ABSTRACT

The Polluter Pays Principle is an international environmental law designed to ensure that the full cost of the damage caused by pollution is borne by the party that is responsible for causing the damage, that is, the polluting party. A principle in international environmental law and management which states that the lack of conclusive scientific evidence regarding the environmental damage caused by a process should be used as an excuse to avoid action regarding such an issue-area. The precautionary principle is most often applied in the context of the impact of human actions on the environment and human health, given the complexity of the system and the fact that most of the relationships, cause/effect are extremely difficult to predict in detail. The logic of the precautionary principle is that it is better to err on the side of caution, especially when some of the possible consequences of policies or actions on human health or the natural environment might be irreversible.