Viewed from the perspective of environmental management, this study describes the implications and applications of the precautionary principle - a theory of avoiding risk even when its likelihood seems remote. This principle has been employed in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the North Atlantic Convention, yet it is not widely understood. This study examines the history and context of the principle, and its applications to law, governmental policies, business and investment, scientific research and international relations.

Environmental Science for Environmental Management has quickly established itself as the leading introduction to environmental science, demonstrating how a more environmental science can create an effective approach to environmental management on different spatial scales. Since publication of the first edition, environmentalism has become an increasing concern on the global political agenda. Following the Rio Conference and meetings on population, social justice, women, urban settlement and oceans, civil society has increasingly promoted the cause of a more radical agenda, ranging from rights to know, fair trade, social empowerment, social justice and civil rights for the oppressed, as well as novel forms of accounting and auditing. This new edition is set in the context of a changing environmentalism and a challenged science. It builds on the popularity and applicability of the first edition and has been fully revised and updated by the existing writing team from the internationally renowned School of Environmental Science at the University of East Anglia. Environmental Science for Environmental Management is an essential text for for undergraduate students of environmental science, environmental management, planning and geography. It is invaluable supplementary reading for environmental biology and environmental chemistry courses, as well as for engineering, economics and business studies.

The Transition to Sustainability 'details how all nations are repositioning their economies, their societies and their collective purpose to maintain all life on Earth, peacefully, healthily, equitably and with sufficient wealth to ensure that all are content in their survival.' From the Preface The governments of Europe are committed, in principle, to the implementation of sustainable development policies. What will this mean in practice? Most importantly, how compatible is such implementation with other commitments to economic growth and competitive markets? Can it be achieved, and what are the implications for all other policy areas? This book looks at the implications for government, business, taxation, planning, measures of change and local communities within the European Union. Country case studies include Germany, Norway, Greece, Portugal and the UK. The Editors conclude by giving an overview of progress so far, and offer pointers for the future. Policy makers, researchers and students across the range of social sciences will find this a valuable and groundbreaking book.

Ecotaxation covers two distinct ideas. To date, it has largely been associated with the 'polluter pays' principle, in the form of correctional charges imposed on activities which have a demonstrably damaging effect on the quality of life or the environment. The other involves a more ambitious policy shift, aiming to put taxation onto a different basis, away from income and labour, and onto resource-depleting and environmentally damaging activities. By going further, and directing the additional revenue towards environmentally supportive and socially improving ends, it can be part of the fiscal basis for sustainable development. This volume explores the history of both ideas, but with more emphasis on the wider-ranging policy alternatives that ecotaxation represents. The contributors look at the mixed records of the correctional economic instruments which have been introduced, suggesting that unless they are integrated into a more comprehensive package of reforms, they are not likely to have much effect on the direction of an already unsustainable economy. On the other hand, taxation has the potential not only to stimulate sustainable forms of economic activity but also, by lowering the costs of work and employment, to create jobs and greater social justice. At a time when governments' room for manoeuvre is being more and more restricted by conflicting social, economic and environmental commitments and pressures, revenue-neutral ecotaxation has a crucial role to play in reconciling those objectives and putting policy onto a new and lasting footing.

Viewed from the perspective of environmental management, this study describes the implications and applications of the precautionary principle - a theory of avoiding risk even when its likelihood seems remote. This principle has been employed in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the North Atlantic Convention, yet it is not widely understood. This study examines the history and context of the principle, and its applications to law, governmental policies, business and investment, scientific research and international relations.

The Politics of Climate Change provides a critical analysis of the political, moral and legal response to climate change in the midst of significant socio-economic policy shifts. Evolving from original EC commissioned research, this book examines how climate change was put on the policy agenda, with the evolution of the United Nations Framework Convention and subsequent Conference of Parties.
The international team of contributors devote in-depth chapters to:
* climate change policies of different nations
* reductions of greenhouse gas emmissions
* legal aspects of external competence and moral obligatons
* the political significance of the European experience within the wider global perspectives of America and Asia.

The Politics of Climate Change provides a critical analysis of the political, moral and legal response to climate change in the midst of significant socio-economic policy shifts. Evolving from original EC commissioned research, this book examines how climate change was put on the policy agenda, with the evolution of the United Nations Framework Convention and subsequent Conference of Parties.
The international team of contributors devote in-depth chapters to:
* climate change policies of different nations
* reductions of greenhouse gas emmissions
* legal aspects of external competence and moral obligatons
* the political significance of the European experience within the wider global perspectives of America and Asia.

