Towards scientific contributions in applying the precautionary principle: an example from southwestern Australia

1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 63 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. Calver ◽  
J. S. Bradley ◽  
I. W. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Jarrah Forest ◽  
Precautionary Approach ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
Contemporary Management ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Quantitative Definition

Scientific suspicion of the widely stated precautionary principle is based largely on confusion as to procedures for incorporating scientific data into a philosophical-political process. Here we take published guidelines on applying the precautionary principle and illustrate how they allow scientific input to the question of whether or not current multipleuse forestry takes a precautionary approach to conserving threatened or vulnerable marsupials in the jarrah forest of Western Australia. The scientific input involves (i) identification of outcomes in similar situations elsewhere in Australia, (ii) selection of indicator species for monitoring based on predictions made on the basis of (i) above and published accounts of the species' biology, and (iii) a prescription for monitoring/experimentation that includes a quantitative requirement for a probability of detecting impacts based on statistical power analysis. On the standards suggested, contemporary management falls short of a quantitative definition of precaution that involves adherence to measurable standards.

A precautionary approach to genetic modification

2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Lubbock ◽  
Andrew Coop
Keyword(s):  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Genetic Modification ◽  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
Genetically Modified ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Precautionary Approach ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
Deliberate Release

Presents a study that discussed the development of a new legal regime for the deliberate release of genetically modified organisms (GMO) into the European environment, as of January 2002. Information on the Precautionary Principle requirement of the existing regime; Assessment of the possible effect of the Precautionary Principle on decisions about GMO releases; Implications for the expectations of consumers regarding genetically modified products.

scholarly journals THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE IN THE BRAZILIAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (27) ◽  
pp. 63-88
Author(s):  
Paulo de Bessa Antunes
Keyword(s):  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
Legal Principle ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Scholarly Production

The problem to be addressed in this article is related to the precautionary principle and its incorporation into the Brazilian law. As it is beknown, this principle has been widely cited by Brazilian case law and it is an important part of the legal and environmental scholarly production. However, it follows that its application has been made fairly randomly, and even so there is no clear and operational definition of its content. The hypothesis being examined is that since the Rio Declaration’s - in its translation into Portuguese - environmental legislation has termed as legal principle, which internationally is an approach, a precautionary measure, as can be seen in both the texts in English and French of the Rio Declaration and other relevant legal instruments. The methodology to be used is the research of the case law and relevant legal rules, as well as the examination of the scholarly production on the subject. As a result, the conclusion is that there is an overuse of the precautionary principle by the Brazilian courts, especially by the Superior Court of Justice and that, in this case, the Federal Supreme Court has played a moderating role in relation to the application of the precautionary principle.

scholarly journals Ridding London of smallpox: the aerial transmission debate and the evolution of a precautionary approach

2008 ◽  
Vol 136 (10) ◽  
pp. 1297-1305 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. P. MORTIMER
Keyword(s):  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Precautionary Approach ◽  
Thames Estuary ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
Spread Set ◽  
Intended Purpose ◽  
Contingency Plans ◽  
Hospital Ships ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Medical Inspector

SUMMARYThe efforts of the Metropolitan Asylums Board in Victorian London to isolate cases of smallpox in hospitals, and so limit its spread, set off a controversy about ‘hospital influence’, i.e. alleged escapes of the disease into the neighbourhood. When, in 1870, the Board began to gather cases of smallpox into its new intra-urban isolation hospitals, nearby householders resisted, and in 1881 their fear of aerial transmission was endorsed by a government medical inspector, W. H. Power. Not all agreed with Power, but as a result from 1885 the Board removed almost all known cases of smallpox in London to hospital ships moored in the Thames Estuary. The ships failed to provide adequate and secure accommodation, however, and so Board smallpox hospitals were erected on the adjacent Dartford marshes. After 1903, there being no more smallpox epidemics in Britain, these isolation hospitals and many similar ones outside other towns and cities were little used for their main intended purpose. Their retention for many years thereafter can be seen as an application of the precautionary principle; it bears on current contingency plans in Britain and elsewhere for dealing with serious epidemics.

