The Development of Risk Communication

Abstract

This article describes the development of risk communication in the environmental and technological domain by systematically analyzing the literature as it is available through scientific journals. In total, 349 articles published between 1988 and 2000 were analyzed, with three research questions in mind: How can we characterize the risk communication literature? Do trends exist in risk communication literature? and What do scientific indicators tell us about the nature of the published papers on risk communication? The articles were sampled from the online databases of Web of Science. Results indicate that risk communication currently is dominated by a few important writers from the Western world and one very influential journal, and that desk research/narrative essays are published most frequently. This article also observes a steadily climbing number of publications, scientists from various backgrounds, and identifiable nodes of high production. Several recommendations for future developments in risk communication are made.

Perception of the risks and benefits ofBteggplant by Indian farmers

“…Thus, any theory of the perception of technological risk and benefit that purports to have explanatory power for end users in developing countries may need to include economic benefits, safety concerns and accountability as key variables. Building a theory of risk and benefit perception that is salient to developing countries is a research priority, as a theoretically driven understanding of perception is critical to the development of effective risk communication (Gurabardhi et al, 2004) by international agencies such as the USAID.…”

Stakeholder communications for successful water reuse operations

“…Historically, the major goals of risk communication have been to align the community's perception o f risk with that o f the risk experts and to reduce the fear and community resistance o f risk-related technology [10]. However, for projects that are politically controversial, the current notion is that risk communication should focus on more basic matters.…”

“…However, for projects that are politically controversial, the current notion is that risk communication should focus on more basic matters. These include a society's values concerning procedural fairness, the way in which society makes judgments and reaches decisions, and the fairness with which risks and benefits are distributed across different sectors of the community [10]. Fundamental to successful risk communication is the willingness of all stakeholder groups to respect the views o f others and for all concerns to be included in the decision making process…”

“…Many of the studies have indicated that the layperson's assessment of risk is often subjective rather than based on objective risk indicators. Many have also found that large numbers of people judge the levels of risk associated with many human activities or technologies as being unacceptably high [10], Research indicates that communities are generally concerned about such issues as long-term effects o f risk-based activities, equity' and fairness issues, lack of personal control and the pace o f technological intrusion into their cultural environment [11].…”

“…Comm unity risk perception Community assessment of risks posed by various activities lias been reported in many cases as being different from risk assessment by experts or government agencies [10], Since the early 1980s. there have been many approaches taken in identifying the determinants of public risk perception.…”