The Ethics of Early Warning Systems for Climate Change - Reducing Disaster: Early Warning Systems for Climate Change - page 281

emissions and other serious and long-term environmental threats. EWS may be seen
as abandoning these arguments for short-term goals, but EWS is not an abandon-
ment of the precautionary principle, it is an extension of it . Being wise before it is
too late is not easy, especially when environmental or social impacts may be in the
future and the real, or perceived, costs of averting them are large and immediate.
Forestalling disasters often requires acting before there is defi nitive proof of harm.
The precautionary principle comes into effect when the harm may well be delayed
but is potentially highly destructive and may be irreversible. It is a profound chal-
lenge to be prepared, decisive and insightful about situations that have not occurred,
particularly when the costs of averting them are large, and when there is an absence
of defi nitive proof that intervention will be either required or cost-effective. The
human cost of delay is a key aspect in the ethical case for the precautionary prin-
ciple , as providing information through EWS for climate change that can be acted
upon in a timely manner will save lives.

15.7 Why Has the Precautionary Principle Worked

for Health Care Planning But Not for the Environment?

Prevention of harm has often been used in both patient-based medicine and public
health, with great effect and fairly consistent public support. Yet in relation to a
range of environmental issues, it has received spotty support and engendered a great
deal of suspicion and political division. The precautionary principle and its applica-
tion to environmental hazards, and their uncertainties, only began to gain recogni-
tion as being an explicit and coherent concept within environmental science in the
1970s. Principle 15 of the UN Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
extended the application of the precautionary principle to the whole environment.
'In order to protect the environment the Precautionary Approach shall be widely
applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious
or irreversible damage, lack of full scientifi c certainty shall not be used as a reason
for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation' (UN
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development 1992 ).
The language and philosophy of precautionary prevention has a long history in
medicine and public health, grounded in epidemiology, where the benefi t of the
doubt about a diagnosis is often acted upon, both at the patient level and, more fre-
quently, on a broader societal level. Epidemiology is the study of the distribution
and determinants of health-related states or events (including disease), and the
application of this study to the forecasting and control of infectious diseases and
other health problems - for example, obesity and malnutrition (WHO 2013a ).
Generally speaking, there has been broad societal acceptance of precautionary mea-
sures within the world of health without signifi cant partisan politicization or ideo-
logical pushback. Why then is it so tough to gain the same acceptance when it
comes to precautionary action against environmental hazards? Providing answers to
this question is not a simple feat as the question has to be considered from multiple