Science-based Stakeholder Dialogue for Environmental Policy Implementation

Science-based stakeholder dialogue is a strategy to bring science closer to decision-making with increasing importance for the design of environmental policies. The need for such an approximation has been stressed, but documented implementations are rare. We present our experience of developing a sc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Conservation and society Vol. 19; no. 4; pp. 225 - 235
Main Authors:	Brites, Alice Dantas, de Mello, Kaline, Tavares, Paulo André, Metzger, Jean Paul, Rodrigues, Ricardo Ribeiro, Molin, Paulo Guilherme, Pinto, Luís Fernando Guedes, Joly, Carlos Alfredo, Fernandes, João Francisco Adrien, Machado, Frederico Soares, Trani, Eduardo, Sparovek, Gerd
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Bangalore Wolters Kluwer India Pvt. Ltd 01-10-2021 Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
Subjects:	brazil Conferences, meetings and seminars Decision making Environmental policy Methods Policies Political factors Science science-practice gap Stakeholders Brazil environmental policy Brazil science-practice gap decision-making
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Summary:	Science-based stakeholder dialogue is a strategy to bring science closer to decision-making with increasing importance for the design of environmental policies. The need for such an approximation has been stressed, but documented implementations are rare. We present our experience of developing a science-based dialogue for the Brazilian Forest Code implementation and share the lessons learned. We departed from a mix of participatory methods to conduct six meetings with stakeholders. During the process, we were able to reduce the gap between science and practice, meeting stakeholders’ expectations and increasing the accessibility of scientific information. Avoiding falling back to top-down science and keeping stakeholders’ participation constancy were challenges faced. Despite the project achievements, important scientific outcomes were disregarded by higher instances of decision-making. Thus, although we were able to start the dialogue successfully, we also come across the fact that external political factors impaired its reach. By reporting our experience, we expect to help to establish science-based dialogues applied to environmental policy implementation, narrowing the science-practice gap and contributing to more effective environmental policies.
ISSN:	0972-4923 0975-3133
DOI:	10.4103/cs.cs_20_134