Ecology, Conservation, and Public Policy

Abstract

▪ Abstract A new sense of urgency about environmental problems has changed the relationship between ecology, other disciplines, and public policy. Issues of uncertainty and scientific inference now influence public debate and public policy. Considerations that formerly may have appeared to be mere technicalities now may have decisive influence. It is time to re-examine our methods to ensure that they are adequate for these new requirements. When science is used in support of policy-making, it cannot be separated from issues of values and equity. In such a context, the role of specialists diminishes, because nobody can be an expert in all the aspects of complicated environmental, social, ethical, and economic issues. The disciplinary boundaries that have served science so well in the past are not very helpful in coping with the complex problems that face us today, and ecology now finds itself in intense interaction with a host of other disciplines. The next generation of ecologists must be prepared to interact with such disciplines as history, religion, philosophy, geography, economics, and political science. The requisite training must involve not only words, but core skills in these disciplines. A sense of urgency has affected not only ecology but other disciplines that influence environmental problems: they are undergoing a similar transformation of their outlook and objectives.

Adaptive Governance of Social-Ecological Systems

“…Other actors include local groups with experience in resource and ecosystem management (75,76). Efforts are taking place to mobilize, make use of, and combine different knowledge systems and learning environments to enhance the capacity for dealing with complex adaptive systems and uncertainty (44). It comes as no surprise that knowledge of ecosystem dynamics and associated management practices exists among people of communities that, on a daily basis and over long periods of time, interact for their benefit and livelihood with ecosystems (77,78).…”

“…It is important to clarify that implications of analyses of social-ecological systems generally differ from analyses of social or ecological systems alone (44,45). Addressing only the social dimension of resource management without an understanding of resource and ecosystem dynamics will not be sufficient to guide society toward sustainable outcomes.…”

Confronting socially generated uncertainty in adaptive management

“…Some environmental researchers recognize this distinction but it is not widespread (Burgman, 2005). For example, Ludwig et al (2001) divided uncertainty into probabilistic quantities associated with statistical estimates, and non-probabilistic "radical uncertainty" associated with natural catastrophic events and "unforeseen consequences of human interventions. "…”

Developing and testing a policy environmental assessment checklist for biodiversity conservation

“…Although biodiversity is influenced by socio-economic considerations, the fact that few participants recognized this importance was not surprising. Literature on new ecological theory (e.g., Botkin, 1990;Hull et al, 2002;Ludwig et al, 2001) highlights the disparity between the need to consider socio-economic issues on the one hand and the lack of consideration on the other. This may mean that future users of the checklist may regard some questions as irrelevant, although such issues play a significant role in natural resource management policies (Amy, 1987;Fischer, 1998).…”