IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/uqseee/55339.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Precautionary Principle Revisited: Its Interpretations and their Conservation Consequences

Author

Listed:
  • Tisdell, Clement A.

Abstract

The precautionary principle was included in 1992 in the Rio Declaration on Environmental and Development and is a part of important international agreements and documents, for example, the Convention on Biological Diversity. Yet the interpretation of this principle is not straightforward as a guide for environmental policy – a variety of interpretations are possible. This paper identifies and examines various economic versions of the principle. Furthermore, it shows that different economic versions of the principle can give rise to conflicting policy recommendations for resource conservation. In addition, it demonstrates that applications of the principle do not always favour (natural) resource conservation (for example, biodiversity conservation) although the main support for it politically has been on the assumption it does. The principle’s potential consequences for biodiversity conservation of the introduction of new genetic material, such as genetically modified organisms are explored

Suggested Citation

  • Tisdell, Clement A., 2009. "The Precautionary Principle Revisited: Its Interpretations and their Conservation Consequences," Economics, Ecology and Environment Working Papers 55339, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uqseee:55339
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.55339
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/55339/files/WP%20158.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.55339?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gatzweiler, Franz W. & Volkmann, Jorg, 2007. "Beyond Economic Efficiency in Biodiversity Conservation," Institutional Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources Discussion Papers 7704, Humboldt University Berlin, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    2. Tisdell, Clem, 1990. "Economics and the debate about preservation of species, crop varieties and genetic diversity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 77-90, April.
    3. Clem Tisdell, 2002. "The Economics of Conserving Wildlife and Natural Areas," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2526.
    4. Tisdell, Clem, 1970. "Implications of Learning for Economic Planning," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 177-192.
    5. Tisdell, Clement A., 2006. "Poverty, Political Failure and the Use of Open Access Resources in Developing Countries," Economics, Ecology and Environment Working Papers 55094, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    6. Clement A Tisdell, 2009. "Resource and Environmental Economics:Modern Issues and Applications," World Scientific Books, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., number 6980, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tisdell, Clement A., 2012. "Biodiversity Change and Sustainable Development: New Perspectives," Economics, Ecology and Environment Working Papers 125211, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    2. Shyama V. Ramani & Mhamed-Ali El-Aroui, 2020. "On application of the precautionary principle to ban GMVs: an evolutionary model of new seed technology integration," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 1243-1266, September.
    3. Clement A. Tisdell, 2017. "Bounded Rationality, Satisficing and the Evolution of Economic Thought," Economic Theory, Applications and Issues Working Papers 264873, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    4. Tisdell, Clem, 2014. "Genetic Erosion in Traditional Food Crops in the Pacific Islands: Background, Socioeconomic Causes and Policy Issues - WP193 Amended," Economics, Ecology and Environment Working Papers 183260, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    5. Tisdell, Clem, 2014. "Genetic Erosion in Traditional Food Crops in the Pacific Islands: Background, Socioeconomic Causes and Policy Issues," Economics, Ecology and Environment Working Papers 168374, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    6. Clem Tisdell, 2013. "Economics, ecology and GMOs: sustainability, precaution and related issues," Chapters, in: M. A. Quaddus & M. A.B. Siddique (ed.), Handbook of Sustainable Development Planning, chapter 5, pages 91-118, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Tisdell, Clement A., 2012. "Sustainable Development Planning: Allowing for Future Generations, Time and Uncertainty," Economics, Ecology and Environment Working Papers 125210, University of Queensland, School of Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tisdell, Clement A., 2012. "Biodiversity Conservation: Concepts and Economic Issues with Chinese Examples," Economics, Ecology and Environment Working Papers 140863, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    2. Ngouhouo Poufoun, Jonas & Abildtrup, Jens & Sonwa, Dénis Jean & Delacote, Philippe, 2016. "The value of endangered forest elephants to local communities in a transboundary conservation landscape," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 70-86.
    3. Irmi Seidl & Clem Tisdell, 2001. "Neglected Features of the Safe Minimum Standard: Socio-economic and Institutional Dimensions," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(4), pages 417-442.
    4. Tisdell, Clem, 2003. "Socioeconomic causes of loss of animal genetic diversity: analysis and assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 365-376, July.
    5. Clement A. Tisdell, 2014. "Sustainable agriculture," Chapters, in: Giles Atkinson & Simon Dietz & Eric Neumayer & Matthew Agarwala (ed.), Handbook of Sustainable Development, chapter 32, pages 517-531, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Tisdell, Clem & Swarna Nantha, Hemanath, 2011. "Comparative costs and conservation of wild species in situ, e.g. orangutans," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2429-2436.
    7. Tisdell, Clement A. & Swarna Nantha, Hemanath, 2010. "Comparative Costs and Conservation Policies for the Survival of the Oranutan and Other Species: Includes an Example," Economics, Ecology and Environment Working Papers 90466, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    8. Crowards, Tom M., 1998. "Safe Minimum Standards: costs and opportunities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 303-314, June.
    9. Tisdell, Clement A. & Wilson, Clevo, 2003. "Economics of Wildlife Tourism," Economics, Ecology and Environment Working Papers 48969, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    10. Gowdy, John M. & Ferreri Carbonell, Ada, 1999. "Toward consilience between biology and economics: the contribution of Ecological Economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 337-348, June.
    11. Tisdell, Clement A., 2010. "World Heritage Listing of Australian Natural Sites: Effects on Tourism, Economic Value and Conservation," Economics, Ecology and Environment Working Papers 94306, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    12. ., 2013. "More on differences in the fitness of firms, market selection and product variety," Chapters, in: Competition, Diversity and Economic Performance, chapter 11, pages 218-232, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Clement A. Tisdell, 2017. "Bounded Rationality, Satisficing and the Evolution of Economic Thought," Economic Theory, Applications and Issues Working Papers 264873, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    14. Tisdell, Clement A., 2010. "Managing Forests for Sustainable Economic Development: Optimal Use and Conservation of Forests," Economics, Ecology and Environment Working Papers 90465, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    15. Bandara, Ranjith & Tisdell, Clement A., 2002. "Rural and Urban Attitudes to the Conservation of Asian Elephants in Sri Lanka: Empirical Evidence," Economics, Ecology and Environment Working Papers 48736, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    16. Crosthwaite, Jim & McMahon, Ian, 1992. "Economic Issues and the Protection of Endangered Species," 1992 Conference (36th), February 10-13, 1992, Canberra, Australia 146435, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    17. Hansjürgens, Bernd & Schröter-Schlaack, Christoph & Berghöfer, Augustin & Lienhoop, Nele, 2017. "Justifying social values of nature: Economic reasoning beyond self-interested preferences," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 9-17.
    18. Tisdell, Clement A. & Wilson, Clevo & Kriwoken, Lorne, 2004. "Antarctic Tourists: A Case Study of Their Evaluation of Antarctic Wildlife and Environmental Issues," Economics, Ecology and Environment Working Papers 48980, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    19. Rolfe, John, 1995. "Ulysses Revisited - A Closer Look At The Safe Minimum Standard Rule," Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 39(1), pages 1-16, April.
    20. Serge Svizzero & Clement Allan Tisdell, 2014. "Hunter-Gatherer Societies: Their Diversity and Evolutionary Processes," Working Papers hal-02152682, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental Economics and Policy;

    JEL classification:

    • Q2 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation
    • Q28 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Government Policy
    • Q3 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation
    • H43 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Project Evaluation; Social Discount Rate

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:uqseee:55339. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/decuqau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.