Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Precaution and the Precautionary Principle: two Australian case studies

Contents:

Author Info

  • Annette Weier
  • Paul Loke

    (Productivity Commission)

Registered author(s):

    Abstract

    The Productivity Commission Staff Working Paper, ‘Precaution and the Precautionary Principle: two Australian case studies’ (by Annette Weier and Paul Loke), was released in September 2007. The Precautionary Principle was conceived as a response to the inherent difficulties faced by decision makers confronted with uncertain potential outcomes. Its purpose is to remove uncertainty as an obstacle to addressing potential environmental and health hazards. However, much confusion surrounds the Principle and its role in decision making under uncertainty. This paper examines two Australian case studies where precaution has been an important element in decision making — fisheries management and licensing of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). It considers three key issues: the basis for precautionary decision making; how precaution has been applied in practice; and whether (and how) the Precautionary Principle contributed to precautionary decision making. The views expressed in this paper are those of the staff involved and do not necessarily reflect those of the Productivity Commission. This paper develops further some themes initially canvassed in the Presidential Address to the 2006 Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society conference presented by Deborah Peterson, and subsequently published in the ‘Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics’.

    Download Info

    If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
    File URL: http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/67271/precautionaryprinciple.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.pc.gov.au/research/staffworkingpaper/precautionaryprinciple
    Download Restriction: no

    Bibliographic Info

    Paper provided by Productivity Commission, Government of Australia in its series Staff Working Papers with number 0705.

    as in new window
    Length: 100 pages.
    Date of creation: Sep 2007
    Date of revision:
    Publication status: Published by the Productivity Commission, Australia.
    Handle: RePEc:ris:prodsw:0705

    Contact details of provider:
    Postal: Level 28, 35 Collins St, Melbourne Victoria 3000
    Phone: 61 3 9653 2100
    Fax: 61 3 9653 2199
    Email:
    Web page: http://www.pc.gov.au/
    More information through EDIRC

    Related research

    Keywords: precautionary principle; fisheries management; genetically modified organisms; GMOs;

    Find related papers by JEL classification:

    References

    References listed on IDEAS
    Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
    as in new window
    1. Anderson, Kym & James, Sarah, 1998. "On the Need for More Economic Assessment of Quarantine/SPS Policies," CEPR Discussion Papers 1934, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. repec:reg:rpubli:201 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. David Adamson & David Cook, 2007. "Re-examining economic options for import risk assessments," Murray-Darling Program Working Papers WP3M07, Risk and Sustainable Management Group, University of Queensland.
    4. Gollier, Christian & Treich, Nicolas, 2003. "Decision-Making under Scientific Uncertainty: The Economics of the Precautionary Principle," Open Access publications from University of Toulouse 1 Capitole http://neeo.univ-tlse1.fr, University of Toulouse 1 Capitole.
    5. Adamson, David & Cook, David C., 2007. "Re-examining the economic options for import risk assessments," 2007 Conference (51st), February 13-16, 2007, Queenstown, New Zealand 10365, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    6. Binder, Monika, 2002. "The Role of Risk and Cost-Benefit Analysis in Determining Quarantine Measures," Staff Research Papers 31911, Productivity Commission.
    7. Peterson, Deborah C., 2006. "Precaution: principles and practice in Australian environmental and natural resource management," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 50(4), December.
    8. Sunstein Cass R., 2005. "The Precautionary Principle as a Basis for Decision Making," The Economists' Voice, De Gruyter, vol. 2(2), pages 1-10, April.
    9. Peterson, Deborah C., 2006. "Precaution: principles and practice in Australian environmental and natural resource management," 2006 Conference (50th), February 8-10, 2006, Sydney, Australia 137764, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    10. Linacre, Nicholas & Falck-Zepeda, José & Komen, John & MacLaren, Donald, 2006. "Risk assessment and management of genetically modified organisms under Australia's Gene Technology Act:," EPTD discussion papers 157, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    11. Peterson, Deborah C., 2006. "Precaution: principles and practice in Australian environmental and natural resource management," Conference/Workshop Proceedings 31906, Productivity Commission.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Lists

    This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ris:prodsw:0705

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (MAPS).

    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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

    If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

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