[Some thoughts of the comparison of risk based soil environmental standards between different countries]

Risk-based soil environmental standard is one of the important aspects in contaminated soil management which have already been widely used in many countries. However, because of diversity in geographical, biological, social-cultural, regulatory and scientific aspects among each country, there are great distinctions on both titles and values of these soil environmental standards between different countries. Risk-based soil environmental standards and derivation process were introduced and compared in detail. The variability was analyzed and explained through the comparison of sensitivity risk receptors, land utilizations and pathways of exposure among these countries. We suggest that the risk-based soil environmental standards among the developed countries could be classified as target value, screening value and intervention value, which aim to protect soil for sustainable development in the future, to determine whether there is potential unacceptable risk to specified acceptors, and whether further counter-actions should be conducted, respectively. At last, risk assessment of contaminated soils and establishment of risk-based soil environmental standards in China was proposed.