While the basic premise of precaution has been widely endorsed in environmental treaties since its inclusion in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, as a legal principle, it has been framed in such vastly dissimilar ways that it continues to generate significant disagreement over its precise nature, standing and legal effect. Despite the rich and extensive scholarship aimed at clarifying its normative content and operation, the ongoing lack of consensus on when the precautionary principle is applicable and what its application entails points to fundamental definitional challenges as well as its overall limitations as a regulatory tool. This thesis attempts to move beyond this impasse by reassessing the precautionary principle in light of the distinction traditionally made in formal scientific discourse between risk and uncertainty. While this technical distinction is fundamental to defining the proper scope of the principle’s application, the thesis finds that much of the existing legal discourse has either overlooked or marginalised the risk/uncertainty dichotomy, which in turn has blurred the distinction between the principles of precaution and prevention. The thesis sets out what is meant by these analytically distinct concepts in the legal context, focusing on their implications for the processes of legal reasoning and regulatory decision-making. Having examined the conceptual underpinnings of the precautionary principle, and of the principle of prevention, the thesis proceeds to address a central research question – if uncertainty, as opposed to risk, determines the operational scope of the precautionary principle, to what extent do the current applications of the precautionary principle actually fall within its proper domain? To answer this, the thesis embarks on a deconstruction of the precautionary principle in practice by analysing how precaution has been deployed as an operational principle in particular treaty contexts. The treaty regimes examined here include: international fisheries; persistent organic pollutants; ocean dumping; sanitary and phytosanitary threats under the WTO; and atmospheric pollution and climate change. In each case, the thesis scrutinises the extent to which assumptions, obligations and measures contained therein are consistent with the theoretical underpinnings of precaution. Despite the pervasive use of the precautionary rhetoric in treaty texts and practice, the thesis ultimately finds that, for the most part, these instruments are in fact aimed at specific, scientifically-determined risks, and thus what is often upheld in the name of precaution is actually the prevention principle. The thesis argues that it is better to frame risk regulation through prevention, and not precaution, by considering the implications of abandoning the precautionary principle in those areas where the prevention principle is clearly at play. The thesis completes the analysis by addressing what is actually left for the precautionary principle and discussing some of the distinct ways in which precaution functions within its specific, circumscribed domain.

Devido à exploração, sem controle, dos recursos naturais, o mundo está chegando a nível de consumo que beira patamares insustentáveis, motivo pelo qual as soluções alternativas se tornam importantes para evitar impactos que possam transcender o ativismo humano. A partir desta constatação, iniciou-se a preocupação com a escassez dos recursos energéticos não renováveis, bem como com os efeitos ambientais ocasionados com a utilização indiscriminada destes. Diante disso, tendo em vista a previsão de esgotabilidade dos combustíveis fósseis e de problemas ambientais como, por exemplo, o aquecimento global ocasionado pelo excesso de emissão de gases estufa na atmosfera, faz-se necessário buscar novas alternativas energéticas para suprir as demandas futuras e garantir um meio ambiente ecologicamente equilibrado, direito fundamental previsto no art. 225 da Constituição Federal de 1988. Nesse contexto, a Agroenergia, por ser uma fonte de energia renovável, é apontada por muitos como um novo milagre, isto é, como uma solução para a crise energética e para os problemas ambientais. Contudo, como qualquer outra fonte, a Agroenergia também possui pontos positivos e negativos - ambientais, sociais e econômicos - que devem ser sopesados. Por isso, o Direito Ambiental, bem como seus princípios basilares da Precaução e da Prevenção, são imprescindíveis para implementação e utilização dessa importante fonte energética. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-05-19T13:23:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Andreia Bacarin Vieira.pdf: 1324137 bytes, checksum: adbc3c99fcda51ed303faede10a13ede (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-19T13:23:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Andreia Bacarin Vieira.pdf: 1324137 bytes, checksum: adbc3c99fcda51ed303faede10a13ede (MD5) / Due to the holding, without control, of natural resources, the world is reaching a level of consumption that verge unsustainable height, reason why workarounds become important to avoid impacts that can transcend the human activism. From this observation, began the concern about the scarcity of non-renewable energy resources, as well as the environmental effects caused by the indiscriminate use of these. That said, in view of the forecast of exhaustibility of fossil fuels and environmental issues, for example, global warming caused by excessive greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, it is necessary to find a new energetic alternative to meet the future demands and ensure an ecologically balanced environment, a fundamental right laid down in art. 225 of the Federal Constitution of 1988. In this context, the agroenergy, a renewable energy source is cited by many as a new miracle, i.e., as a solution to the energy crisis and environmental problems. However, like any other source, the agroenergy also has positives and negatives points - environmental, social and economic- which must be weighed. Therefore, the environmental law, as well as its principles of precaution and prevention, is indispensable for supporting implementation and use of this important energy source.

