The role of science in policymaking and ecosystem management

Background/Question/Methods

As an environmental decision analyst I am often asked by scientists, “Why do people make “bad” decisions?” or “Why isn’t my science being used to inform policymaking?”.  For such scientists it is critical to understand that decisions include both science and value judgments.  Even if multiple decision makers agree upon the science and completely disagree on the optimal policy because their values cause them to weight the objectives of the decision differently.  For science to be part of the decision, however, it is essential to have the science at the table during the decision-making process.  This does not mean advocating for a particular policy position, but instead means thoughtfully presenting the positive and negative consequences of different policy choices given the current scientific understanding. 

Ecologists who would like to assure that their science is at the table in ecosystem management decisions can conduct actionable science and participate in the policy process.  Actionable science, as defined by the Socio-environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC; www.sesync.org) is “Scholarship with the potential to inform decisions (government, business, and household), improve the design or implementation of public policies, influence public or private sector strategies, planning and behaviors that affect the environment.”  Such science is designed to answer decision-relevant questions, often through the development of new methods or by designing experiments to answer unanswered scientific questions.  However, even if you are conducting policy-relevant science, if you are not bringing your findings to the attention of policymakers, it is impossible to assure that your scientific findings will be considered in the decision-making process.  Thus, you must participate in the policy process to bring your science to bear.

Results/Conclusions

In this talk I will present several specific policymaking and ecosystem management examples to illustrate how ecologist have conducted actionable scientific research and participated in the policy process. By providing a roadmap for how ecologists can effectively engage at multiple levels in the policy process, I hope to empower ecologists to bring their science to the decision-making table.