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The history of environmental decision-making in the United States is primarily one of antagonism, conflict, and litigation. Four sectors of American society are typically at odds over why and how to solve environmental problems—government regulators, businesses proponents, environmental advocates, and members of affected communities. Dissimilar worldviews are at the heart of most environmental disputes, and people in the four sectors tend to have diverse perspectives and philosophies that affect how they interpret and respond to environmental issues. To promote integrated, cost-effective decisions, the public health paradigm (prevention first, intervention second, treatment third), as embodied in the Precautionary Principle and the concept of Sustainable Development, should be mutually adopted as a joint framework for prioritizing solutions to pressing environmental problems. The core public health principle of prevention first is a simple yet powerful tenet that can help foster better environmental choices that are more effective, efficient, and equitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent interest in understanding the human and ecological health risks of contaminants on lands in the United States has led some managers and public policy makers to use extensive narratives associated with maps and Conceptual Site Models (CSM) in their Vision statements. While narratives are descriptive, CSMs can graphically depict the sources, releases, transport and exposure pathways, and receptors, together with possible barriers to block pathways and reduce exposure. In most situations, vision statements and CSMs are developed for one site, providing no opportunity to understand how they function generally. This paper reviews a set of 31 Vision statements and CSMs developed for Department of Energy (DOE) sites to examine the use and importance of ecological data in the process. This analysis provides a framework for evaluating ecological resources and risk at contaminated sites generally. While data on human health risks were usually extensive, data on specific ecological receptors were sparse. Less than 70% of the sites mentioned endangered or threatened species, less than 40% provided even partial species lists for their sites, and less than 40% provided information on unique habitats. Almost no sites mapped the distribution of endangered/threatened species. Ecological receptors were treated as a class, without regard to whether they were terrestrial or aquatic, or sedentary or migratory. Only 29% of the sites referred to specific ecological risk assessments. Confusion existed with respect to routes of exposure, pathways of exposure, and media for exposure. Overall, the ecological information presented was not consistent across sites, making it difficult to compare ecological resources at risk, effects of remediation on ecological resources complex-wide, or to determine which resources were most important to protect if monetary resources are limited. One of the objectives of DOE in having sites develop these Vision statements was to achieve uniformity in information available for the public, managers, policy-makers, and decision-makers. Any variances from previously agreed-upon remediation will likewise require this detailed ecological information. The dataset indicates a clear need to delineate the key ecological information required for these stakeholders before effective decisions can be made across a wide complex of contaminated sites, and a list of potential indicators is suggested. This ecological information can be both qualitative and quantitative. Finally, the information developed for Vision statements (CSMs, maps) will be useful in ensuring continued human and ecological protection, and will contribute to the sustainable safety of remaining contamination on sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it is an ages old concept, the precautionary principle is only a few decades old as a formal expression of a philosophy guiding protection of the environment and of human health. The emergence of the precautionary principle in the European Community and its relatively slower acceptance in the United States reflects differences in underlying social, cultural, and legal approaches to environmental and public health protection. Unfortunately, this poorly defined principle in some of its manifestations can lead to a loss of the toxicological scientific base that is necessary for short-term and long-term protection of the environment and public health. Examples of problems caused by using the precautionary principle include trade barriers erected by the European Community, and the loss of the impetus to develop understanding of the toxicity of hazardous air pollutants due to precautionary aspects of the 1990 U.S. Clean Air Act amendments. There are other U.S.–European differences in the organization and funding of science that are threatening the legacy of Herbert Remmer which was built on close trans-Atlantic scientific cooperation to the benefit of all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the potential benefits and shortcomings of the Convention for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean adopted in September 5, 2000, in Hawaii. The research findings rely on a detailed review of the negotiation process and the protracted debates between member states of the Forum Fishery Agency (FFA) and distant water fishing nations. The importance of this Convention for the long-term sustainability of the Pacific tuna stocks is emphasized in light of existing global fisheries instruments and regional mechanisms of cooperation whose limitations are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]