Richard Wenning, Montrose expert in environmental impact and ecological risk assessment, published in IEAM Journal
Background:
Richard J. Wenning, a Montrose NRDA expert, was recently published by the IEAM Journal (Integrated Environmental and Management). His paper covers the natural resource damage methods that have been used to estimate the injuries to natural capital caused by releases of oil and hazardous substances and by physical impacts on resources.
Paper Abstract:
The human toll of war is devastating for both combatants and civilians. However, the environmental impacts of war, while less immediate, can have long-lasting and important effects on human well-being and the environment in the affected areas. Reparations for the impacts of war on natural capital can fund the post-war restoration of the environment necessary to sustain the recovery of human well-being in war zones. If claims for environmental reparations are to be successful, estimates of the amount of restoration needed and its cost must be based on defensible and transparent methods. Such methods will rely on a data-driven, science-based approach that provides information consistent with the evidentiary requirements of Western legal proceedings.
In this paper, it is proposed that approaches developed over decades of practice under natural resource damage provisions of U.S. and European environmental liability statutes satisfy these requirements. These methods have been used to estimate the injuries to natural capital caused by releases of oil and hazardous substances, and by physical impacts to resources. Next, the type and scale of natural resource restoration needed to offset these injuries is determined. Restoration is of appropriate scale when it re-establishes the stock of natural capital to what it would have been absent the impacts of the conflict. Monetary reparations then equal the cost of scaled restoration. The damage assessment process begins with a preliminary assessment of damages, which could be initiated during wartime to document effects, estimate the likely magnitude of injury, and inform restoration planning. The preliminary estimates of injury and restoration cost can be refined later using data collected via in-country investigations after cessation of hostilities. This phased approach helps ensure that restoration can begin in a timely manner, speeding the recovery of the resource base in an effective and targeted program of a size commensurate with the amount of harm inflicted on natural resources by wartime events.
Have questions about the paper?
- Email Richard at rjwenning@montrose-env.com
This paper was co-authored by Richard J. Wenning, Ph.D., and Theodore Tomasi, Ph.D.
Using US Natural Resource Damage Assessment to understand the environmental consequences of the war in Ukraine. Richard J. Wenning, Theodore D. Tomasi. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;00:1–10. © 2022 SETAC.
