Collective conceptualization and management of riskfor arsenic pollution in urban community gardens

Camille Dumat (), Antoine Pierart, Muhammad Shahid and Jingtao Wu
Additional contact information
Camille Dumat: CERTOP UMR 5044 CNRS-UT2J-UPS, Maison de la Recherche, Université Toulouse, JeanJaurès, 5, allée Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse Cedex 9, France et Toulouse INP, 6 Allée Emile Monso, 31400 Toulouse, France et Association Réseau-Agriville, Castanet-Tolosan, France
Antoine Pierart: Ecotoxicity Laboratory, Faculty of Environment and Biochemistry, University of Castilla - LaMancha, Toledo, Spain
Muhammad Shahid: Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology,Vehari 61100, Pakistan
Jingtao Wu: School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, 2018, vol. 99, issue 2, 167–187

Abstract: At the global scale, an increase in urban gardening activities is beingobserved and the question of produce quality is therefore regularly investigated inrelation to pollutant transfer in the environment. The scientific question investi-gated in the present study was in what way is the presence of arsenic pollutiondetected in community gardens a publicproblem and how would each party takeownership of this issue? An interdisciplinary and participative research studyBJASSUR^based on both agronomy and risk assessments was conducted in aFrench collective garden impacted by arsenic pollution in the well water used forirrigation. Gardener surveys and public meetings examined the gardeners’repre-sentations of risk and research solutions for sustainable site management. Thetheoretical framework of Gilbert which applies a social construction of risk wasused. Without an official arsenic limit concentration for vegetables produced in thegardens, a collective risk construction and management process took place. Arsenictotal and human bioaccessible concentrations were measured in both vegetablesand soil and compared to reference data from a national database to assess the levelof health risk. Vegetable quantities produced were obtained in the field from gardeners using harvest booklets. On the basis of a quantitative assessment of thehealth risk due to produced vegetable consumption, it was concluded that garden-ing activities could safely continue. However, the regional health authorities forbidthe use of the arsenic polluted water, and the wells were permanently closed. Byfavoring the exchanges between the gardeners and the other stakeholders (re-searchers and politicians), the arsenic pollution led to structuration in the commu-nity of gardeners and permitted a collective construction of risk management.

Keywords: Urban; community; gardens.Arsenic; pollution.Social; construction.Riskassessment.Human; exposure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs41130-018-0073-x.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rae:jouraf:v:99:y:2018:i:2:p:167-187

Access Statistics for this article

Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies is currently edited by Stephan Marette and Ronan Le Velly

More articles in Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies from INRA Department of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Nathalie Saux-Nogues ().