discussions about risk management and the allocation of resources for the clean-up of affected sites.
Open Access
Plausible future scenarios for the UK food and feed system - 2015 and 2030. Report for the UK Food Standards Agency
(Cranfield University, Institute for Environment, Health, Risk and Futures (IEHRF), 2014-06) Garnett, Kenisha; Delgado, João; Lickorish, Fiona; Medina-Vayá, Ángel; Magan, Naresh; Shaw, Hayley; Rathé, Anna; Chatterton, Julia; Prpich, George; Pollard, Simon; Terry, Leon A
The report describes the key drivers of the wider environment which informed the development of the scenarios. There are case studies of three representative food types, which illustrate how the scenarios may be used to explore triggers for change in food production and supply in the next 20 years, and what the emerging food safety implications might be under each scenario.
Open Access
Prediction of bioavailability and toxicity of complex chemical mixtures through machine learning models
(Elsevier, 2018-09-11) Cipullo, Sabrina; Snapir, Boris; Prpich, George; Campo Moreno, Pablo; Coulon, Frederic
Empirical data from a 6-month mesocosms experiment were used to assess the ability and performance of two machine learning (ML) models, including artificial neural network (NN) and random forest (RF), to predict temporal bioavailability changes of complex chemical mixtures in contaminated soils amended with compost or biochar. From the predicted bioavailability data, toxicity response for relevant ecological receptors was then forecasted to establish environmental risk implications and determine acceptable end-point remediation. The dataset corresponds to replicate samples collected over 180 days and analysed for total and bioavailable petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals/metalloids content. Further to this, a range of biological indicators including bacteria count, soil respiration, microbial community fingerprint, seeds germination, earthworm's lethality, and bioluminescent bacteria were evaluated to inform the environmental risk assessment. Parameters such as soil type, amendment (biochar and compost), initial concentration of individual compounds, and incubation time were used as inputs of the ML models. The relative importance of the input variables was also analysed to better understand the drivers of temporal changes in bioavailability and toxicity. It showed that toxicity changes can be driven by multiple factors (combined effects), which may not be accounted for in classical linear regression analysis (correlation). The use of ML models could improve our understanding of rate-limiting processes affecting the freely available fraction (bioavailable) of contaminants in soil, therefore contributing to mitigate potential risks and to inform appropriate response and recovery methods.
Open Access
Scientific commentary: Strategic analysis of environmental policy risks-heat maps, risk futures and the character of environmental harm
(Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam., 2013-10-01T00:00:00Z) Prpich, George; Dagonneau, J.; Rocks, Sophie A.; Lickorish, Fiona A.; Pollard, Simon J. T.
We summarise our recent efforts on the policy level risk appraisal of environmental risks. These have necessitated working closely with policy teams and a requirement to maintain crisp and accessible messages for policy audiences. Our comparative analysis uses heat maps, supplemented with risk narratives, and employs the multidimensional character of risks to inform debates on the management of current residual risk and future threats. The policy research and ensuing analysis raises core issues about how comparative risk analyses are used by policy audiences, their validation and future developments that are discussed in the commentary below.
Open Access
Selective-exhaust gas recirculation for CO2 capture using membrane technology
(Elsevier, 2017-11-10) Russo, Giuseppe; Prpich, George; Anthony, Edward J.; Montagnaro, Fabio; Jurado Pontes, Nelia; Di Lorenzo, Giuseppina; Darabkhani, Hamidreza Gohari
Membranes can potentially offer low-cost CO2 capture from post-combustion flue gas. However, the low partial pressure of CO2 in flue gases can inhibit their effectiveness unless methods are employed to increase their partial pressure. Selective-Exhaust Gas Recirculation (S-EGR) has recently received considerable attention. In this study, the performance of a dense polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane for the separation of CO2/N2 binary model mixtures for S-EGR application was investigated using a bench-scale experimental rig. Measurements at different pressures, at different feeding concentrations and with nitrogen as sweep gas revealed an average carbon dioxide permeability of 2943 ± 4.1%RSD Barrer. The bench-scale membrane module showed high potential to separate binary mixtures of N2 and CO2 containing 5–20% CO2. The permeability was slightly affected by feed pressures ranging from 1 to 2.4 bar. Furthermore, the separation selectivity for a CO2/N2 mixture of 10%/90% (by volume) reached a maximum of 10.55 at 1.8 bar. Based on the results from the bench-scale experiments, a pilot-scale PDMS membrane module was tested for the first time using a real flue gas mixture taken from the combustion of natural gas. Results from the pilot-scale experiments confirmed the potential of the PDMS membrane system to be used in an S-EGR configuration for capture of CO2.
Open Access
Stakeholder engagement and the sustainable environmental management of oil-contaminated sites in Nigeria
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2018-08-14) Prpich, George; Sam, Kabari; Coulon, Frederic
African nations are experiencing rapid economic growth and development, particularly within the energy sector; however, this growth has come at a cost to the environment and society. Nowhere have these impacts been felt more precisely than in the oil and gas producing regions of Nigeria where years of neglect and mismanagement have resulted in vast areas of hydrocarbon contaminated lands. In this chapter, we present a case study of the Niger Delta. We show how constructive stakeholder engagement can be used to integrate the values and perspectives of affected communities and how this information can be used to inform environmental regulation and sustainable development. Lessons learned are relevant to other countries seeking to develop their energy resources in a sustainable manner.
Open Access
Strategic risk appraisal. Comparing expert- and literature-informed consequence assessments for environmental policy risks receiving national attention
(Elsevier, 2017-04-07) Dagonneau, J.; Rocks, Sophie A.; Prpich, George; Garnett, Kenisha; Black, Edgar; Pollard, Simon J. T.
Strategic risk appraisal (SRA) has been applied to compare diverse policy level risks to and from the environment in England and Wales. Its application has relied on expert-informed assessments of the potential consequences from residual risks that attract policy attention at the national scale. Here we compare consequence assessments, across environmental, economic and social impact categories that draw on ‘expert’- and ‘literature-based’ analyses of the evidence for 12 public risks appraised by Government. For environmental consequences there is reasonable agreement between the two sources of assessment, with expert-informed assessments providing a narrower dispersion of impact severity and with median values similar in scale to those produced by an analysis of the literature. The situation is more complex for economic consequences, with a greater spread in the median values, less consistency between the two assessment types and a shift toward higher severity values across the risk portfolio. For social consequences, the spread of severity values is greater still, with no consistent trend between the severities of impact expressed by the two types of assessment. For the latter, the findings suggest the need for a fuller representation of socioeconomic expertise in SRA and the workshops that inform SRA output.
Open Access
A systems approach to the policy-level risk assessment of exotic animal diseases: network model and application to classical swine fever.
(Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2013-08-31T00:00:00Z) Delgado, Joao Pedro Correa; Pollard, Simon J. T.; Snary, E. L.; Black, Edgar; Prpich, George; Longhurst, Philip J.
Exotic animal diseases (EADs) are characterized by their capacity to spread global distances, causing impacts on animal health and welfare with significant economic consequences. We offer a critique of current import risk analysis approaches employed in the EAD field, focusing on their capacity to assess complex systems at a policy level. To address the shortcomings identified, we propose a novel method providing a systematic analysis of the likelihood of a disease incursion, developed by reference to the multibarrier system employed for the United Kingdom. We apply the network model to a policy-level risk assessment of classical swine fever (CSF), a notifiable animal disease caused by the CSF virus. In doing so, we document and discuss a sequence of analyses that describe system vulnerabilities and reveal the critical control points (CCPs) for intervention, reducing the likelihood of U.K. pig herds being exposed to the CSF virus.