Postcautionary principle
Encyclopedia
The postcautionary principle is a principle of de facto environmental management formulated by John Paull in 2007. It is suggested that the postcautionary principle, as the antithesis of the precautionary principle
, has guided environmental management, as it is actually practised.
Taking the Rio 1982 formulation of the precautionary principle as a guide, the postcautionary principle has been stated as follows:
"Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, the lack of full scientific certainty shall be used as a reason for not implementing cost-effective measures until after the environmental degradation has actually occurred" http://orgprints.org/11042.
Examples of this principle include: the extinction of the thylacine
(Tasmanian tiger), which was, after decades of government bounty hunting (starting in 1888), declared a protected species on 10 July 1936 by the Fauna Board of Tasmania
, only weeks before the last one died in captivity (on 7 September 1936); and the 2003 Forestry Tasmania burning of Tasmania's largest tree El Grande, a tree protected under legislation, and its subsequent demise, after which "new standard operating procedures" were implemented.
Precautionary principle
The precautionary principle or precautionary approach states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus that the action or policy is harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those...
, has guided environmental management, as it is actually practised.
Taking the Rio 1982 formulation of the precautionary principle as a guide, the postcautionary principle has been stated as follows:
"Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, the lack of full scientific certainty shall be used as a reason for not implementing cost-effective measures until after the environmental degradation has actually occurred" http://orgprints.org/11042.
Examples of this principle include: the extinction of the thylacine
Thylacine
The thylacine or ,also ;binomial name: Thylacinus cynocephalus, Greek for "dog-headed pouched one") was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or the Tasmanian wolf...
(Tasmanian tiger), which was, after decades of government bounty hunting (starting in 1888), declared a protected species on 10 July 1936 by the Fauna Board of Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, only weeks before the last one died in captivity (on 7 September 1936); and the 2003 Forestry Tasmania burning of Tasmania's largest tree El Grande, a tree protected under legislation, and its subsequent demise, after which "new standard operating procedures" were implemented.
See also
- Precautionary principlePrecautionary principleThe precautionary principle or precautionary approach states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus that the action or policy is harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those...
- Tombstone mentalityTombstone mentalityTombstone mentality is an aviation informal term that notes air safety is often improved only after somebody has died, which points out a fatal defect....
- Environmental managementEnvironmental managementEnvironmental resource management is “a purposeful activity with the goal to maintain and improve the state of an environmental resource affected by human activities” . It is not, as the phrase suggests, the management of the environment as such, but rather the management of the interaction and...
- ThylacineThylacineThe thylacine or ,also ;binomial name: Thylacinus cynocephalus, Greek for "dog-headed pouched one") was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or the Tasmanian wolf...