ABSTRACT

The precautionary principle urges that action should be taken against threats to the environment even when there is some uncertainty about those threats. Its application has the potential to affect what individuals, organizations and even countries can and cannot do in connection with the environment. It can affect their ability to use the environment in certain ways, whether as a sink for pollutants, or as a source of resources or services. Its application can also safeguard other individuals, organizations and countries from the risks of harm to the environment. Thus the application of the precautionary principle can alter the distribution of costs and benefits that are faced by a range of actors. At its simplest, those who are engaged in an activity that is identified as possibly harmful (and therefore the object of precautionary action) may face costs or a loss of benefits, after precautionary action has been undertaken, if their freedom to engage in that activity has been circumscribed. Conversely, if precautionary action prevents harm occurring, then those who would have suffered as a result of that harm will be better off as a result of that precautionary action.