An Analysis of the Precautionary Principles and Its Adaptation in International, Regional and National Laws

摘要

There is risk in every human activity. Statistics indicate that these risks are earth bound. Arguments as to whether policies meant to check and control these risks based on scientific evidence or on mere suspicion of risks have formed the subject of debate in many international conferences. Some persons agree that decisions to protect/prevent risk must be based on clear evidence of risk, others believe that mere suspicion with or without any clear evidence of risk is enough to warrant such policies. Risk is measured not only by positive knowledge of quantifiable but also by the degree of uncertainty or lack of knowledge about a possible hazard… On the continuum, between, a merely speculative risk and a conclusively demonstrated one lies a vast stretch of undemonstrated, un-quantified but scientifically plausible risk. Within that zone, the risk of harm is real so long as safety is unproven. It is this broad spectrum of potential risk, beyond that which is clearly identifiable and preventable that the precautionary principles, the roots of which lie in the environmental movements of the 1970s, seek to mitigate. This work set out to examine the precautionary principle as an environmental policy, its origin, meaning, importance and adaptation in international, regional, and domestic Laws. This study applied desk approach in generating data for the study. The result indicates that though the principle has become an established principle of environmental law particularly at international level, it is yet to be legitimately invoked and applied by most national laws.