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A conceptual framework for landscape-based environmental risk assessment (ERA) of pesticides

Environment International, vol. 191, pp. 108999

Abstract

While pesticide use is subject to strict regulatory oversight worldwide, it remains a main concern for environmental protection, including biodiversity conservation. This is partly due to the current regulatory approach that relies on separate assessments for each single pesticide, crop use, and non-target organism group at local scales. Such assessments tend to overlook the combined effects of overall pesticide usage at larger spatial scales. Integrative landscape-based approaches are emerging, enabling the consideration of agricultural management, the environmental characteristics, and the combined effects of pesticides applied in a same or in different crops within an area. These developments offer the opportunity to deliver informative risk predictions relevant for different decision contexts including their connection to larger spatial scales and to combine environmental risks of pesticides, with those from other environmental stressors. We discuss the needs, challenges, opportunities and available tools for implementing landscape-based approaches for prospective and retrospective pesticide Environmental Risk Assessments (ERA). A set of "building blocks" that emerged from the discussions have been integrated into a conceptual framework. The framework includes elements to facilitate its implementation, in particular: flexibility to address the needs of relevant users and stakeholders; means to address the inherent complexity of environmental systems; connections to make use of and integrate data derived from monitoring programs; and options for validation and approaches to facilitate future use in a regulatory context. The conceptual model can be applied to existing ERA methodologies, facilitating its comparability, and highlighting interoperability drivers at landscape level. The benefits of landscape-based pesticide ERA extend beyond regulation. Linking and validating risk predictions with relevant environmental impacts under a solid science-based approach will support the setting of protection goals and the formulation of sustainable agricultural strategies. Moreover, landscape ERA offers a communication tool on realistic pesticide impacts in a multistressors environment for stakeholders and citizens.

Authors 30

  1. Instituto de Salud Carlos III · Centro Nacional de Sanidad Ambiental

    Affiliation as printed

    Spanish National Environmental Health Center, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: jtarazona@isciii.es

  2. Instituto de Salud Carlos III · Centro Nacional de Sanidad Ambiental

    Affiliation as printed

    Spanish National Environmental Health Center, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: malba@isciii.es

  3. Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement · Écologie Fonctionnelle et Écotoxicologie des Agroécosystèmes

    Affiliation as printed

    French Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Functional Ecology and Ecotoxicology of Agroecosystems, ECOSYS, Palaiseau, France

  4. Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement · Écologie Fonctionnelle et Écotoxicologie des Agroécosystèmes

    Affiliation as printed

    French Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Functional Ecology and Ecotoxicology of Agroecosystems, ECOSYS, Palaiseau, France

  5. Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement · Écologie Fonctionnelle et Écotoxicologie des Agroécosystèmes

    Affiliation as printed

    French Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Functional Ecology and Ecotoxicology of Agroecosystems, ECOSYS, Palaiseau, France

  6. Office Français de la Biodiversité

    Affiliation as printed

    French Agency for Biodiversity (OFB), Direction de la Recherche et de l'Appui Scientifique (DRAS), Vincennes, France

  7. Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement · Laboratoire d'étude des Interactions Sol - Agrosystème - Hydrosystème

    Affiliation as printed

    French Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Soil-Agrosystem-Hydrosystem Interaction Lab (LISAH) Montpellier Cedex, France. Electronic address: cecile.dages@inrae.fr

  8. European Food Safety Authority

    Affiliation as printed

    European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Parma, Italy

  9. Instituto de Salud Carlos III · Centro Nacional de Sanidad Ambiental

    Affiliation as printed

    Spanish National Environmental Health Center, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: ana.fernandez@isciii.es

  10. Osnabrück University

    Affiliation as printed

    Research Center Environmental Systems Research, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany

  11. Instituto de Salud Carlos III · Centro Nacional de Sanidad Ambiental

    Affiliation as printed

    Spanish National Environmental Health Center, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: mcgonzalez@isciii.es

  12. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research · RWTH Aachen University

    Affiliation as printed

    Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), System-Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany; RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research, Aachen, Germany

  13. Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar · University of Aveiro

    Affiliation as printed

    Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies & Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

  14. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas · Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos

    Affiliation as printed

    Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC), UCLM-CSIC-JCCM, Ciudad Real, Spain

  15. Affiliation as printed

    NIVA Denmark Water Research, Copenhagen, Denmark

  16. Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement · Écologie Fonctionnelle et Écotoxicologie des Agroécosystèmes

    Affiliation as printed

    French Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Functional Ecology and Ecotoxicology of Agroecosystems, ECOSYS, Palaiseau, France

  17. Lund University

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

  18. University of Duisburg-Essen

    Affiliation as printed

    Faculty of Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45141, Essen, Germany; Research Centre One Health Ruhr, Research Alliance Ruhr, Germany

  19. UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

    Affiliation as printed

    UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, UK

  20. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research

    Affiliation as printed

    Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), System-Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany

  21. Laboratório Associado TERRA · University of Coimbra

    Affiliation as printed

    Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE), TERRA Associate Laboratory, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

  22. UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

    Affiliation as printed

    UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, UK

  23. Office Français de la Biodiversité

    Affiliation as printed

    French Agency for Biodiversity (OFB), Direction de la Recherche et de l'Appui Scientifique (DRAS), Vincennes, France

  24. Aarhus University

    Affiliation as printed

    Social-Ecological Systems Simulation Centre, Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

  25. Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement · Laboratoire d'étude des Interactions Sol - Agrosystème - Hydrosystème

    Affiliation as printed

    French Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Soil-Agrosystem-Hydrosystem Interaction Lab (LISAH) Montpellier Cedex, France. Electronic address: marc.voltz@inrae.fr

  26. Swedish Chemicals Agency

    Affiliation as printed

    Swedish Chemicals Agency, Sundbyberg, Sweden

  27. Federal Office for the Environment

    Affiliation as printed

    Federal Office for the Environment, FOEN, Bern, Switzerland

  28. German Environment Agency

    Affiliation as printed

    German Environment Agency (UBA), Dessau, Leipzig, Germany

  29. Agence Nationale de Sécurité Sanitaire de l’Alimentation, de l’Environnement et du Travail

    Affiliation as printed

    Regulated Products Assessment Directorate, Anses (French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety), Maisons-Alfort, France

  30. European Food Safety Authority

    Affiliation as printed

    European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Parma, Italy

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References 79