Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
cally proven.
46
However, their utility must be in doubt
in situations of high uncertainty as they presuppose some knowledge
aboutwhathabitatsandspeciesare central to an ecosystem
not scienti
s well-being.
There is no suggestion that an appropriately precautionary response
under a planning system which is being developed, in part, to halt the
degradation of marine ecosystems would be to concentrate on restricting
either sea uses or the demands that drive them. Rather, the focus is on
drawing a line to represent science
'
s best guess as to what an ecosystem
can tolerate and then seeking to hold it against developmental pressures.
'
5.2.2 The limitations of limits-based regulation
Uses of limits-based arguments to date have been dogged by dif
culties with
identifying actual points or thresholds at which development becomes
unacceptable.
47
The resulting lack of clarity has allowed developmental
interests
'
as being subjective and motivated more by NIMBYism than any genuine
environmental concern.
48
Despite this, as the discussion of marine spatial
planning evidences, environmental capacity and analogous concepts are still
seen, in principle, to offer a potentially valid basis for regulating develop-
ment that science will
'
to dismiss environmental objections and tools supporting them
esh out in the fullness of time. The reasons for their
continuing appeal to environmentalists are not dif
cult to identify. Means of
operationalising them that de
ne an irreducible core of natural assets as
critical environmental capital ostensibly provide an economic basis for
countering economically validated arguments in favour of development.
Thehopeisthatquantifyingtheenvironmentwillallow
re to be fought
with
re. In a society in which economic values continue to predominate, a
regulatory practice that can claim to be improving the ef
cient functioning
of the economy by establishing bounds beyond which losses, because of the
destruction of an identi
able ecological support base, would begin to out-
weigh gains may also appear to be the most effective means of advancing a
case for environmental protection.
However, some commentators have suggested that the focus on
xed
limits has proved a distraction from
nding a sound basis for ecological
46
Foley et al.,
'
Guiding Ecological Principles
'
, 962; Crowder and Norse,
'
Essential
Ecological Insights
'
,776
-
7.
47
Cowell and Owens,
'
Sustainability
'
,p.25;OwensandCowell,
'
Land and Limits
'
,1stedn,
p. 24; Haughton and Counsell,
'
Regions, Spatial Strategies
'
,pp.77
-
8.
48
Haughton and Counsell,
'
Regions, Spatial Strategies
'
,p.81.