Precaution and the Protection of Marine Biodiversity in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 773-781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary Rayfuse
Keyword(s):  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Precautionary Approach ◽  
Legal Development ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
Marine Environmental Protection ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
The Law ◽  
Marine Environmental

Abstract As a post-LOSC legal development, the precautionary principle is nowhere enunciated in the Law of the Sea Convention. Nevertheless, in the thirty years since the LOSC’s adoption, the significance of the precautionary principle for marine environmental protection in general and marine resource conservation in particular has been recognised. The language of precaution, the precautionary principle and the precautionary approach have entered the lexicon of the law of the sea, permeating the international community’s efforts to manage and conserve marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The challenge remains, however, of crafting and implementing management and governance regimes capable of achieving the objectives of precautionary management and turning the rhetoric of precaution into a reality.

Precautionary information-generation in scienceand the law

2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 65-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Cranor
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Environment Monitoring ◽  
Generation System ◽  
Precautionary Approach ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
Information Generation ◽  
The Law

An information-generation system should be part of precautionary approaches to protecting the public's health and the environment. Such a system would include inventories or surveys of health and the environment, monitoring of them, as well as scoping out or scouting for threats or other harmful things that could occur and providing sentinels to try to identify threats before they materialize. I, then, suggest some ways in which such strategies could be adopted in science and the law as part of a precautionary approach. Doing more to generate information in an anticipatory way will assist implementation of the precautionary principle and help remove some of the uncertainty in environmental and public health protections.

scholarly journals THE APPLICATION OF THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE IN INTERNATIONAL LAW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE LAW OF THE SEA

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (29) ◽  
pp. 229-259
Author(s):  
Tiago Vinicius Zanella ◽  
Ricardo Pereira Cabral
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
International Tribunal ◽  
Irreversible Damage ◽  
Precautionary Approach ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
The Law

The precautionary principle, invoking the notions of risk, scientific uncertainty and irreversible damage, takes the solution of the environmental issues of the global risk society to the legal domain. Its application in international law has evolved significantly, especially with respect to the protection of the marine environment. This principle, which was much ignored in its practical application, is gradually being used in international environmental protection. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the jurisprudence of the ITLOS has contributed to the development and application of the precautionary principle for the protection of the marine environment and how the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea contributed to the development of this principle in international law. Thus, although we are still not able to safely say that the precautionary approach is included in international law as an unchallenged principle, it has been given great steps over the last few years in this direction. Particularly with the contributions of the international jurisprudence of the ITLOS, the precautionary approach is evolving and becoming an autonomous principle, with less uncertainty and subjectivity that caused so much apprehension for the States and doubt in the doctrine.

scholarly journals Taking a precautionary approach to nanotechnology

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dónal P. O’Mathúna
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Nanotubes ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
Precautionary Approach ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
Practical Guidelines ◽  
Rapid Pace

Nanotechnology is developing at a rapid pace. Concerns have been raised about the risks nanotechnology may carry for human health and the environment. The precautionary principle has developed within environmental ethics as a way to reduce the risk of harm with emerging technologies. It has been incorporated into a number of documents addressing nanotechnology risks, including the European Commission’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies Research. The central features of the precautionary principle are reviewed here. These include addressing situations of scientific uncertainty and serious or irreversible harm, developing a proportionate response, and having reasonable grounds for concern. These factors will be applied to carbon nanotubes to demonstrate how the precautionary principle can lead to practical guidelines during the development of nanotechnology.

Precaution and Participatory Integrated Assessment of GM crops in Spain

2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 107-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. David Tàbara
Keyword(s):  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Integrated Assessment ◽  
Gm Crops ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Precautionary Approach ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
Expert Assessments ◽  
Scientific Expertise

Qualitative Participatory Integrated Assessment (PIA) has been carried out to unveil the different accounts and uses of the precautionary principle and of the precautionary approach in the management of Bt commercial crops in Spain. In particular, two main interpretations have been identified: a case by case precaution (or caution) and a systemic precaution. Three scenarios on the plausible causes and consequences of commercial GM crops policy futures and the role of the precautionary principle and of precaution in them were also developed. Further research found that these scenarios could be linked to two broader worldviews about different plausible societies, models of agriculture, and of the role of ethics in the management of science and technology. It is argued that such worldviews, which go beyond the bounded rationality of scientific expertise on commercial GM crops, are used by policy makers in Spain, rather than or in conjunction with expert assessments, to make complex decisions in situations of large uncertainties and high stakes.

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