July 2007
Outcome evaluation
Uptake of the recommendations and broader themes in Missing links has varied, but overall there are positive signs of change. Considerably more progress will be needed, however, to fully implement the intent of Missing links.
The 2004 investigation had examined ways of forging better links between scientific knowledge, public concerns, and environmental policy making. Of its four recommendations (see below), the first two were accepted and partly implemented by the relevant ministries, while 3 and 4 were partly accepted and partly implemented by the agencies surveyed.
1. Environmental reporting: the Ministry for the Environment advised in June 2006 on plans to publish regular, accessible environmental reporting. A state-of-the-environment report is due at the end of 2007, and reporting on core indicators is to occur annually.
2. Public agency capability: the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology has investigated the science capability of regional councils and relevant government agencies, and it plans to assess them regularly. More comprehensive reviews may be required.
3. Alliances with science providers: overall, relationships between policy makers and science providers are becoming more robust, strategic and long term. However, the competitive model, along with capacity and resourcing issues, continues to restrict this. The Envirolink programme has been a marked success.
4. Improving communication: some positive progress on improving communication and accountability between scientists, policy makers and the public has occurred, but not enough to form a fully robust or holistic approach. There has been an effort to apply some boundary functions within agencies by policy makers.
The PCE acknowledges the challenges and difficulties that agencies face in developing effective policy. Fully implementing the ideas in Missing links requires significant changes from business-as-usual over a longer time period.
(Download the evaluation report opposite).
September 2004
Report summary
This report focuses on complex issues that face environmental policy makers, and analyses how science, research and technology can be used more effectively to address such issues. In doing so, it examines how the links between science, policy-making and the public interest can be strengthened to engender confidence in how policies are developed and what they will achieve.
Commissioner's preface
In this study we are interested in who is doing science and research, and how, rather than just what is being done. We look at what is driving science investment, the relationships between scientists and policy-makers and, most importantly, how environmental policy and decision makers are blending their knowledge from a range of sources. In short, we focus on the social, political and economic influences that shape environmental policy and decision-making.
Increasingly, solutions to environmental issues and progress on environmental sustainability demand greater understanding of very complex ecological systems, often over long timeframes. However, these two factors - complexity and long timeframes - do not fit comfortably with many current human, societal, economic and governance constructs.
We trust this contribution will stimulate thinking and further dialogue around environmental policy and decision-making, and our current capacities to deliver good policies.
Executive summary
Environmental policy-making imposes many pressures and responsibilities on central and local government decision makers. They must deal with complex issues that reveal limitations in our understanding of natural systems, and uncertainty about the extent of human impacts on those systems.
Single perspectives of specific scientific disciplines, worldviews and stakeholder interests will only lead to partial solutions. Today's complex environmental issues require research to be more integrative across scales of time and space, and to be more open to exploring their social dimensions. For science to effectively influence environmental policy, it must be credible, salient and legitimate.
We highlight some approaches to improving science-policy-stakeholder links, relationships and communication. We conclude with suggestions for forging better links and developing better processes to deal with complex environmental policy issues.
Downloading this report
This report was designed to be easy to read in electronic form. At 120 pages long, we encourage you to read it on-screen to avoid the need to print it out in its entirety.
