Expertise processes in risk assessment and management: How to improve their governance and their conduct?

摘要

Major accidents and disasters, such as Fukushima in Japan (2011) and Aquila in Italy (2009), have significantly changed the conditions of public vigilance and their trust in so-called experts. They have also consequently questioned the legal liability of experts and have remobilized the scientific community in the way that the expertise process is conducted, governed and challenged. More robust, sound and reliable expertise processes are needed, and more transparency and accountability are asked for by the public. At the same time, the frontiers between expertise and decision processes must continually be reevaluated and subjected to possible public audits and scrutiny.