The use of science in environmental policy: a case study of the Regional Forest Agreement process in Western Australia

Abstract

This paper explores the notion of pluralism as it relates to the involvement of science in processes of environmental policy formulation. In particular, it focuses attention on the dominance of normal science within the Australian debate on commercial forest use, management, and conservation. It presents case study information from the Western Australian Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) process, a policy initiative designed to end a long-running conflict over public forestland. It then analyzes the use of science within this political process, along with the respective impacts of different voices within science on the RFA outcomes. The case study data highlight the vulnerability of reductionist science within complex political debates and support arguments for a widening of the scientific basis of policy processes to include alternative ways of understanding nature-society relations. The paper contends that such a broadening will make science not only more robust, but also more valuable as a problem-solving tool in future decision-making processes on land use, conservation, and broader sustainability questions. It also considers the obstacles facing pluralism.

Research core and framework of sustainability science

“…Manson and Evans (2007) simulated the decision-making process in land use by agent-based modeling. Brueckner and Horwitz (2005) explored policy formulation in the Western Australian Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) and RFA stakeholders' perceptions of the scientific credibility of this process. More than 500 scientists and experts were reported to have been involved in the RFA process.…”

The Western Australian Regional Forest Agreement: Economic Rationalism and the Normalisation of Political Closure

“…Stakeholder perceptions of the treatment of science (for a detailed discussion see Brueckner and Horwitz 2005) during the RFA process mirrored those concerning the consultation process. Science was purported to be the backbone of WA's RFA and to replace emotional arguments with facts.…”

The rise and fall of sustainability in Western Australian politics: a review of sustainable development under the Western Australian Labor government between 2001 and 2008

“…In WA, however, the RFA process derailed in the late 1990s because of public outrage over ongoing old-growth forest logging as well as the science and the unpublic nature of the RFA proceedings (Horwitz & Calver, 1998;Westpoll, 1998;AMR: Quantum Harris, 1999;Brueckner & Horwitz, 2005;Brueckner et al 2006). Despite "green" amendments by the Court Coalition government to the original RFA document only eight weeks after it had been signed, the public credibility of the RFA could not be rescued.…”