Environmental Principles and Policies
Encyclopedia
The book Environmental Principles and Policies: An Interdisciplinary Introduction, written by Professor Sharon Beder
Sharon Beder
Sharon Beder is a professor in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. Her research has focussed on how power relationships are maintained and challenged, particularly by corporations and professions...

, examines six key environmental and social principles that have been incorporated into international treaties and national laws. It uses them to evaluate the new wave of economic-based and market-based policy instruments that are currently being introduced in many nations.

Six principles

The six principles discussed in the book are:
  • the sustainability principle
    Sustainability
    Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...

  • the polluter pays principle
    Polluter pays principle
    In environmental law, the polluter pays principle is enacted to make the party responsible for producing pollution responsible for paying for the damage done to the natural environment. It is regarded as a regional custom because of the strong support it has received in most Organisation for...

  • the precautionary principle
    Precautionary principle
    The precautionary principle or precautionary approach states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus that the action or policy is harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those...

  • the equity principle
    Social equity
    There are multiple definitions of social equity as it is a new term; each industry has seemed to take on a different connotation. The following provides for examples of each connotation.-Sustainable Development:...

  • human rights principles
    Human rights
    Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

  • the participation principle
    Public participation
    Public participation is a political principle or practice, and may also be recognised as a right . The terms public participation may be used interchangeably with the concept or practice of stakeholder engagement and/or popular participation.Generally public participation seeks and facilitates the...


Interdisciplinary approach

This book differs from other texts on environmental policy-making as a result of its critical and interdisciplinary approach. Rather than merely setting out policies in a descriptive or prescriptive way, it analyses and evaluates policy options from a variety of perspectives. This enables students and general readers not only to gain a thorough grasp of important principles and current policies, but also to be able to apply the principles and critically evaluate them.

The author

Professor Beder was included in a list of "Australia's most influential engineers", published by Engineers Australia in 2004. She was also included in Bulletin Magazine's "Smart 100" in 2003, and received the World Technology Award
World Technology Award
The World Technology Awards are presented annually by The World Technology Network at its World Technology Summit to individuals and corporations achieving significant, lasting progress in categories pertaining to science, technology, the arts, and design...

 for Ethics in 2001.

See also

  • Sustainable development
    Sustainable development
    Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...

  • Environmental policy
    Environmental policy
    Environmental policy is any [course of] action deliberately taken [or not taken] to manage human activities with a view to prevent, reduce, or mitigate harmful effects on nature and natural resources, and ensuring that man-made changes to the environment do not have harmful effects on...

  • List of Australian environmental books

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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