The role of science in implementing international environmental agreements: The case of desertification

Abstract

A preliminary framework for evaluating the effectiveness of international environmental agreements (IEAs) is described, and applied to the UN Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD) and UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), both of which have proven ineffective. There is good correspondence between the framework's nine criteria and official explanations of the reasons for poor implementation. Most of the criteria were identified in previous studies but opinions are divided on one of them-access to scientific knowledge. Its inclusion does, however, receive support from experiences in the desertification regime. Successive organizations of science-policy communication in the CCD have lacked many of the ideal features of boundary organizations, with access to scientific knowledge impeded mainly by formal institutions, compared with informal institutions in the PACD. Yet while applying the boundary organization model in a descriptive manner diagnoses the particular deficiencies in science-policy communication in this regime it cannot explain why they occur. Linking the CCD to a large and diverse scientific network, similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, could improve matters. But this may not be politically feasible, as new knowledge could undermine the viability of the CCD by unravelling its initial rule system. Progress in combating dryland degradation may therefore only be possible in another regime, e.g. in the successor to the Kyoto Protocol, or by devising a new interdisciplinary conceptualization of desertification which does not rely on ambiguity, as is the case at present.

An Expert System to Evaluate Environmental Sensitivity: A Local – Scale Approach to Desertification Risk

“…As an example, changes in the vegetation quality index due to policy enforcement can be estimated by simulating different land management options, as shown in the study site application. The use of simulation techniques, applied to existing information and supported by ad hoc collected data, can be used also to investigate specific degradation processes (Grainger, 2009), including soil erosion, salinisation, sealing, etc.…”

“…Grainger, 2009), this paper illustrates a Geographical Information System (GIS) which investigates the main factors determining ESD at land unit scale incorporating a Decision Support System (DSS) to simulate the effect of short-term environmental changes on the ESD (hereafter 'DSS-ESI'). The final output of the DSS-ESI is a composite index of land sensitivity to desertification (ESI) calculated separately for the most representative land cover types in the study area.…”

Reducing uncertainty about hybrid lay-scientific concepts

“…Informal institutions prevented scientists appointed to advise negotiators of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) from communicating with them [11]. Intervention could have undermined the consensus definition, which is compatible with two conflicting views of causes and impacts [12]: developed countries focus on human causes and environmental impacts, while developing countries stress climatic causes and impacts on development [13]. Land degradation has two primary attributes: soil degradation and vegetation degradation.…”

“…how UNEP established in advance the discourse within which the experts would develop the concept [12]. UNEP estimates of desertification have also relied on expert assessment, not empirical measurement [14].…”

Multifaceted Impacts of Sustainable Land Management in Drylands: A Review

“…Policy instruments include local, regional, and international legislation and regulations, but probably the most effective policy tool for the implementation of SLM is public education. Lamentably, the major reason for insufficient implementation and adoption of environmentally sound land management is the lack of efficient channels to transmit knowledge and technology between environmental science and policy [201,202]. To achieve effective communication of scientific knowledge to policy findings must be interdisciplinary and have cross-sector approaches [203].…”