Title: Managing pesticide risks for non-target ecosystems with pesticide risk indicators: a multi-criteria approach

Authors: Chiara Maria Travisi, Peter Nijkamp, Marco Vighi, Paolo Giacomelli

Addresses: Department of Management Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo de Vinci, 32 20133, Milano, Italy. ' Department of Spatial Economics, Free University, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ' Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, P.zza della Scienza 1, Milano 20126, Italy. ' Department of Agricultural and Environmental Economics and Policy, University of Milano, Via Celoria 2, Milano 20133, Italy

Abstract: In the search for effective pesticide risk management tools, the design of pesticide risk indicators is nowadays receiving increasing attention as a complement to more established regulatory strategies. In the present paper, we apply some recently developed pesticide risk indices and test their potential for management purposes. A pilot approach is proposed, which explores pesticide worst-case hazard scenarios at different space-time scales by means of a set of five ecotoxicological risk indices. The results are then interpreted from the perspective of a decision support method using the so-called critical threshold value approach. Our risk analysis is then enriched within a multi-criteria framework which integrates environmental, agronomic and economic objectives.

Keywords: pesticides; hazard assessment; risk assessment; risk indices; decision support tools; decision support systems; DSS; multicriteria analysis; risk management; risk indicators; ecosystems; toxicology; threshold value approach; environmental management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2006.008258

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2006 Vol.6 No.1/2, pp.141 - 162

Published online: 26 Nov 2005 *

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