Uncertainty, precaution, and risk governance

The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) and the Advisory council for research on spatial planning, nature and the environment (RMNO) joined their forces in organizing the Scheveningen Risk Approach Conference (2009), focusing on the current state of the art with regard to uncertainty, precaution, and risk governance. Key presentations have now been transformed into scientific papers for a Special Issue of the Journal of Risk Research. Marjolein van Asselt and Leendert van Bree have written an editorial for this Special Issue, highlighting the Dutch approach, the international developments, and the various key papers, and showing the interface between risk research and public risk policy practice, thereby fueling the discussion on modern risk governance strategies for health and safety.