Sustainable remediation through the risk management perspective and stakeholder involvement: A systematic and bibliometric view of the literature

Abstract

Sustainable remediation is a new way of thinking and acting in the management of contaminated sites. This research aims to identify and structure the state-of-the-art of sustainable remediation from the risk management and stakeholder involvement perspective. A systematic and bibliometric study of scientific production was performed on scientific papers indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases with the objectives: 1) to select a bibliographic portfolio that is aligned with the perception of the researchers in regard to theme, 2) to perform a bibliometric analysis of the selected bibliographic portfolio, and 3) to conduct a thematic synthesis and identify the integration of sustainable remediation from the risk management and stakeholder involvement perspective. The results indicated that although sustainable remediation is a recent theme it presents a promising field for development worldwide, verified by the growing number of publications in recent years. A change is observed in the way risk management is considered with the rise of sustainable remediation, demonstrated by different approaches in publications. Likewise, the involvement of stakeholders is widely discussed, and the importance of their participation in decision-making processes in the field of sustainable remediation is identified. This research brings several and new contributions as it provides with a detailed overview and guidance about the main characteristics and peculiarities as well as what already exists, the form to approach, the advances and what still needs to be improved so that the perception of stakeholders and risk management are better understood within the context of sustainable remediation.

Keywords: Contaminated site remediation; Decision makers; Impacts; Scientific production indexes; Sustainability.