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Established across multiple sectors in a plethora of instruments interpreted in many legal traditions, the Precautionary Principle (PP) takes a diversity of forms (Fisher 2002). Originating in 1970s environmental protection, the PP matured in 1980s German policy, becoming initially most strongly internationally established in marine treaties, and later expanding into resource governance, risk regulation, and public health (Trouwborst 2002; Harding & Fisher 1999; O’Riordan & Jordan 2001). Across many versions, most share canonically distinctive features with Principle 15 in the 1992 Rio Declaration:‘Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation’(United Nations Environment Programme 1992: 1). Encoded in this formulation recognised by nearly 200 governments around …