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Selected Works

Warwick Gullett

2011

Environmental

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Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Law

Environmental Protection And The Precautionary Principle: A Response To Scientific Uncertainty In Environmental Management, Warwick Gullett Nov 2011

Environmental Protection And The Precautionary Principle: A Response To Scientific Uncertainty In Environmental Management, Warwick Gullett

Warwick Gullett

The principle of precautionary action has been presented by some of its advocates as nothing less than a monumental paradigm shift in environmental management. It is essentially a new legal response to the scientific uncertainties surrounding the capacity ofthe environment to cope with the increasing demands placed upon it. This article outlines why our knowledge of environmental processes is inadequate and addresses the rationale and content of the "precautionary principle", tracing its development from an uncontroversial espousal of commonsense to its emergence as a potentially forceful decision-making norm. It will be argued tliat although the principle has definitional and implementational …


Environmental Impact Assessment And The Precautionary Principle: Legislating Caution In Environmental Protection, Warwick Gullett Nov 2011

Environmental Impact Assessment And The Precautionary Principle: Legislating Caution In Environmental Protection, Warwick Gullett

Warwick Gullett

A noteworthy feature of international environmental discourse since the late-1980s has been the shift toward anticipatory policies. Precaution is the leading policy approach that has emerged to guide environmental decision-makers confronted with inadequate information. The "precautionary principle" has found expression in Australia in the 1992 Intergovernmental Agreement on the Environment, various Commonwealth environmental management strategies and a number of pieces of Commonwealth and State legislation. It also has been accepted tentatively by the courts as a factor which should be taken into account in appropriate circumstances. However, existing Australian environmental management approaches fail to advance precaution in a substantive manner. …


Environmental Decision-Making In A Transboundary Context: Principles And Challenges For The Denmark-Sweden Øresund Fixed Link, Warwick Gullett Nov 2011

Environmental Decision-Making In A Transboundary Context: Principles And Challenges For The Denmark-Sweden Øresund Fixed Link, Warwick Gullett

Warwick Gullett

It is now possible to identify projects or activities in many countries whose policy objectives of promoting “sustainable development” have been achieved. The philosophy underlying the “sustainable development” concept captures misgivings about the nature of development and about social and technological ability to avoid further deterioration of the environment. Although many of the advances in environmental law and theory have occurred in international forums, implementation of sustainable development principles is less evident at the international than at the local level. The is due, in large part, to the difficulties created by multiple jurisdictions and the increased complexity of regional or …