ABSTRACT
Across a wide range of sectors and under a host of different terminologies, few issues addressed in the field of ecological economics are more contentious or more momentous than the diverse challenges of incertitude. In seeking to tackle global imperatives like climate change, ecological degradation or social injustice, the intractabilities of uncertainty present an ever present obstacle to progress. In order to develop robust and practical responses that do justice to the full depth and scope of these challenges, no field of policy research is richer than the vast literature concerned with precaution. Key issues are held in common, for instance, with the discussion in Chapter 27 around the topic of safe minimum standards for addressing strong uncertainty. This chapter provides a complementary review of this literature in order to illuminate the fundamental relevance of precaution for the appraisal (as well as the management) of the challenge of the uncertainty, and identify a range of practical policy responses.
