Avoid damage as a precaution
The polluter pays principle states that the polluter must bear all associated costs, including the costs incurred to prevent the damage, reduce its impact or eliminate the pollution. In this way, polluters should be motivated to avoid environmental damage in the first place. If they fail to do so, they are held accountable for their actions and must also bear any clean-up costs.
The precautionary principle, on the other hand, states that risks to the environment or human health should be prevented before they even arise. It therefore guides us to act early and with foresight in order to avoid environmental pollution or our own health risks. This requirement applies in two respects - to risk prevention and to what is known as resource prevention. Risk prevention means taking preventive action in the event of incomplete or uncertain knowledge about the nature, extent, probability and causality of environmental damage and hazards in order to avoid them from the outset. Resource prevention means using natural resources such as water, soil and air sparingly in order to safeguard them in the long term and preserve them in the interests of future generations.
The first conceptual considerations about precautionary environmental protection were made in Germany in the 1970s, when science and politics were confronted with a major forest dieback, partly as a result of air pollution (‘acid rain’). At that time, the basic rule was established that in the event of a potential threat, precautionary protective measures must be taken before there is actual evidence of this dangerous situation. In addition, the experts involved recognised even then that good monitoring networks were needed in order to identify possible changes at an early stage and that all social stakeholders needed to work together to develop measures and rules to successfully prevent risks to people and the environment.
