MOKKA: Innovative Decision Support Tools for Risk Based Environmental Management

During the last ten years the basic components of Environmental Risk Management Tools have undergone revolutionary changes. The environmental decision makers tend to substantiate their decisions on the quantitative risk values based on the predicted environmental concentration and the predicted or measurable effects of the pollutants. The two main facets of Risk Management include Risk Assessment (RA) and Risk Reduction (RR). Comparing the assessed and the risk based target values, the risk will be reduced to the acceptable levels. Both RA and RR use innovative integrated methodology and technologies, including early warning systems, testing of effects of high environmental relevance and remediation based on natural processes. To get a better view on the risk of chemicals in the environment, additional information are necessary on the physical and chemical form of the pollutant and its interactions with the environmental matrix and the members of the ecosystem, including Humans. The Risk Based and Effect Based approach is essential not only for Risk Management itself, but also for its main supporters, the environmental monitoring and the legal background. (Figure 1.)

Figure 1.: Tasks of Environmental Risk Management

The practical implementation of the innovative testing methods and remediation technologies is slow. A deep virtual gap exists between the scientific-technical opportunities and actually practiced methodologies. The Death Valley is even more unbridgeable in Hungary. MOKKA supports 1. the complete innovation process for a few new RA and RR methods of the consortium members and 2. the market entry of all Hungarian innovation in the field of RA, RR and RM by collecting and integrating them into an electronic database supported by a DST (Decision Support Tool).

Figure 2.: Innovation and practice

Most of innovative methods/technologies are not put into practice, but disappear in the „Death Valley” after funding and demonstration. MOKKA aims to support the survival of innovative Risk Assessement and Risk Reduction methods and their utilisation by the potential endusers.