Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
water,orabundantmethanefromclathratescanmarkedlyaffecttomorrow's
energy supply. Critical but rare materials identified today may become
irrelevant with advances in technology with better substitutes taking their
place.
2.1 THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE
Sustainable growth is a conservative risk-averse strategy that is best
understood in terms of the “precautionary principle” implicit in the
back in 1990 in its Bergen Declaration on Sustainable Development. It
requires steps be taken to avoid or diminish serious or irreversible damage
to the environment (or to human health) from human activities, if such
damage is scientifically plausible but remains uncertain.
In simpler terms, the lack of a preponderance of evidence should not
preclude regulation of suspect practices or phasing out the use of certain
chemicals in products, if enough credible scientific evidence suggests
potentially serious threats to the environment (Raffensperger and Tickner,
1999). This is often the case with emerging environmental problems where
complete data on their full potential impacts are simply not available. There
are two possible responses one can adopt in such situations: assume no
adverse outcome and therefore not respond, or assume adverse outcomes
and take mitigating action. Precautionary principle prescribes the latter
policy action pursuant to the principle must of course be evidence-based
and the precautionary principle does not propose to do away with that
requirement. It merely suggests that policy action even during the
emergence of that evidence, well ahead of its conclusion, can be justified
in some instances. The principle proposes a rational exercise grounded in
scientific plausibility of damage and urges action even when the probability
of damage remains unknown because of incomplete knowledge.
We have entered a unique epoch in history where human activity is the key
driver ofchange tothe Earth system. The sheer magnitude ofanthropogenic
perturbations to the system obligates the adoption of a precautionary stance
with respect to consumption of resources and in dealing with externalities
associated with it. Sustainable development emerged as the collective
normativeresponsetothisobligation.Inthepresentmodelofconsumerism,
