This topic will use the results of our monitoring, modelling and data management work to enable more realistic risk assessment of chemicals in relation to terrestrial biodiversity and to trigger better risk management of chemicals that have negative impacts on biodiversity and on ecosystem services.

Objectives

• To develop consistent schemes to prioritize chemical risks/damage to terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity
• To optimise current chemical environmental risk assessments (ERA) by exploring possible refinements and analysing the feasibility to implement these refinements (novel approaches) into existing ERA practices.
• to trigger risk management measures (RMM) and explore innovative alternative measures through an in-depth analysis to reduce damage to biodiversity.

Work being carried out

Illustration of different drivers of biodiversity loss

Prioritization scheme:

Based on a regulatory perspective, a new prioritization scheme for a hazard- and risk-based identification and prioritization of substances posing a risk to biodiversity will be developed. This scheme should incorporate and integrate various empirical evidence (lines of evidence) on the effects of chemicals at molecular, organism, population and ecosystem level. Some of this evidence is based on AI-supported models. Artificial intelligence (AI) in combination with high computational performance enables a deeper understanding of the interactions in ecosystems and food webs, which are crucial for the characterization of indirect effects. In addition, new indicators for the effects of chemicals on genetic and functional diversity will also be integrated. Combining these evidences in a scheme will enable the generation of a list of substances that are suspected of damaging ecosystems and should be focused on as part of Europe-wide monitoring programs to determine their specific effects.

Reality-case study:

Based on 20 model substances, a real-world case study for reliability testing of registration data from industry will be evaluated in which monitoring data on chemical pollution and accumulation of chemicals are compared with model predictions and publicly available industry data. Relevant information on inherent properties (persistency, mobility, bioaccumulation, toxicity) of the selected compounds (industrial chemicals, biocides, plant protection products, etc.) will be extracted from public databases and compared with summarize data on exposure information and risk ratios.

Improvement of the ERA & analysis of RMM:

Based on reviews, in depth analysis and problem analysis of the “big five” European chemical regulatory frameworks for industrial chemicals (REACH), biocidal products (BP), plant protection products (PPP), medicinal products for human use (HMP), medicinal products for veterinary use (VMP) as well as the crosscutting CLP (classification, labeling and packaging) regulation, current data gaps on terrestrial hazard and risk assessment (species level) and damage to biodiversity and ecosystem services will be addressed, refinements and ways to implement novel approaches will be examined and novel RMM & policy options will be proposed.