DPSIR Model adapted to environmental damage assessment

Environmental damage assessment may benefit from the evaluation of selected qualitative and quantitative indicators/parameters (or indexes).
These indicators may be derived from those used for the environmental impact assessment, or those included in international standard guides, or in EU’s and countries’ technical regulations on impacts on protected species and natural habitats, water, and land.
A new methodology for the environmental damage under ELD, based on grouping indicators around specific evaluation objectives aligned with the DPSIR (Driver, Pressure, Source, Impact, Response) model, is described below.

The assessment of environmental damage pursuant to the ELD is based on the study of the damaging occurrence and involves, the identification and characterization of the damage factors, the determination of the causal link between the occupational activity/damaging occurrence /damage factors and the adverse effects and, above all, the determination of the whether the adverse effects with respect to the baseline conditions of the protected natural resource are likely to be or are significant according to ELD requirements.
The determination of environmental damage may be based on selected indicators describing, firstly, the adverse effects on the baseline conditions of the natural resource (precondition to have environmental damage) and, secondly, the characteristics of the damaging occurrence and the damage factors.
A new methodological approach, an adapted DPSIR approach that can facilitate a straightforward and standardised determination of environmental damage, is proposed.
The DPSIR model has been adopted by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) as a general reference for an integrated approach in the reporting processes on the state of the environment, carried out at any European or national level. The model proposes a general reference structure to represent the set of elements and relationships that characterise any environmental theme, putting it in connection with the policies related to it.

The structure of the DPSIR model is made up of various components linked together by causal relationships (see fig. 2):
•   DRIVER: actions, both anthropogenic and natural, capable of determining pressures on the environment;
•   PRESSURE: pressures exerted on the environment by the determinands;
•   STATE: physical, chemical and biological qualities of environmental resources;
•   IMPACT: negative effects on ecosystems, human and animal health and economy;
•   RESPONSE: responses and government actions implemented to address environmental pressures and impacts.

Figure 2 - DPSIR model applied to Environmental Impact Assessment.

To adapt the DPSIR model to the determination of environmental damage, the cycle is reversed, from the IMPACT to the DRIVER, as shown in see fig. 3 and described below¹:
- IMPACT: adverse effects on the reference concepts of the natural resource, generated by the damaging occurrence and the damage factors;
- STATE: the baseline conditions, in relation to the reference concepts and other characteristics, of the natural resource impacted by the adverse effects of the damaging occurrence and damage factors;
- PRESSURE: the damaging occurrence and damage factors generated by the DRIVER, which may cause potential environmental damage under ELD on the natural resource;
- DRIVER: the occupational activities listed in Annex III of the ELD and other occupational activities (in the event of fault or negligence²) that generate the damaging occurrence and damage factors.
- RESPONSE: the remedial measures that the responsible operator that caused the environmental damage is required to implement to restore the natural resource to or toward its baseline condition (primary remediation) or, if this is not possible, to intervene with complementary and compensatory (for interim-loss) remediation.

ISDPR MODEL - sen_ars

The DPSIR cycle is reversed because, when determining the clues and evidence of environmental damage, the most important and primary data and information to collect are related to the adverse effects (IMPACT) on the natural resources compared to their baseline (STATE), even after an incident, where you have knowledge about the damaging occurrence and damage factors, but you may have lack of knowledge about adverse effects on natural resources. Next, the identification and determination of the magnitude and hazardousness of the damaging occurrence and damage factors (PRESSURE) contribute to the identification of clues of environmental damages where there is insufficient data and information on the adverse effects on the natural resources.
Finally, data and information on the damaging occurrence and damage factors (PRESSURE) as well as on adverse effects (IMPACT), compared to the characteristics of the occupational activity (DRIVER) are used to assess the causal link between the occupational activity and the adverse effects. In fact, the DRIVER table includes the indicators that help to identify the responsible occupational activity either in cases where the damaging occurrence is known or is unknown at first.
The adapted DPSIR model adapted to the determination of the environmental damage (hereafter called “ISPD model”) may therefore be used from the early stage of the assessment, e.g., whether information on the occupational activity is known or unknown, to the end of the assessment process, i.e., during the whole process of determination of the environmental damage.
Note: the content of the RESPONSE component has not been developed at this project stage.
Each component (namely each box in fig. 3) of the ISPD model may “contain” data and information that may be assessed to identify and determine primarily the clues of damage to establish whether further investigation of evidence of environmental damage under ELD is warranted or not, secondly to identify and determine evidence of damage. However, as one’s may see in fig. 3, evidence of damage may in some cases be identified and determined directly without passing by the determination of clues, when information available at the early stage of investigation are sufficient to determine the significance of adverse affects on natural resource pursuant to ELD.
Hence, each component of the ISPD model may be described with pre-defined lists of quantitative and qualitative indicators, to conduct the determination of the clues and evidence of environmental damage based on the evaluation of the values of data and information about the indicators.
The indicators that describe the different components of the DPSIR can be also characterised in terms of objectives, relevance, and significance into ISPD tables, for the purposes of assessing the case and identifying clues and evidence of environmental damage³.

1 A similar approach is proposed in the Guideline AA.VV.- “Metodologie e criteri di riferimento per la valutazione del danno ambientale ex parte sesta del Dlgs 152/2006” - Linee Guida SNPA 33/2021” for the assessment of the environmental damage to water. In this practical guide that method was revised and extended for the assessment of damage to all the natural resources.
2 In ELD the fault-based liability regime of other activities than those listed in Annex III is only referred to damage to biodiversity (see par. 5.3 below). Anyhow, in this practical guide the fault-based liability regime of ELD has been extended to water damage and land damage referring to some national legislation.
3 A colour and symbol code has been used in the tables for this purpose.