Abstract
ABSTRACTEnvironmental management often aims at sustainability and at implementing goals such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Several of these goals rely upon healthy sediments, implying that contaminated sediments need to be addressed in environmental management. In Sweden, the SDGs and national environmental objectives are meant to be central in environmental management. However, in environmental risk assessment (ERA) for contaminated sediments, it is not clear to assessors or authorities in Sweden which goals to consider and how. In the present study, we explore which environmental goals ERAs of contaminated sediment should consider, according to representatives from Swedish regulatory and advisory authorities, and to what extent ERAs consider those goals in practice in Sweden. The identified goals indicated that protection of aquatic ecosystems and associated services is a main priority for the authorities. The ERAs analyzed showed that most identified goals were addressed, albeit not consistently. Furthermore, risk assessors seem to put less weight on ecological aspects than authorities do. This indicates that authorities need to stress the importance of environmental aspects and provide guidance on how to address them. Several environmental goals were found to be directly relevant to contaminated sediments and ERAs can contribute to their fulfillment, given that ERA is a basis for management decisions. However, practitioners need clearer guidance on which goals to address and how. Finally, there seems to be good potential for implementation of the SDGs in environmental management in Sweden, due to existing legislation based on sustainable development and well‐anchored national environmental objectives that overlap with the SDGs. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2019;00:1–12. © 2019 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC)
Highlights
IntroductionWe have many goals that commit us to a more sustainable development. A global example is the set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) ratified by all member states in the United Nations
As a society, we have many goals that commit us to a more sustainable development
The present study investigates which environmental and development goals ought to be addressed in management of contaminated sediments and to what extent they are already considered in practical applications today, in environmental risk assessments (ERAs) that are important as the basis for management decisions
Summary
We have many goals that commit us to a more sustainable development. A global example is the set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) ratified by all member states in the United Nations. The SDGs represent the member states' intention to make the world resilient and sustainable in areas that are considered to be of critical importance for both society and the environment at large (UN 2015). It is not always clear how and when environmental managers should implement the goals in practice. The Swedish government describes the SDGs as the agenda for planning environmental management (SEEPA et al 2018; Swedish Government Offices 2018) It is Sweden's explicit intention to take the lead in sustainable development and management of the environment (Swedish Government Offices 2018). ERA follows the following phases: problem formulation, analysis, and risk characterization. The assessors interpret the results from the analysis to estimate the risk to the assessment endpoints and describe the probability and level of adverse effects to determine the need for risk mitigation
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