Devido à exploração, sem controle, dos recursos naturais, o mundo está chegando a nível de consumo que beira patamares insustentáveis, motivo pelo qual as soluções alternativas se tornam importantes para evitar impactos que possam transcender o ativismo humano. A partir desta constatação, iniciou-se a preocupação com a escassez dos recursos energéticos não renováveis, bem como com os efeitos ambientais ocasionados com a utilização indiscriminada destes. Diante disso, tendo em vista a previsão de esgotabilidade dos combustíveis fósseis e de problemas ambientais como, por exemplo, o aquecimento global ocasionado pelo excesso de emissão de gases estufa na atmosfera, faz-se necessário buscar novas alternativas energéticas para suprir as demandas futuras e garantir um meio ambiente ecologicamente equilibrado, direito fundamental previsto no art. 225 da Constituição Federal de 1988. Nesse contexto, a Agroenergia, por ser uma fonte de energia renovável, é apontada por muitos como um novo milagre, isto é, como uma solução para a crise energética e para os problemas ambientais. Contudo, como qualquer outra fonte, a Agroenergia também possui pontos positivos e negativos - ambientais, sociais e econômicos - que devem ser sopesados. Por isso, o Direito Ambiental, bem como seus princípios basilares da Precaução e da Prevenção, são imprescindíveis para implementação e utilização dessa importante fonte energética. / Due to the holding, without control, of natural resources, the world is reaching a level of consumption that verge unsustainable height, reason why workarounds become important to avoid impacts that can transcend the human activism. From this observation, began the concern about the scarcity of non-renewable energy resources, as well as the environmental effects caused by the indiscriminate use of these. That said, in view of the forecast of exhaustibility of fossil fuels and environmental issues, for example, global warming caused by excessive greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, it is necessary to find a new energetic alternative to meet the future demands and ensure an ecologically balanced environment, a fundamental right laid down in art. 225 of the Federal Constitution of 1988. In this context, the agroenergy, a renewable energy source is cited by many as a new miracle, i.e., as a solution to the energy crisis and environmental problems. However, like any other source, the agroenergy also has positives and negatives points - environmental, social and economic- which must be weighed. Therefore, the environmental law, as well as its principles of precaution and prevention, is indispensable for supporting implementation and use of this important energy source.

The subject of my master thesis is the EU directive 2004/35 on environmental responsibility, prevention and damage redress, its implementation into the legal order of the Czech Republic and the potential impact of undue transposition of the directive. The first part of my thesis deals with the harmonization need in this area and with the directive itself. Following a brief introduction of the directive, I'm presenting an overview of its basic institutes and their legal form. I'm also making an effort at identifying possible shortcomings of the directive. The basic institutes of the directive include: key principles, the environmental damage itself, operational activity, responsibility mechanisms, financial safeguards and the administrative procedure to impose a preventive or a remedial provisions. The second part of my thesis deals with the theoretical aspects of appropriate implementation, such as the interpretation of the directive, a timely adoption of the transposition provisions, proper projection of the content of the directive, due form of the transposition provisions, the application of EU norms, the equivalence and effectiveness imperative and the internal Czech rules for the implementation of EU norms that have been laid down by the governmental provision Nr. 1304 (methodological directions). The...