Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Policy and Management as a Scientific Enterprise
Basic science is essentially an adaptive process in which an initial hypothe-
sis for the cause of a natural pattern or process is systematically tested.The
hypothesis is either validated or rejected. In basic science, the hope is that
the hypothesis is rejected because this typically leads to new and exciting
discovery, which is after all the hallmark of success in basic science. The
knowledge gained from discovery is used to refine existing ideas or develop
new and better ones.These ideas are then subject to the next round of test-
ing.This process of idea formulation, testing, discovery, and refinement is a
time-tested cycle of knowledge creation.
Basic science in this purest of form, that is, accumulation of knowledge
about nature for the simple sake of gaining knowledge, is neither intended
nor geared toward solving specific applied environmental problems.Any sci-
entific insights that are eventually used by policy are usually regarded as the
dividend of the basic scientific process. Consequently, the interface between
policy and science tends to be passive and linear. Basic science passes off to
policy whatever knowledge is useful. Policy then uses this knowledge to
formulate solutions to environmental problems.
The drawback of a linear, passive interface is that science continues with
its cycle of discovery independent of the policy process. It is therefore en-
tirely conceivable that policy could be based on outdated scientific knowl-
edge by the time it has passed through the public review process and
becomes implemented. The remedy is to intertwine science and policy.
There are two creative ways to do this.
The first way is to change our perception about what policy and man-
agement is and what it can accomplish. Management is typically viewed as
the implementation of policy and, as such, it alters some component of the
natural environment to achieve a desired end. In essence, this is just a large-
scale perturbation or treatment that is conducted in the absence of a control
(Sinclair 1991). If management changed its approach slightly and left some areas
unmanipulated (experimental controls), it can be treated as a scientific ex-
periment that has the potential to offer knowledge about ecosystem func-
tion (Sinclair 1991). Let me illustrate this point with a hypothetical example
of a lost opportunity because management did not include a control.
Northern forests in eastern North America are periodically threatened
by the outbreak of insect pest species. Caterpillar stages of many moth
species can grow to thousands and rapidly consume leaves of many eco-
