6th Open Meeting of the Human Dimensions
of Global Environmental Change Research Community
Eva Lovbrand
Kalmar University, Sweden
Between laboratory practice and policy involvement. Ideals, expectations and every-day concerns for Swedish carbon cycle science
Abstract
Scientific knowledge plays a pivotal role in the management of environmental problems. While the interplay between science and policy conventionally has been represented as rational and effective, there is today a growing awareness of the complex socio-political contexts in which science and policy outcomes are produced and negotiated. Recognition of the close science-society relationship has not only raised questions about how scientific information moves from the laboratory to the world of politics and policy-making, but also steered focus towards the accountability and legitimacy of science-based decision-making. In this paper I present results from an interview study conducted with Swedish carbon cycle scientists and policy-makers involved in the international climate negotiations. The aim of the paper is to explore how scientists and negotiators perceive the interplay between science and politics in the climate negotiations and the role of expert advice in climate governance. The immediate outcome of the interviews is far from surprising and ties into the idealised ambition of conventional linear models of science-policy interplay. In traditional realist terms, most respondents suggest that scientists should produce disinterested and impartial facts upon which rational policy decision can be made. However, a deeper analysis of the interview responses indicates a much more complex science-policy interface with a multitude of opposing ideals, expectations and every-day concerns.
View Presentation |
488 UCB