Ortwin Renn & Katherine D. Walker 
Global Risk Governance 
Concept and Practice Using the IRGC Framework

Japanese government planners set out in the 1960s to build a barrage on the Nagara River, one of the last major free?owing rivers in Japan. Conceived during a period of rapid growth in the Japanese economy, the barrage was part of a national effort to ensure adequate water supplies for future economic development as well as to reduce ?oodingrisks to downstream communities. A string of lawsuits brought by groups concerned about the impact of the dam on ecological and ?sheries – sourcesresulted incostlydelays:thedamwasnotcompletedformorethan25years. The 1990s witnessed the start of a kind of biotech gold rush toward the use of genetic modi?cation (GM) as tool to develop more productive crops through the introduction of herbicide, insect and disease resistance to feed a growing world. Opponents of the rapid deployment of GM crops have raised concerns about the safety of the technology and about its socio-economic, cultural, and ethical implications. The debate over this issue divided the world – for example, the US allowed the development of GM crops to move forward and now accounts for over half the GM crops grown worldwide whereas the European Union only recently lifted a de facto moratorium imposed in 1998 and now authorises products on a case by case basis. Worldwide, the development and use of GM crops is still barely covered by a patchwork of regulations and guidelines, ranging from strict prohibition to none at all, and creating its own sets of disparities and risks.

Table of Content

A Framework For Risk Governance.- White Paper on Risk Governance: Toward an Integrative Framework.- A Framework For Risk Governance: Critical Reviews.- A Framework for Risk Governance Revisited.- Enterprise Risk Management Perspectives on Risk Governance.- Comments on the IRGC Framework for Risk Governance.- White, Black, and Gray: Critical Dialogue with the International Risk Governance Council’s Framework for Risk Governance.- Synopsis of Critical Comments on the IRGC Risk Governance Framework.- A Framework For Risk Governance: Case Study Applications.- Risk Governance of Genetically Modified Crops – European and American Perspectives.- Nature-Based Tourism.- Listeria in Raw Milk Soft Cheese: A Case Study of Risk Governance in the United States Using the IRGC Framework.- Nagara River Estuary Barrage Conflict.- Acrylamide Risk Governance in Germany.- Energy Security for the Baltic Region.- Nanotechnology Risk Governance.- A Framework For Risk Governance: Lessons Learned.- Lessons Learned: A Re-Assessment of the IRGC Framework on Risk Governance.