ABSTRACT
DEBATE OVER GLOBAL environmental issues is typically dominated by questions of the reality, degree, and character of the environmental risk, and the associated scientific evidence and uncertainties. Scientific assessments that seek to advance understanding of these risks are the most frequently undertaken assessments, and they feature most prominently in subsequent policy debates. But these questions of environmental risk address only one side of the judgment required to decide how to respond to a risk. Such judgments must also consider the means available to mitigate the risk and their feasibility, cost, and consequences.
