SYMP 3-2
Stirring the pot: Using scientific analysis to stimulate action on policy
Environmental and water management problems have a tendency to become entrenched. When different agencies and stakeholders come to hold static positions, they sometimes preclude change from the status quo, even if the status quo is deteriorating. Entrenched positions also often preclude more serious and flexible strategic discussions for addressing important long-term environmental deterioration. This presentation will examine some ways that academic researchers at UC Davis have become involved in management and policy for aquatic ecosystems in California in the last decade or so.
Results/Conclusions
This sustained engagement has been effective in informing policy-making and, coming from an independent academic group, has sometimes allowed some emergence from entrenchment. Lessons for success include the value of: 1) sustained and persistent engagement, 2) scientific and analytical basis for engagement, and 3) independence of involvement (engaging, but not aligning with, stakeholders). The UC Davis effort has been especially aided by the collaboration of similarly-minded academics from a wide range of disciplines, allowing much broader and more integrated forms of engagement and communication.