The Next Environmental Challenge: Moving From Risk Management to the Precautionary Principle

摘要

The mining industry has had lengthy experience with risk management involving technological situations imposing risks to people and property. In such situations the relevant parameters can be fairly well defined, the outcomes can be broadly predicted and probabilities of these can be estimated. Accordingly quantitative risk assessment can be applied. In recent years there has been increased emphasis in risk management on a broader set of potential consequences. These include potential impacts on the flora and fauna of ecosystems. These are typically poorly understood and this is especially true in Australia where the vast size of the continent and sparse population make gathering a comprehensive data base on biological resources a difficult task. The resulting scientific uncertainty and ignorance regarding the potential for serious or irreversible harm to the environment mean not only that quantitative risk analysis techniques are not appropriate, but also that the precautionary principle (PP) needs to be applied as a complement to qualitative ecological risk analysis. The potential for significant impacts is particularly high in Australian ecosystems. These comprise one of the 12 'megadiverse' regions of the world in terms of biodiversity and, hence, have global significance. Moving from risk management to application of the PP by the mining industry provides a significant challenge. Application of the PP has no clear guidelines to follow and, to-date, has been highly unpredictable. However, there is much to be gained for industry in embracing this challenge and taking a pro-active approach in exploring methods that will provide for clearer guidelines and hence more certainty in outcomes of environmental management decisions involving precaution. As well, there could be considerable other advantages for the mining industry in terms of reputation assurance, community acceptance and greater certainty in terms of access to resources.