This principle deals with the nature of values and the values of nature. Despite the extensive amount of research on this topic, policy makers often muddle the different types of value, making ‘category errors’ that result in some strange decision-making with unintended consequences.

This case study examines the collision of values between organic farming and the lobby for release of genetically modified organisms into the environment. It also draws on two other cases that involve the fallout from Chernobyl and asbestos.

This principle deals with the negotiations which take place when there is an environmental harm being produced by one agent that affects another. This is called ‘Coasian bargaining’ after the Nobel Prize winning economist, Ron Coase.

The precautionary principle is one of the fundamental principles used for decision-making about the environment. There is much we don’t know about the complex interactions between the biological and physical world, or within the biological world, so the essence of the principle is that we should act with precaution because once something is lost, then we can’t change it back again.

Jon has invited two colleagues from the University of Leeds to join him to discuss ecosystem services. The video is around 22 minutes in length but is well worth watching as it demonstrates the application of the basic principles introduced at the beginning of the collection to research based case studies.

This case study considers climate change and the conundrum of future generations. It draws on the controversial 2nd principle of justice derived from the ‘veil of ignorance’ thought experiment.

Jon has invited a number of colleagues to join him to discuss natural resource management in Nepal.

Shiva Bisangkhe is an advocate and human rights activist. He completed his bachelor’s degree in law and earned a master’s degree in political science from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. He has worked for different organisations including governmental and non-governmental in various capacities. From June 2008 to August 2012, he worked as a senior programme officer for human rights with the Kathmandu-based Alliance for Social Dialogue, a partner organisation of the Open Society Foundations...

Dr Lok P. Sharma Bhattarai is currently in the postdoctoral stage after obtaining his PhD in 2013 from Leeds Metropolitan University. His research interests include livelihood, development and natural resource management from the perspective of culture, institution and society. Dr Bhattarai worked as a sociologist for the government of Nepal with deputation in water resources development and management. From this tenure, Dr Bhattarai has developed insights and expertise on the politics of...

Dr Bishnu Pariyar, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Ecology, Law and Policy (CELP), White Rose Collaborations, University of Leeds. He is an environmental social scientist whose research interests are associated with natural resource management in developing countries. These include structural inequalities in the management of natural resources and how fairness can be achieved whilst making decisions on nature and the natural environment, particularly in access to and control over...

Dr Yog Upadhyay is a lecturer in law at the University of Derby with interests in intellectual property and international law. He is also interested in access and benefit sharing under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). He uses the philosophical framework of ethics and morality while considering the relationship between the law and society.

The third principle demonstrates a paradox in democracy. At the start of the Cold War in the 1950s there was a great deal of research into comparing different governance systems, particularly that of the United States of America and the Soviet Union.

The second principle considers how we transact in society. The principle is based on the work of the ‘father’ of modern institutional economics, Douglass North.

Although it is human nature to want basic principles of equality and to help the least advantaged, in practice we run up against two problems. People differ in their opinions and sometimes it is impossible to achieve a consensus based on equal representation.

The first principle examines the theory of justice drawing on the famous thought experiment ‘The Veil of Ignorance’ devised by John Rawls.

In this video Jon outlines the conclusions arrived at by the philosopher John Rawls and considers how these basic principles of justice affect our lives through examples we can all relate to.

In summary, laws and social norms provide the institutions that govern the incentive structures of society. If the laws are complex, and people don’t trust each other, then it becomes time consuming and costly to transact. The reverse is true when laws are simple, and we trust each other.