Environmental Biomonitoring as a Tool in Risk and Impact Assessment Associated with Post-Conflict Restoration and Rehabilitation

Abstract

To understand and monitor the ecosystem responses to various contaminant loadings related to military operations in peace and war requires an integrated approach employing a network of indicators. The case study presented here is related to mercury loading in an area impacted by the First Word War and mercury mining activities. It is known that a set of indicators can be used as a measure of changing mercury concentrations in the environment over a long period of time. The major objectives of several studies implemented in Slovenia was to search for the best indicators of changes in mercury loading in air, the catchment and coastal waters, and the terrestrial environment. One of the important conclusions of these studies is that environmental biomonitoring, including human biomonitoring, offers a convenient and cost-effective way to assess spatial and temporal trends of mercury pollution and represents a good measure of mercury reactivity and availability in the environment. It can also be used as an early warning system for humans and other organisms in this ecosystem. Therefore, further efforts should be spent on standardization of the methodologies so that biomonitoring can widely be applied and the international comparability of data secured. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011.