A review of uncertainty in environmental risk: characterising potential natures, locations and levels

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dc.contributor.authorSkinner, Daniel J. C.
dc.contributor.authorRocks, Sophie A.
dc.contributor.authorPollard, Simon J. T.
dc.date.accessioned2024-01-19T12:35:00Z
dc.date.available2024-01-19T12:35:00Z
dc.date.issued2013-06-10
dc.description.abstractUncertainties, whether due to randomness or human or system errors, are inherent within any decision process. In order to improve the clarity and robustness of risk estimates and risk characterisations, environmental risk assessments (ERAs) should explicitly consider uncertainty. Typologies of uncertainty can help practitioners to understand and identify potential types of uncertainty within ERAs, but these tools are yet to be reviewed in earnest. Here, we have systematically reviewed 30 distinct typologies and the uncertainties they communicate and demonstrate that they: (1) use terminology that is often contradictory; (2) differ in the frequencies and dimensions of uncertainties that they include; (3) do not uniformly use systematic and robust methods to source information; and (4) cannot be applied, on an individual basis, to the domain of ERA. On the basis of these observations, we created a summary typology – consisting of seven locations (areas of occurrence) of uncertainty across five distinct levels (magnitude of uncertainty) – specifically for use with ERAs. This work highlights the potential for confusion, given the many versions of uncertainty typologies which exist for closely related risk domains and, through the summary typology, provides environmental risk analysts with information to form a solid foundation for uncertainty analysis (based on improved understanding) to identify uncertainties within an ERA.en_UK
dc.identifier.citationSkinner DJC, Rocks SA, Pollard SJT. (2014) A review of uncertainty in environmental risk: characterising potential natures, locations and levels, Journal of Risk Research, Volume 17, Issue 2, 2014, pp. 195-219en_UK
dc.identifier.issn1366-9877
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2013.794150
dc.identifier.urihttps://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/20694
dc.language.isoenen_UK
dc.publisherTaylor and Francisen_UK
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/*
dc.subjectuncertaintyen_UK
dc.subjecttypologyen_UK
dc.subjectenvironmentalen_UK
dc.subjectrisken_UK
dc.subjectassessmenten_UK
dc.titleA review of uncertainty in environmental risk: characterising potential natures, locations and levelsen_UK
dc.typeArticleen_UK

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