...and they can bridge the gap between science and society
Researchers should help bridge the gap between the way in which politicians and civil society perceive sustainable development and acknowledge gaps in their knowledge, concluded seminars held as part of the 'Bridging the gap between research and sustainable development' conference in Stockholm on 10 May. Civil society and politicians live in different realities, said Nadine Gouzée, head of a task force on sustainable development at Belgium's Federal Planning Bureau and the Belgian representative on the UN commission for sustainable development. 'Scientists could more actively provide the background needed for various decisions. On the international scene, the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] is a brilliant example of cooperation between scientists and politicians,' said Ms Gouzée. In the IPCC, common standpoints are reached following debates between participating scientists. Scientists therefore do not relinquish their scientific method, but manage to deliver extremely robust foundations to politicians for their decisions to be based on, continued Ms Gouzée. Today, much of the foundation for decision making is seen only by politicians and their staff, she said. If scientists were to be more open with civil society, citizens would be better equipped to discuss and question political decisions on a more equal footing with politicians, she concluded. David Gee from the European Environment Agency (EEA), drew attention to recent 'scientific surprises' and said that it is time to draw conclusions from these. 'Scientists are less humble than they should be in explaining the world in terms of cause and effect,' he said. 'But the surprises that continually appear show that the models they are using and the knowledge they are based on do not capture many of the complexities of the real world.' He added that a lack of knowledge among scientists and engineers is not sufficiently acknowledged and that the full consequences of being wrong must be taken into account when making greater use of the precautionary principle.