Toward Assessing Absolute Environmental Sustainability of Chemical Pollution.

ABSTRACT: Chemicals are widely used in modern society, which can lead to negative impacts on ecosystems. Despite the urgent relevance for global policy setting, there are no established methods to assess the absolute sustainability of chemical pressure at relevant spatiotemporal scales. We propose an absolute environmental sustainability framework (AESA) for chemical pollution where (1) the chemical pressure on ecosystems is quantified, (2) the ability for ecosystems to withstand chemical pressure (i.e., their carrying capacity) is determined, and (3) the "safe space" is derived, wherein chemical pressure is within the carrying capacity and hence does not lead to irreversible adverse ecological effects. This space is then allocated to entities contributing to the chemical pressure. We discuss exampl

SUBMITTER: Kosnik MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9022439 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature