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This book provides a timely analysis of the role that information – particularly scientific information – plays in the policy-making and decision-making processes in coastal and ocean management. It includes contributions from global experts in marine environmental science, marine policy, fisheries, public policy and administration, resource management, risk management, and information management.
Science, Information, and Policy Interface for Effective Coastal and Ocean Management is divided into four sections that provide focused analyses, including
- An overview of the characteristics of the science–policy interface, including a discussion of the role of scientific information in policy making and an argument that the term "science–policy interface" is inaccurate due to the existence of many possible interfaces
- Descriptions of fundamental concepts and principles for understanding the role of information in effective integrated coastal and ocean management
- National and international case studies that illustrate key factors in successful science–policy interfaces, such as awareness, communication, and use of information
- Critical issues and future research challenges
The book also explores the different types of science–policy interfaces existing within and between different organizations, as well as the various roles that different types of non-governmental organizations play in producing and disseminating information.
Science, Information, and Policy Interface for Effective Coastal and Ocean Management presents a wealth of knowledge that enhances current best practices to achieve more effective communication and use of marine environmental information. Useful to all major groups in the policy-making process, from senior policy- and decision-makers to practitioners in coastal and ocean management, it helps to increase understanding of catalysts and barriers to communicating research findings. It also serves as a starting point for further research and progress in efficient marine environment management.
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Bertrum H. MacDonald, Suzuette S. Soomai, Elizabeth M. De Santo, and Peter G. Wells
Understanding the Science–Policy Interface in Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management
Bertrum H. MacDonald, Suzuette S. Soomai, Elizabeth M. De Santo, and Peter G. Wells
FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES
Exploring the Role of Science in Coastal and Ocean Management: A Review
Brian Coffey and Kevin O’Toole
Science Information and Global Ocean Governance
Jake Rice
Risk Refined at the Science–Policy Interface: The International Risk Governance Framework Applied to Different Classes of Coastal Zone Risks
Kevin Quigley and Kate Porter
Governing the Marine Environment through Information: Fisheries, Shipping and Tourism
Hilde M. Toonen and Arthur P. J. Mol
Inducing Better Stakeholder Searches for Environmental Information Relevant to Coastal Conservation
Diana L. Ascher and William Ascher
When Scientific Uncertainty Is in the Eye of the Beholder: Using Network Analysis to Understand the Building of Trust in Science
Troy W. Hartley
Designing Usable Environmental Research
Elizabeth C. McNie, Angela Bednarek, Ryan Meyer, and Adam Parris
The Balancing Act of Science in Public Policy
Peter Gluckman and Kristiann Allen
Measuring Awareness, Use, and Influence of Information—Where Theory Meets Practice
Suzuette S. Soomai, Peter G. Wells, Bertrum H. MacDonald, Elizabeth M. De Santo, and Anatoliy Gruzd
CASE STUDIES
What Do Users Want from a State of the Environment Report? A Case Study of Awareness and Use of Canada’s State of the Scotian Shelf Report
James D. Ross and Heather Breeze
The Environmental Effects of Ocean Shipping and the Science–Policy Interface
Elizabeth R. DeSombre
Just Evidence: Opening Health Knowledge to a Parliament of Evidence
Janice E. Graham and Mavis Jones
Information Matters—The Influence of the Atlantic Coastal Zone Information Steering Committee on Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management in Atlantic Canada
Andrew G. Sherin and Alexi Baccardax Westcott
A Career-Based Perspective of Science–Policy Linkages in Environment Canada: The Role of Information in Managing Human Activities in Our Ocean Spaces
Peter G. Wells
Bridging the Science–Policy Divide to Promote Fisheries Knowledge for All: The Case of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Lahsen Ababouch, Marc Taconet, Julian Plummer, Luca Garibaldi, and Stefania Vannuccini
Informing and Improving Fisheries Management Outcomes: An Atlantic Canadian Large Pelagics Case Study by the Ecology Action Centre
Susanna D. Fuller, Kathryn E. Schleit, Heather J. Grant, and Shannon Arnold
THE WAY FORWARD
Does Information Matter in ICOM? Critical Issues and the Path Forward
Elizabeth M. De Santo, Suzuette S. Soomai, Peter G. Wells, and Bertrum H. MacDonald
Bertrum H. MacDonald is professor of information management in the School of Information Management and dean of the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He holds a PhD and MLS in information science. His research investigates the dissemination and use of scientific information in historical and contemporary contexts. He is particularly interested in interdisciplinary research which led to the launch of the Environmental Information: Use and Influence research program at Dalhousie University. Since the mid-2000s, he and his research colleagues, along with a multidisciplinary team of students, have pursued research about information activities at the science–policy interface in marine management in collaboration with provincial, national, and international governmental and intergovernmental organizations. He has held a Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, won the international Grey Net Award with his Dalhousie colleagues, and was awarded the Marie Tremaine Medal, the highest honour of the Bibliographical Society of Canada. In addition to administrative leadership at Dalhousie University, he is currently serving in executive positions with local, national, and international associations.
