- Entry
- Reader's guide
- Entries A-Z
- Subject index
Precautionary Principle
The precautionary principle, which has become a general principle of international law, says that if the environmental consequences of human action may be serious and irreversible, efforts should be made to avoid or lessen them. It is based on the classical virtue of “prudence” and embraces the folk wisdom of “better safe than sorry” and “look before you leap.”
Although uncertainties about the consequences of human behavior have always existed, they have become more significant in recent times because of the growing scope, complexity, and hazard of human activities. This means it is becoming more vital to be able to prevent the harm these activities might do, even without being sure what that is.
Environmental regulations generally aim to prevent known risks rather than anticipate and prevent ...
- Politics and Ecology
- Politics and People
- Politics Challenges
- Acid Rain
- Afforestation
- Anti-Toxics Movement
- Appropriate Technology
- Biodiversity
- Decentralization
- Deforestation
- Domination of Nature
- Endocrine Disrupters
- Environmental Justice
- Environmental Management
- Equity
- Future Generations
- Global Climate Change
- Globalization
- Groundwater
- Industrial Revolution
- Innovation, Environmental
- Kuznets Curve
- Limits to Growth
- Malthusianism
- Megacities
- Millennium Development Goals
- Nonviolence
- North–South Issues
- Nuclear Politics
- PCBs
- Precautionary Principle
- Regulatory Approaches
- Resource Curse
- Revolving Door
- Risk Assessment
- Risk Society
- Silent Spring
- Structural Adjustment
- Suburban Sprawl
- Sustainable Development
- Technology
- Toxics Release Inventory
- Tragedy of the Commons
- Transportation
- Uncertainty
- Urban Planning
- Wetlands
- Wilderness
- Agenda 21
- Bhopal
- Brundtland Commission
- Bureau of Land Management, U.S.
- Clean Air Act
- Clean Water Act
- Club of Rome
- Copenhagen Summit
- Corporate Responsibility
- Department of Energy, U.S.
- Endangered Species Act
- Environmental Nongovernmental Organizations
- Environmental Protection Agency, U.S.
- Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S.
- Forest Service, U.S.
- Institutions
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- Kyoto Protocol
- Land Ethic
- Marine Mammal Protection Act
- Montreal Protocol
- NIMBY
- North American Free Trade Agreement Organizations
- Sagebrush Rebellion
- Stockholm Convention
- Transnational Advocacy Organizations
- Wise Use Movement
- World Trade Organization
- Politics Parties, Systems, and Economics
- Anarchism
- Basel Convention
- Biophilia
- Capitalism
- Citizen Juries
- Commodification
- Common Property Theory
- Conservation Enclosures
- Conservation Movement
- Consumer Politics
- Convention on Biodiversity
- Cost-Benefit Analysis
- Death of Environmentalism
- Democratic Party
- Ecocapitalism
- Ecofascism
- Ecosocialism
- Environmental Movement
- Federalism
- Gaia Hypothesis
- Gender
- Governmentality
- Green Discourse
- Green Neoliberalism
- Green Parties
- Green Washing
- International Whaling Commission
- Intrinsic Value
- Iron Triangle
- Participatory Democracy
- Petro-Capitalism
- Policy Process
- Political Ideology
- Politics of Scale
- Postmaterialism
- Power
- Pragmatism
- Skeptical Environmentalism
- Steady State Economy
- Transnational Capitalist Class
- UN Conference on Environment and Development
- UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
- Utilitarianism
- Water Politics
165523- Loading...
- Politics and People
Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL
-
Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
-
Read modern, diverse business cases
-
Explore hundreds of books and reference titles
Have you created a personal profile? Login or create a profile so that you can save clips, playlists and searches
SAGE Recommends
We found other relevant content for you on other SAGE platforms.
Sign up for a free trial and experience all SAGE Knowledge has to offer.
start free 30 day trialYou must have a valid academic email address to sign up.
- View or download all content my institution has access to
Sign up for a free trial and experience all SAGE Knowledge has to offer.
start free 30 day trialYou must have a valid academic email address to sign up.