6th Open Meeting of the Human Dimensions
of Global Environmental Change Research Community
Marilyn Averill
Center for Science and Technology Policy Research
Litigation Demands for Climate Science
Abstract
Sarewitz and Pielke have called for a reconciliation between the supply and demand sides of science and have proposed mapping assessments of supply and demand so that researchers may identify missed opportunities to provide relevant research. Such assessments should define demand as broadly as possible, attempting to include all consumers that may benefit from climate science. Discussions about the demand for climate science often fail to include parties to climate lawsuits and the courts that hear climate-related cases. Courts play an important role in the development of policy relating to issues such as climate change. The interaction of law with science, as occurs in litigation, drives public perceptions of environmental problems, sets limits on individual and collective behavior, and assigns responsibility to particular parties. Court cases, reported through the media, educate the public about the science underlying the disputed issues. Litigants will need science to demonstrate the causes of climate change, establish the contributions of various human factors, and prove other claims involving areas where science remains highly uncertain. Assessments of demand for climate science should include the science needed in those legal disputes most likely to affect future public policy. This paper will analyze the climate science needed in different litigation contexts and link it to the likely societal implications of that type of litigation. Lawsuits should not drive climate science agendas, but science used in courts may influence the future of climate policy, and the needs of litigants should be considered in assessing demands for climate science.
View Presentation |
488 UCB