Informe El medio ambiente en Europa: Estado y perspectivas 2020

PART 3
BOX 17.10
Identifying emerging risks and opportunities for Europe’s environment and policies
Even when successful in its original
intended use, innovation can
result in unexpected and harmful
consequences for the environment and
human health. As numerous historical
examples illustrate, mitigating harmful
impacts requires identifying potential
hazards as early and accurately as
possible (EEA, 2001, 2013). In addition to
enabling interventions to limit impacts,
early warning can help stimulate the
development of substitutes, hence
contributing to sustainable innovation.
The increasing rate and complexity
of technological and societal change
(Chapters 1 and 15) means that early
warning systems need to anticipate
risks and opportunities that are not yet
observable (Science for Environment
Policy, 2016). Emerging risks can result
from the introduction of radically new
products or technologies (e.g. synthetic
biology, artificial meat), the changing
context in which they operate
(e.g. climate change) or systemic effects
related to radical transformations
(e.g. energy systems). Another kind of
challenge is associated with the public’s
risk perception, as some technological
innovations can be met with more
societal protest or controversy than
expected (e.g. first-generation biofuels,
wind turbines, nanotechnologies,
genetically modified organisms),
especially in times of decreasing trust in
institutions and experts.
Against this backdrop, the Seventh
Environment Action Programme calls
for improvements in ‘the understanding
of, and the ability to evaluate and
manage, emerging environmental
and climate risks’ (EC, 2013b). In
2017, the Environment Knowledge
Community (EKC) ( 1 ) established the
EU foresight system for the systematic
identification of emerging environmental
issues (FORENV) ‘to identify, characterise
and assess emerging issues that may
represent risks or opportunities to
Europe’s environment’. FORENV adopts
a systematic and participatory approach
to risk management, building on
methodologies such as horizon scanning,
text mining or media monitoring
(EC, 2017f) and on relevant expertise.
In particular, it links with the Scientific
Committee on Health, Environmental
and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) and the
Eionet Forward-Looking Information
and Services (FLIS) representatives
from EEA member countries. The first
2018-2019 annual cycle is focusing
on identifying key emerging issues at
the environment‐social interface and
communicating them to policymakers
and the public at large, encouraging
appropriate and timely action. ■
aside by popular discourses about
the value of innovation. For example,
Genus and Stirling (2018) argue that
‘Taken as a whole, EU initiatives
and policies tend to characterise
innovation in an undifferentiated
way — as a self‐evidently generally
‘good thing’ irrespective of the
specific kind of innovation involved
or the alternatives that might
thereby be foreclosed.’ A more
precautionary approach — including
open, participatory approaches to
define directionality — is in tune
with the EU’s concept of Responsible
Research and Innovation (EC, 2014a),
and very much at the heart of
the shift to mission‐oriented and
transformative innovation policy.
17.5.4
Managing system interactions
within environmental limits
As discussed in Section 16.5,
production‐consumption systems
interact in many ways — both with
each other and with ecosystems,
for example through the resource
nexus. Achieving Europe’s long-term
sustainability goals will therefore
depend on governance approaches
that reflect these interactions and help
ensure that systems operate together
within environmental limits.
Ecosystem-based management
has emerged as a key governance
approach for addressing the many
interactions within and between
society and nature. Ecosystem-based
management aims to coordinate the
interactions between multiple actors
and sustainability outcomes in ways
that preserve ecosystem services and
ensure that society operates within
environmental limits.
( 1 ) The Environment Knowledge Community is an informal platform of five Commission Directorates-General (for Environment, Climate Action and
Research and Innovation, the Joint Research Centre, Eurostat) and the EEA that was set up in 2015 with the objective of improving the generation
and sharing of environmental knowledge for EU policies.
408 SOER 2020/Responding to sustainability challenges