Postcautionary principle

The postcautionary principle is a principle of de facto environmental management formulated by Paull (2007)^[1] . It is suggested that the postcautionary principle, as the antithesis of the precautionary principle, has guided environmental management, as it is actually practised.

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Taking the Rio 1982 formulation of the precautionary principle as a guide, the postcautionary principle has been stated as follows: "Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, the lack of full scientific certainty shall be used as a reason for not implementing cost-effective measures until after the environmental degradation has actually occurred" [1].

Examples of this principle include: the extinction of the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), which was, after decades of government bounty hunting (starting in 1888), declared a protected species on 10 July 1936 by the Fauna Board of Tasmania, only weeks before the last one died in captivity (on 7 September 1936); and the 2003 Forestry Tasmania burning of Tasmania's largest tree El Grande^[2], a tree protected under legislation, and its subsequent demise, after which "new standard operating procedures" were implemented ^[3] .

See also

• Precautionary principle

References