Refining the Precautionary Principle in Public International Law

Abstract

Public international law was once characterized by damage prevention in accordance with the preventive principle which required countries to control activities that would cause environmental damage. The precautionary principle challenged conventional technocratic approaches to the probability and magnitude of environmental risk. It presents an alternative to risk assessment and other frameworks thought to be insufficiently sensitive to pervasive scientific uncertainty, hidden scientific presumptions, and underlying value choices. The essence of the precautionary principle is that of taking action to address an environmental threat ahead of a disaster. The proliferation of international environmental law in the past quarter-century has been extraordinary, and the precautionary principle has been recognized by commentators as an exalted guiding principle for decision-makers. Applied logically, the principle would cannibalize itself and potentially obliterate public international law regulation.