Communication and Community Involvement to Support Risk Governance

In past years, communication activities have become increasingly important in theenvironment and health domain, considering the concurrent developments of social media andscientific citizenship that contributed changes in legislation and culture. Communication is particularlycrucial where an environmental hazard is present, as in the case of high risk environmentaland health risk areas. The project "International Center of Advanced Study in Environment,Ecosystem and Human Health" (CISAS), carried out by the Italian National Research Council,covers multipleresearch activities, from ecology to biology and medical sciences, from epidemiologyto social sciences and communication. Three different studies based on human biomonitoring anda birthcohort study are currently in progress in the project locations, together with studies on theenvironmental fate of pollutants. A clear, accurate and respectful communication of study protocolsand results represents a priority to produce comprehensible information available for policy makers,citizens, and stakeholders. This paper describes the multiple external and internal communicationactivities planned in the framework of the CISAS project as an example of promotion of knowledgein the society at large and improvement of risk management in the environmental health domain.