Challenges Turning Environment and Sustainability Science Into Policy: An Interdisciplinary Review

Book chapter

Catherine M. Dieleman, Chad Walker, David Pipher, Heather Peacock
Intellectual, Scientific, and Educational Influences on Sustainability Research, 2018 Nov 31, pp. 168-197

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APA Click to copy
Dieleman, C. M., Walker, C., Pipher, D., & Peacock, H. (2018). Challenges Turning Environment and Sustainability Science Into Policy: An Interdisciplinary Review. In Intellectual, Scientific, and Educational Influences on Sustainability Research (pp. 168–197).

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Dieleman, Catherine M., Chad Walker, David Pipher, and Heather Peacock. “Challenges Turning Environment and Sustainability Science Into Policy: An Interdisciplinary Review.” In Intellectual, Scientific, and Educational Influences on Sustainability Research, 168–197, 2018.

MLA Click to copy
Dieleman, Catherine M., et al. “Challenges Turning Environment and Sustainability Science Into Policy: An Interdisciplinary Review.” Intellectual, Scientific, and Educational Influences on Sustainability Research, 2018, pp. 168–97.

BibTeX Click to copy

@inbook{catherine2018a,
  title = {Challenges Turning Environment and Sustainability Science Into Policy: An Interdisciplinary Review},
  year = {2018},
  month = nov,
  day = {31},
  pages = {168-197},
  author = {Dieleman, Catherine M. and Walker, Chad and Pipher, David and Peacock, Heather},
  booktitle = {Intellectual, Scientific, and Educational Influences on Sustainability Research},
  month_numeric = {11}
}

In theory, there is a strong, two-way relationship between sustainability research and public policy that functions in synchrony to identify, understand, and ultimately address ecological problems for the greater good of society. In reality, such a cooperative relationship is rarely found. Instead, researchers and policymakers face a suite of challenges that prevent effective communication and collaborative pursuits, prolonging the period required to address environmental issues. In this chapter, the authors apply a novel interdisciplinary approach to identify key barriers and solutions to translating research into policy. In doing so, the authors present two separate discussions focused on the natural and social sciences. The authors also review established research-to-policy frameworks to develop the new “cohesive” framework. By addressing key barriers between researchers and policymakers, society will be better able to respond to the various environmental stressors that it faces today.