A review of environmental protection goals: what are the options for the UK?
Protection goals are key to the environmental assessment of pesticides. Without them, it is not clear what is being protected and whether it is appropriate to authorise or refuse a plant protection product. Protection goals must be clear regarding what is acceptable in terms of size/magnitude of effects in the environment of the substances being used and, furthermore, indicate what level of uncertainty is acceptable.
General protection goals for the environmental risk assessment (ERA) of plant protection products are stated in relevant legislation but specific protection goals (SPGs) are not defined. However, as these are crucial for carrying out a regulatory risk assessment and for making a decision, in certain circumstances they have been defined in guidance documents. The UK regulatory authority (HSE CRD) is funding a project to establish what “approaches” are currently available that will help with the definition of specific protection goals in the UK.
This poster will present a summary of all the currently available approaches, including ecosystem services, for determining, and hence establishing, environmental protections goals for non-target organisms. An assessment of the main pros and cons of the approaches will also be presented. An opinion will be provided regarding the best methodology for establishing environmental protection goals for non-target organisms in the UK. The setting of specific protection goals will be part of a future project and won’t be addressed here.
The poster is available for free download.
The full report that was prepared for CRD is also now available for free download from the Defra website: ‘Environmental protection goals – PS2824‘.