ABSTRACT
Risk-based management of environmental problems requires a careful selection and planning of the best risk management option, the monitoring of environmental, health, social and economic impacts, and finally the verification of the applied measures and technologies. The consecutive selection, planning, implementation, and verification of regulatory measures or technology applications require a tool battery which is adapted to the environmental activity to manage. Part of the impacts can be measured and characterized by absolute values such as monetized benefits. Others can be characterized on a relative scale by comparing them to each other or to a reference value. The evaluation can be prospective or retrospective. Verification of an environmental measure or technology is a generic regulatory process resulting in a certificate for a technology whose appropriateness and efficacy have been proved in general, or it may refer to a site-specific application, where the technology has either fulfilled the requirements or appeared to be capable of achieving the planned target.
