Precautionary Principle 

TANMOY MUKHERJEE INSTITUTE OF JURIDICAL SCIENCE

Dr. Tanmoy Mukherjee

Advocate

Precautionary Principle

Tanmoy Mukherjee

Advocate

The precautionary Principle States that, when an activity poses a threat of serious or irreversible environmental harm, lack of full scientific certainty shouldn't be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation.

International Development -

Stockholm Conference (1972) - Introduced the idea of preventing environmental harm before it occurs.

World Charter for nature, 1982- Called States to prevent activities that could cause irreversible damage.

Rio Declaration 1992 - Principle 15 - Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.

Montreal Protocol (1987) - Ozone Layer Protection- Based on precaution - countries agreed to stop ozone depleting substances before full scientific certainty.

Reference Cases-

According to the Judicial interpretation, the Precautionary principle means that-