Foreword

This book is mainly made to speak about the information on Environmental Risk
Assessment (ERA). Our environment is unfortunately taken for granted and human acts
became notorious as our historys timeline extend a line in which I foresee leading
humanity to its own destruction. Problems arising involving the environment takes
disastrous turns that needs to stopped and it is only up to our actions to make it happen
and the first step on this is to assess these through the methods to be discussed through
the book.
To deepen the knowledge in order to relate it to our status quo, I intended to insert
a series of topics about the ecosystem. This will provide a valuable insight to determine
the possible problems that humans should address to help in mitigating the problems of
our environment.
I hope this book will serve as a guide towards the action to prevent climate
change, which is a tremendous dilemma the world is facing, no matter how small this set
of words may be.

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Dedicated to
The victims of Climate Change,
Especially Our Mother Earth

Acknowledgement
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I would like to express our warm gratitude to the people who made this book
emerge in reality: to Engr. Dorothy Yee for engaging us this opportunity to learn and lend
a hand to share the knowledge involving Environmental Risk Assessment which I think is
belittled in its importance, to the Cor Jesu Library staff who extended their help in
finding books that will help me in gathering information about the list of given topics, to
the internet and users who shared a vast amount of information to gather from and offered
it free from charges, to my family for supporting me morally and financially, and lastly to
the Father Almighty for imparting me with Holy Spirit as I work upon this project.

Table Of Contents

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Foreword

Dedication

ii

Acknowledgement

iii

Introduction

Purpose of Environmental Risk Assessment .

Conceptual Framework of an ERA

Strengths of an ERA .

Types of Risk Assessment

11

Four Steps to a Risk Assessment Document .

13

Conducting an Environmental Risk Assessment

15

20

Limitations of Environmental Risk Assessment

23

Important Environmental Values

24

Users of Environmental Risk Assessment

26

Application and Scope of an ERA

28

Stages of Carrying out an ERA

31

Overview of an ERA .

40

Legal Requirements of an ERA

41

Ecosystem

44

What is Risk Assessment

Planning the Risk Assessment and

Summary of Steps in the ERA Approach

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How Ecosystem Works

49

Threats to Ecosystem .

51

Human Activities that Affect Ecosystem

53

Human Effects on Ecosystem .

55

Ecosystem Characterization .

57

Summary

58

Definition of Terms

59

Bibliography .

67

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