ABSTRACT
In rough outline, the precautionary principle (PP) states that precautionary actions should be taken to alleviate significant threats to humans or the environment, even if the available scientific information about the threats is limited. In recent decades, various formulations of the PP have received a great deal of attention as sources of guidance for environmental policy making, but many commentators continue to criticize the principle as vague and even incoherent. This chapter suggests that a particularly fruitful way of interpreting the PP is to consider it as a very general concept around which people can rally to demand changes to current environmental science and policy. Under this interpretation, calling for action in accordance with the PP is akin to calling for more environmentally protective approaches to handling ignorance and uncertainty in environmental research and policy making. One of the advantages of interpreting the PP in this way is that it calls attention to the major problems that its proponents have been trying to highlight, as well as some of the most promising solutions to those problems.
