Stakeholder Processes in Life Cycle Assessment and Comparative Risk Assessment. R. P. Anex, University of Oklahoma
The current trend in LCA practice is to move from broadly generalized modeling of environmental impacts toward models that are closer to socially relevant endpoints. This trend in LCA impact modeling combined with recognition of the uniquely local and social nature of human perception of environmental risks and impacts is leading to increased awareness of the need to involve stakeholder groups in the LCA process. This development in the field of LCA parallels the trend to cast risk assessment and particularly comparative risk assessment as a deliberative, stakeholder-based process. This paper will examine recent developments in stakeholder-based LCA and comparative risk assessment processes and identify areas of common research and where the two fields can benefit from each other. Although there is growing sentiment that stakeholders should be involved in LCA and comparative risk assessment processes, it is often unclear how this should be done. The various roles of stakeholders in LCA and comparative risk assessment will be compared and contrasted and techniques for stakeholder participation will be briefly reviewed. Such techniques include interviews, cognitive mapping, shared-vision modeling, mental modeling, and Q methodology. The paper will emphasize recent efforts to use models as vehicles for communication and consensus building in stakeholder processes appropriate to LCA and comparative risk assessment. Examples will be drawn from recent studies of watershed and industrial process life cycle management. The examples include the use of complex technical models and more qualitative mental models. The use of such models in the iterative analysis-deliberation assessment process will described.
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