Workshop to extend the involvement of stakeholders in decisions on restoration management

Following a large-scale release of radioactivity into the environment, food production systems and inhabited areas may be contaminated for many years. Accident response throughout Europe has tended to focus on management of the early phase, addressing issues such as evacuation, sheltering, restrictions on food and drinking water and provision of stable iodine tablets. Currently there is little systematic consideration of the long-term management to ensure the sustainability of contaminated areas. To sustain acceptable living and working conditions in such areas it is necessary to construct practicable restoration strategies that take into account the views of a wide range of stakeholders. Under the auspices of the European Commission’s 5th Framework Programme, funding was provided for two complementary projects (FARMING1 and STRATEGY2) to develop strategies for maintaining agricultural production and safe food supplies in the long term through stakeholder consultation. The FARMING project, which started in November 2000, established a network of stakeholder groups in the UK, Finland, Belgium, France and Greece, involving more than 100 individual stakeholders. The five national groups belonging to the FARMING network have met regularly since 2000 to discuss and evaluate countermeasure strategies. Much of the information on countermeasures for food