Risk accompanies change. It is a permanent and important part of life and the willingness and capacity to take and accept risk is crucial for achieving economic development and introducing new technologies. Many risks, and in particular those arising from emerging technologies, are accompanied by potential benefits and opportunities. Better risk governance implies enabling societies to benefit from change while minimising the negative consequences of the associated risks.
Global risks are not confined to national borders; they cannot be managed through the actions of a single sector. The governance of global, systemic risks requires cohesion between countries and the inclusion within the process of government, industry, academia and civil society.
Governance refers to the actions, processes, traditions and institutions by which authority is exercised and decisions are taken and implemented. Risk governance applies the principles of good governance to the identification, assessment, management and communication of risks. It incorporates such criteria as accountability, participation and transparency within the procedures and structures by which risk-related decisions are made and implemented.
Risk governance is both a concept and a tool. It ensures that key questions are asked: What is the role of science and technology in risk-related policymaking? Do organisations and people at risk understand the hazard and its consequences? Do they have the capacity to manage the risk and the resilience to deal with unavoidable consequences? What are the secondary impacts of a risk and how it is managed? What societal, environmental and economic values affect our willingness to accept the risk? To what extent should a precautionary approach be used to address uncertainty and ambiguity? How best should one balance an inclusive approach to decision-making with the need to reach a decision?
The challenges of risk governance in the 21st century
Today’s globalised world is characterised by increasing interconnectedness, social networking, a burgeoning volume of data and fast-paced technological change. While these characteristics offer numerous and substantial benefits for communication, economic development and societal innovation, they also have the potential to increase vulnerabilities and to create new risks with impacts on a much larger scale, and sometimes over a longer timespan, than ever before.
Because the evolution of governance mechanisms that can be effective at such a scale (or on an international level) occurs much more slowly than the processes driving technological and social change, there are serious concerns from governments, the private sector, as well as the general public about the lack of governance mechanisms to efficiently deal with risks such as climate change and biodiversity loss; to resolve trade-offs between diverse, sometimes conflicting, needs and interests (such as those that have encouraged the development of biofuel production); or to deal with potential risks from new technologies in the context of global trade (for example, nanoparticles and food additives).
Policymakers have subsequently become increasingly conscious of the importance of risk communication and of meeting public expectations. There are concerns about how to deal with certain social dynamics and conflicts related to how science, technology, social and economic developments are governed.
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