ABSTRACT
Risk assessment is increasingly being used as a primary analytical tool in risk-based decision making. It incorporates implicit and explicit values, biases, presumptions, and even, due to the specific parametrics selected for analysis, risk management goals themselves. Thus, both the technical methodology and the values basis of risk assessment must be examined for their adequacy in addressing different cultural perspectives in general and the rights and interests of sovereign American Indian nations in particular . Conventional risk assessment is especially inadequate for assessing unique tribal activity and exposure patterns and risks to tribal cultures, health, and identity. Further, the overall risk management framework frequently lacks holistic and coherent goals, as well as a process for ensuring equal access to the decision process. Specific examples are provided that relate to risk-based land-use planning and remediation.
Several solutions are presented here, including the comparative risk approach as a basis for evaluating a wide range of risks, evaluation of risks and impacts to the “ecocultural-landscape,” and criteria used by the technical staff of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation of northern Oregon for evaluating potential impacts to sovereignty and environmental, human, and cultural health.
