{"id":27246,"date":"2023-03-28T17:23:43","date_gmt":"2023-03-28T16:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/?p=27246"},"modified":"2023-03-28T17:23:43","modified_gmt":"2023-03-28T16:23:43","slug":"why-its-time-for-new-approaches-to-environmental-and-health-issues-in-the-eu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/03\/28\/why-its-time-for-new-approaches-to-environmental-and-health-issues-in-the-eu\/","title":{"rendered":"Why it\u2019s time for new approaches to environmental and health issues in the EU"},"content":{"rendered":"

An article recently published in Environmental Science & Policy<\/a> suggests that current economic approaches to addressing environmental and health issues in the European Union suffer from a lack of imagination, limiting the capacity of science to inform policymaking.<\/p>\n

\"Sami<\/p>\n

Looking at how energy policies affect, for example, S\u00e1mi, a nomadic population living in the Northern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, one discovers how energy issues are never purely techno-economic but involve networks of relation between different communities and cultures, whose interests risk invisibility if the issue is framed reductively.<\/p>\n

In the case of water, broadening the range of analytical lenses reveals that the potential impact of irrigation in the water cycle can be much more serious than previously thought. The existing approaches have offered a dangerously reassuring picture of the risks involved by downplaying uncertainties, especially with regards to the volume of water needed to irrigate and the true extension of irrigated agriculture.<\/p>\n

\"Beekeeper<\/p>\n

The same patterns emerge looking at the conflicted issue of pesticides and decline of pollinators. While this may be framed as a scientific problem in need of a technical solution, historically this has been an issue of conflict between different communities \u2013 for example, beekeepers versus farmers \u2013 and foremost a case study of regulatory capture, with the agrochemical sector trying to overtake regulatory agencies.<\/p>\n

During the recent pandemic, modelling has made it to the headlines, and “flattening the curve” \u2013 a model-related concept, has entered media jargon along with the difficulty entailed by the uncertainty of the numbers (infected, asymptomatic, etc.) these models were based on.<\/p>\n

Yet policy prescription based on cost-benefit analysis and related concepts, such as the value of a statistical life (VSL) lead to neat diagnoses based on hyper-precise numbers. But are we looking at all<\/em> numbers? Are we looking at the right<\/em> numbers?<\/p>\n

Our study, led by Andrea Saltelli in collaboration with universities from the United Kingdom, Spain, Norway, Poland, and Estonia, argues that overreliance on neoclassical economical perspectives \u2013 the current dominant economic paradigm grounded on monetary assessments and the assumption of efficient and self-regulating markets \u2013 misses out on the complexity of issues characterising reality.<\/p>\n

We suggest enriching current approaches with:<\/p>\n