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(iv) The principle of precaution involves the anticipation of environmental harm and taking measures to avoid it or to choose the least environmentally harmful activity. It is based on scientific uncertainty. Environmental protection should not only aim at protecting health, property and economic interest but also protect the environment for its own sake. Precautionary duties must not only be triggered by the suspicion of concrete danger but also by (justified) concern or risk potential. The precautionary principle was recommended by the UNEP Governing Council (1989). However, summing up the legal status of the precautionary principle, one commentator characterized the principle as still evolving, for though it is accepted as part of the international customary law, the consequences of its application in any potential situation will be influenced by the circumstances of each case.

(vii) Earlier, the concept was based on the assimilative capacity rule as revealed from Principle 6 of the Stockholm Declaration of the U.N. Conference on Human Environment, 1972. The said principle assumed that science could provide policy-makers with the information and means necessary to avoid encroaching upon the capacity of the environment to assimilate impacts and it presumed that relevant technical expertise would be available when environmental harm was predicted and there would be sufficient time to act in order to avoid such harm. But in the 11th Principle of the U.N. General Assembly Resolution on World Charter for Nature, 1982, the emphasis shifted to the precautionary principle, and this was reiterated in the Rio Conference of 1992 in its Principle 15.

Principle 15.In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for proposing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.

(viii) During the two decades from Stockholm to Rio Sustainable Development has come to be accepted as a viable concept to eradicate poverty and improve the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of the supporting ecosystems. Sustainable Development as defined by the Brundtland Report means Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. The Sustainable Development, therefore, is a balancing concept between ecology and development, has been accepted as a part of the customary international law though its salient features have yet to be finalised by the international law jurists. Some of the salient principles of Sustainable Development, as culled out from Brundtland Report and other international documents, are Inter-Generational Equity, Use and Conservation of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection, the Precautionary Principle, Polluter Pays Principle, Obligation to Assist and Cooperate, Eradication of Poverty and Financial Assistance to the developing countries.

(ix) In Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum v. Union of India (AIR 1996 SC 2715) a three-Judge Bench of the Apex Court referred to the precautionary principle in environmental matters. Kuldip Singh,J. after referring to the principles evolved in various international conferences and to the concept of sustainable development, stated that the precautionary principle, the polluter-pays principle and the special concept of onus of proof have now emerged and govern the law in our country too, as is clear from Articles 47, 48-A and 51-A(g) of our Constitution and that, in fact, in the various environmental statutes, such as the Water Act, 1974 and other statutes, including the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, these concepts are already implied. These principles have now become part of our law. Thus, it was held that The Precautionary Principle and The Polluter Pays Principle are essential features of Sustainable Development.