All rights reserved. A precautionary approach starts with risk assessment. Governments and the business community must use scientifically based risk assessment to prioritise environmental concerns and develop cost-effective actions which are proportionally responsive to those concerns. Business process Relationships within ecological systems are complex and incompletely understood, as are human interactions with them.
All human activities have an impact on the environment.
The international business community remains concerned with the environmental and ecological health of the world and how to balance this concern with the economic use of resources. The business community supports scientifically sound, cost-effective preventative action as part of its integrated business process. Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration implies an approach to precaution based on the principles of identifying threats or risks to the environment, generating a scientific assessment of their impact, and developing cost-effective measures to address them. It firmly recognizes the need to adopt such measures promptly in the face of serious threats or risks. Assessment of environmental risk has, as its foundation, sound scientific inquiry and objectivity.