Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Karl, Herman A.
• Susskind, Lawrence E.
• Wallace, Katherine H.

Titel

A Dialogue, Not a Diatribe: Effective Integration of Science and Policy through Joint Fact Finding

Ist Teil von

• Environment : science and policy for sustainable development, 2007-01, Vol.49 (1), p.20-34

Ort / Verlag

Washington: Heldref

Erscheinungsjahr

2007

Quelle

Taylor & Francis

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• None of these is true.5 Policymaking is not an entirely rational process of identifying problems and choosing optimal solutions, especially when scientists must make value-laden assumptions and extrapolations in the face of highly uncertain data to answer questions posed by policymakers.6 What is needed is a way to ensure, politics aside, that our understanding of the workings of complex ecological systems informs public policy choices about where and how development should proceed, how natural resources are managed to ensure sustainable supplies, and whether and how to regulate economic activities that pose a threat to human health and safety as well as environmental protection. In recognition that science is needed now more than ever to inform societal decisions, politicians, government and nongovernmental agencies, and citizens have been asking with a mounting sense of urgency for scientists and science organizations to make their research more relevant to society's needs and to become involved in policymaking.39 Yet even as scientists heed this call, more often than not, they still find themselves and their work ignored, marginalized, or misrepresented in deeply contentious environmental policy debates.