ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to establish that few common sense principles of fairness, none of them dependent upon controversial philosophical theories of justice, give rise to the same conclusion about the allocation of the costs of protecting the environment. In traditional societies in both hemispheres, even the equality of dignity and respect was denied in theory as well as practice. Now, although principles of equality are still widely violated in practice, inequality of dignity and of respect has relatively few public advocates even among those who practice them. The chapter looks at the two forms of justification for unequal burdens and then at the justification for a guaranteed minimum. Consideration of equity might have no implications for many of the choices about arrangements, and some of the choices might vary among societies, provided the minimum was in fact guaranteed. Children, it is worth emphasizing, are the main beneficiaries of this principle of equity.
