A barn owl (Tyto alba) flies through a field and looks directly into the camera

TerraChem publishes five policy briefs

TerraChem has published five policy briefs to communicate key messages to policy makers and regulators, the research community, and industry. The briefs explain how learnings from this three year Horizon Europe collaborative project help to fill four key knowledge gaps for managing chemical risks to meet EU targets for biodiversity and pollution.

Nature’s decline is unprecedented in human history, with around 1 million species threatened with extinction and 75% of land and 66% of marine environments significantly altered by human activity. Anthropogenic chemicals are a key driver of this biodiversity loss and decline in natural capital. Recognising the importance of biodiversity and the challenge of pollution, the EU has set a target to set nature on the path to recovery by 2030, and has also set a ‘zero pollution’ ambition. Meeting these targets requires effective assessment and management of the risks posed by chemicals to biodiversity.

However, this is currently severely constrained by four key knowledge gaps:

  • GAP 1: Data on real-world exposure in terrestrial ecosystems.
  • GAP 2: Biodiversity damage modelling.
  • GAP 3: Data integration.
  • GAP 4: Tools for regulatory assessment and management of risks posed by chemicals to terrestrial biodiversity.

Policy Brief 01 provides an overview of the TerraChem Systems Approach, which addresses the four gaps outlined above, and brings evidence to bear for effective assessment and management of risks posed by anthropogenic chemicals to terrestrial biodiversity in Europe. This Systems Approach integrates four components which are outlined in further detail in the related TerraChem Policy Briefs:

  • Policy Brief 01. Reducing the impacts of chemicals on terrestrial biodiversity in Europe – A new systems approach
  • Policy Brief 02. Monitoring ~100,000 Anthropogenic Chemicals in Terrestrial Apex Species, their Food Chains and Soil, in Europe – the TerraChem Monitoring Approach
  • Policy Brief 03. Modelling Damage from Chemical Emissions to Terrestrial Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services – from Possibility to Policy: Chemical Impacts on Biodiversity and Data Needs for Better Environmental Protection
  • Policy Brief 04. TerraChem Data Management System in Support of the EU Common Data Platform
  • Policy Brief 05. Early Warning Signals and Multiple-Lines-of Evidence-based Chemical Prioritisation – Tools for Identifying the Chemicals that Contribute to Terrestrial Biodiversity Loss

Photo: Jon J. Laysell, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)