Environment Law - Precautionary Principle
A basic shift in the approach to environmental protection occurred initially between 1972 and 1982. Earlier, the concept was based on the “ assimilative capacity ” rule (Principle 6 of Stockholm Declaration, 1972) , which assumed that science could provide policy makers with the information and means necessary to avoid encroaching upon the capacity of the environmental to assimilate impacts and it presumed that relevant technical expertise would be available when environmental harm was predicted and there would be sufficient time to act in order to avoid such harm. Later, the emphasis shifted to the “Precautionary Principle” (11 th Principle of UN Resolution on World Charter for Nature, 1982) , and this was reiterated in the Rio Conference of 1992 in its Principle 15. The incorporation of precautionary principle is found in various international legal instruments. - The Nineth Preambular Paragraph of the Convention on ...