1m Juni 1992 versammelten sich in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilien, 25000 Menschen zur grOBten Konferenz aller Zeiten, die auf Grund der gro6en Zahl der teil- nehmenden Prasidenten und Regierungschefs auch als Welt-Gipfel bezeichnet wird. Sie stand unter der Schirmherrschaft der Vereinten Nationen und befaBte sich mit den Themen Umwelt und Entwicklung. Es wurden u. a. folgende Frage- stellungen betrachtet: Wie kann zwischen der Notwendigkeit zur Entwicklung und Verbesserung der menschlichen Lebensqualitiit und der wichtigen Verpflichtung, die Umwelt zu bewah- ren, die richtige Balance gefunden werden? Wie kann das Ziel einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung erreicht werden? Die Konferenz war nicht nur ein Meilenstein fUr die Umwelt; daB Umwelt- themen ein fester Bestandteil des politischen Alltags geworden sind, konnte nicht deutlicher demonstriert werden. Sie war auch ein Ereignis von gro6er Bedeutung fUr die Beziehung zwischen Wissenschaft und Politik. Weil die wissenschaftliche Gemeinschaft den Politikern und Verantwortlichen dieser Welt das Problem der globalen Erwarmung (einschlie6lich ihrer Unwagbarkeiten) klar verdeutlichen konnte, erwies es sich auf dieser Konferenz als moglich, nahezu alle Lander zur Unterzeichnung des Rahmenabkommens zur Klimaverlinderung zu bewegen. Der Welt-Gipfel in Rio war nur ein Anfang. Uber Kernprobleme wie Forst- wirtschaft und Artenvielfalt wurde keine Ubereinkunft erreicht. Die Klima-Kon- vention ist ein gro6er Schritt vorwlirts, aber eindeutige und verbindliche MaB- nahmen miissen noch vereinbart werden. Auf den betroffenen Gebieten bedeutet das Ergebnis des Gipfels eine enorme Herausforderung fUr die Wissenschaftler dieser Erde.

Environmental Science for Environmental Management has quickly established itself as the leading introduction to environmental science, demonstrating how a more environmental science can create an effective approach to environmental management on different spatial scales. Since publication of the first edition, environmentalism has become an increasing concern on the global political agenda. Following the Rio Conference and meetings on population, social justice, women, urban settlement and oceans, civil society has increasingly promoted the cause of a more radical agenda, ranging from rights to know, fair trade, social empowerment, social justice and civil rights for the oppressed, as well as novel forms of accounting and auditing. This new edition is set in the context of a changing environmentalism and a challenged science. It builds on the popularity and applicability of the first edition and has been fully revised and updated by the existing writing team from the internationally renowned School of Environmental Science at the University of East Anglia. Environmental Science for Environmental Management is an essential text for for undergraduate students of environmental science, environmental management, planning and geography. It is invaluable supplementary reading for environmental biology and environmental chemistry courses, as well as for engineering, economics and business studies.

1m Juni 1992 versammelten sich in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilien, 25000 Menschen zur grOBten Konferenz aller Zeiten, die auf Grund der gro6en Zahl der teil nehmenden Prasidenten und Regierungschefs auch als Welt-Gipfel bezeichnet wird. Sie stand unter der Schirmherrschaft der Vereinten Nationen und befaBte sich mit den Themen Umwelt und Entwicklung. Es wurden u. a. folgende Frage stellungen betrachtet: Wie kann zwischen der Notwendigkeit zur Entwicklung und Verbesserung der menschlichen Lebensqualitiit und der wichtigen Verpflichtung, die Umwelt zu bewah ren, die richtige Balance gefunden werden? Wie kann das Ziel einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung erreicht werden? Die Konferenz war nicht nur ein Meilenstein fUr die Umwelt; daB Umwelt themen ein fester Bestandteil des politischen Alltags geworden sind, konnte nicht deutlicher demonstriert werden. Sie war auch ein Ereignis von gro6er Bedeutung fUr die Beziehung zwischen Wissenschaft und Politik. Weil die wissenschaftliche Gemeinschaft den Politikern und Verantwortlichen dieser Welt das Problem der globalen Erwarmung (einschlie6lich ihrer Unwagbarkeiten) klar verdeutlichen konnte, erwies es sich auf dieser Konferenz als moglich, nahezu alle Lander zur Unterzeichnung des Rahmenabkommens zur Klimaverlinderung zu bewegen. Der Welt-Gipfel in Rio war nur ein Anfang. Uber Kernprobleme wie Forst wirtschaft und Artenvielfalt wurde keine Ubereinkunft erreicht. Die Klima-Kon vention ist ein gro6er Schritt vorwlirts, aber eindeutige und verbindliche MaB nahmen miissen noch vereinbart werden. Auf den betroffenen Gebieten bedeutet das Ergebnis des Gipfels eine enorme Herausforderung fUr die Wissenschaftler dieser Erde."

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at British Academy Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Tipping points are zones or thresholds of profound changes in natural or social conditions with very considerable and largely unforecastable consequences. Tipping points may be dangerous for societies and economies, especially if the prevailing governing arrangements are not designed either to anticipate them or adapt to their arrival. Tipping points can also be transformational of cultures and behaviours so that societies can learn to adapt and to alter their outlooks and mores in favour of accommodating to more sustainable ways of living. This volume examines scientific, economic and social analyses of tipping points, and the spiritual and creative approaches to identifying and anticipating them. The authors focus on climate change, ice melt, tropical forest drying and alterations in oceanic and atmospheric circulations. They also look closely at various aspects of human use of the planet, especially food production, and at the loss of biodiversity, where alterations to natural cycles may be creating convulsive couplings of tipping points. They survey the various institutional aspects of politics, economics, culture and religion to see why such dangers persist.