precautionary principle

France ups the stakes with a green "revolution"

Posted by bex — 30 October 2007 at 11:49am - Comments

A tad belated but I just couldn't let this one pass. Last week, these words emerged from France's environmental policymaking forum:

"From now on, every major public project, every public decision will be judged on its effect on climate, and on its carbon cost. Each public decision will be judged on how it affects bio-diversity. The onus won't be on ecological decisions to prove their merit, but on non-ecological projects to prove they can't be done any other way. Non-ecological decisions must be taken as a last resort. It's a total revolution in the way we govern our country."

The Precautionary Principle

Last edited 24 May 2012 at 3:49pm

The Precautionary Principle is now a well-accepted principle of international law, and is an attempt to legally codify the well-known maxim, "look before you leap". Greenpeace supports the Precautionary Principle in the face of environmental threats that are potentially devastating but unknown in scope and range of impacts - such as GMOs and nuclear power.

Science: influencing policy

Last edited 2 April 2002 at 9:00am