Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27711, USA.
Environ Manage. 2024 Nov;74(5):835-845. doi: 10.1007/s00267-024-02039-4. Epub 2024 Sep 10.
Now more than ever, complex socio-ecological challenges require timely and integrated responses from scientists and policymakers. Air quality is one such challenge. Under the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency establishes ambient air quality standards to protect public welfare from known or anticipated adverse effects of air pollutants. As our understanding of the environment and awareness of social values grow, there is a need to improve characterization of "adversity to the public welfare." Scientific assessment can link ecological effects to public welfare using modern scientific approaches that incorporate ecological complexity and multiple value systems held by the public. We propose ideas for the future of scientific assessments meant to inform air quality and other environmental decision-making, including concrete ways we can focus on vulnerable species and ecosystems, incorporate a multiplicity of values, climate and multiple stressors, and partner to diversify the knowledge upon which protective policies are based.
如今，复杂的社会-生态挑战需要科学家和政策制定者及时、综合地做出回应。空气质量就是这样一个挑战。根据《清洁空气法案》，美国环境保护署制定了环境空气质量标准，以保护公众免受已知或预期的空气污染物对公共福利造成的不利影响。随着我们对环境的认识和对社会价值观的认识不断提高，有必要改进“对公共福利的不利影响”的描述。科学评估可以利用现代科学方法，将生态效应与公共福利联系起来，这些方法包含了生态复杂性和公众所持有的多种价值体系。我们提出了未来科学评估的想法，旨在为空气质量和其他环境决策提供信息，包括我们可以关注脆弱物种和生态系统、纳入多种价值、气候和多种胁迫因素以及合作来丰富保护政策所依据的知识的具体方法。
