Project Management Multiple and Cumulative Effects

Dr. Lakshmi Prasanna Pagadala

Abstract

Disadvantaged and underserved populations are more likely to face a variety of environmental challenges, ranging from poor air quality to inadequate housing. Recent research by the Columbia Center for Childrens Environmental Health, for example, discovered that African American mothers in the South Bronx exposed to vehicular pollution, cigarette smoke, and incinerators during the third trimester of pregnancy had smaller kids with lower head circumferences. Toxic hotspots is often related with environmental justice. Conventional risk assessment and risk management have failed to address these pockets of numerous and cumulative exposures because they have focused on regulating pollution sources via technology-based regulation or a contaminant approach. In this perspective, the Environmental Protection Agencys cumulative risk assessment methodology from 2003 constitutes a watershed moment for both cumulative risk assessment and protection of the environment [1], [2]. The frameworks contribution to the discourse on risk assessment and environmental justice is fundamental in that it recognises that assessment requires an iterative process involving the affected community and all stakeholders, including government and business, as articulated in the National Academy of Sciences report Understanding Risk and the Presidential/Congressional Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management.