Suzuette S. Soomai is a postdoctoral fellow with the Environmental Information: Use and Influence (EIUI) research program. Her research focuses on the role of scientific information in policy- and decision-making for marine fisheries management. She holds an interdisciplinary PhD and a master’s degree in marine management from Dalhousie University. Prior to joining EIUI, she was a government fisheries scientist in Trinidad and Tobago, where she worked closely with the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism and the Food and Agriculture Organization. She has published extensively in the technical report series of these organizations. She has also worked with the fishing industry in a range of activities, including tropical freshwater aquaculture farming and at-sea trawl gear testing. Her current interests include understanding the role of scientific information in policy- and decision-making in fisheries management organizations.
Elizabeth M. De Santo is assistant professor of environmental studies at Franklin and Marshall College and an adjunct at Dalhousie University. She holds a PhD in geography, cosupervised in laws, from University College London. Her research and teaching center on environmental governance, focusing on the conservation and management of marine ecosystems and species, and improving the science–policy interface in environmental decision-making. She is particularly interested in the challenges of effectively implementing marine protected areas and biodiversity conservation worldwide. She has an international and interdisciplinary background and has also worked in the nonprofit sector, including positions with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the World Environment Center, and the American Museum of Natural History. She is a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, and has served on advisory boards for World Wildlife Fund Canada and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.
Peter G. Wells is an adjunct professor at Dalhousie University and a senior research fellow at International Ocean Institute, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He holds a PhD in zoology from the University of Guelph. He worked as a marine scientist and aquatic toxicologist for the Canadian Federal Government for 34 years, retiring from Environment Canada in June 2006. His academic interests include marine ecotoxicology, marine information management, and community service on issues affecting the Bay of Fundy, Gulf of Maine and North-West Atlantic. He has written, contributed to, or edited over 300 primary and technical publications on water pollution and marine environmental science, including several books. He is the current editor of the Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science. He has served on various national and international technical committees, including the National Academy of Sciences (USA), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the United Nations. He was a long-serving member of the United Nations Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection. He also serves as co-lead of the Environmental Information: Use and Influence research program, which initiated this book, and has received several honors and awards.
"This volume will be of great use to the growing numbers of ocean practitioners from all sectors, dedicated to improving the health and sustainability of our oceans, for generations to come."
– Michael H. Depledge, University of Exeter Medical School, from the Foreword
"Although there is international acceptance of the need for integrated coastal and ocean management (ICOM), this book demonstrates that increased scientific understanding of these environments does not necessarily lead to better policy making. This book is unique in that it examines the diversity of actors and factors bridging the science–policy interface, such as the inclusion of both gray and primary literature, different forms of knowledge, information brokers, boundary organizations, different levels of decision makers, governance structures, and politics."
– Nick Harvey, University of Adelaide
"Global coastal systems are among the dynamic and complex environments humans engage. This volume takes on a rare and broad-ranging view of how science and information can be used to more effectively and sustainably manage these essential places. It is a welcome contribution to the literature during a period of great social vulnerability to global environmental change. The authors lucidly articulate contextual and conceptual frameworks to better understand the science–policy interface in the early pages of the book. Then, to expand and solidify the value of the book, they build a series of case-based analyses for clarity of argument. This volume is of great value to those working at the science–policy interface generally and the coastal systems change in particular."
– Robert E. Bowen, University of Massachusetts
"This book will be useful to all major groups in the policy-making process, including senior policy makers and decision makers, policy advisors, resource managers, information managers, scientists and other practitioners in coastal and ocean management. The authors have wisely dedicated this book to the new generation of professionals involved in the challenging task of managing our coastal and ocean spaces for future generations. It adds substantially to the growing body of research literature on the science–policy interface and I recommend this important volume to the new generation of 'information brokers' who occupy the space between science and policy and build bridges of communication and understanding."
– Lawrence Hildebrand, World Maritime University
"This book is a must-read for both practitioners and scholars of science–policy interaction in ocean politics, and will also be a useful reference point beyond this domain for the entire field of global environmental governance."
– Frank Biermann, Utrecht University and Earth System Governance Project
"This book addresses how to communicate scientific information to policy makers so that it can be used most effectively in decision making and ultimately to improve the sustainability of human activities in the ocean. The theme, Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management (ICOM), encapsulates the broader systems-based approach that is required to solve the complex problems faced in the oceans today that derive from multiple stressors and may involve many sectors. As a scientist who has often worked on the interface of knowledge and policy I found I recognized many of the themes picked up in this book. It is a tremendously valuable contribution to advancing sustainable management and conservation of the ocean and will be of use to marine scientists, students who have an interest in applying their work and knowledge to real problems, and to the governance and NGO community, whether they wish to make better use of science in policy development or whether they want to get others to make use of such information."
– Alex David Rogers, University of Oxford
"Is the book worth reading? I certainly think so. The case studies are interesting and illustrate theoretical concepts put forward in the book quite well. Researchers looking for inspiration will find this book invaluable. The book will be equally interesting for decision makers."
– Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, January 2017
