THE SCIENCE-POLICY INTERFACE AND EVIDENCE-BASED POLICYMAKING IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY: Promises and Pitfalls

This chapter addresses the promises and pitfalls in the environmental science-policy interface and evidence-based policymaking literature. First, the barriers and drivers of evidence-based policymaking in the environmental field is reviewed. Second, bounded rationality often leads policymakers to overlook critical evidence relevant to policy problems. To overcome this impasse, policy practitioners and scientists need to pay particular attention to the policymaking process and the contributions of policy theory. A third promising development is the role of causal mechanisms in enhancing the barriers/drivers and the policy theory approaches. Finally, the rise of environmentally based policy innovation labs in facilitating evidence-based policymaking is discussed.