Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
out in the shortest feasible timescale for their replacement with pre-
ferred options unless it is judged that the concerns they give rise to are
such that earlier discontinuation is required or, exceptionally, that a
longer lead-in time is necessary for economic and social adaptation. The
proposed principle again corresponds with the precautionary require-
ments of risk reduction and that forward-looking laws and policies
should be used to drive this process. Phasing out activities is likely to
provide a particularly effective stimulus for the development of new
and more ecologically friendly products, processes, or other means of
replacing them.
82
An obvious dif
culty for sunsetting is our uncertainty over the precise
effects that activities may have, whether individually or in combination
with others, on ecosystem functionality. As argued in the
following
section
, this might be addressed through the use of criteria to assess
qualitatively whether an option
'
scharacteristicsaresuchthatitisoris
not tolerable from an ecological perspective. A further complication is
how economic and social impacts of phasing out products or activities
should be managed. I propose that ways in which phase-outs might be
conducted with a view to mitigating these impacts should be explored in
the strategy-formation stage. However, it is important if the framework
is to drive change in the way we protect ecosystems that decisions on
whether an option should be prohibited are made purely on ecological
grounds.
3.3.3 Assessing alternative policy options
The assessment of alternatives is central to a policy-making approach
that seeks to identify the best means available of achieving environ-
mental policy goals.
83
Both Tickner and O
Brien, in their respective
calls for a less-reactive conception of the precautionary principle, advo-
cate alternatives assessment as a means of replacing the analysis of risks
presented by particular proposals and the determination of causality
with the proactive consideration of whether less hazardous alternatives
'
82
Karlsson,
'
Precautionary Principle and Swedish Chemicals Policy
'
,350
-
1.
83
See the discussion of alternatives assessment in connection with substituting hazardous
chemicals in J. A. Tickner et al.,
'
Alternatives Assessment in Regulatory Policy: History
and Future Directions
in R. E. Hester and R. M. Harrison (eds) Chemical Alternatives
Assessment (Cambridge: The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2013), pp. 256
'
-
95.
