The fragmented jurisdictions among U.S. Federal agencies charged with environmental stewardship compound difficulties in coordinating environmental research and in communicating scientific results to decisionmakers and the public. Certain, relatively minor, changes in governmental institutions could significantly improve efficiency and communication among scientists and between scientists and decisionmakers.

1. Synthesis
Science needs to be synthesized and translated for policy makers, in order to help them make decisions in the face of conflicting or incomplete scientific information.

2. Education
Scientists and policymakers need to be educated broadly and must understand each other’s disciplines and perspectives.

3. Coordination
The coordination of scientific research needs to be improved so that it is appropriate, timely, and relevant to the policy being developed.

4. Relevance
Research needs to meet the needs of decisionmakers. There should be periodic scientific analysis of the effectiveness of policy actions in reaching stated goals.

5. Infrastructure
The infrastructure for environmental research should be strengthened. New entities that will focus specifically on science for environmental decisionmaking need to be created.

SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The government should develop institutions and structures to:

• help policymakers and scientists to interact
• help scientists to anticipate the needs of agency decisionmakers
• identify and analyze short-term and long-term information needs.

2. Federal science and resource management agencies need “policy centers” that will:

• assess the policy implications of the science
• conduct peer review of proposed policies
• conduct post-implementation evaluation of policies. The Centers should include environmental, economic, and social information and expertise, and involve scientists from outside the agency.

3. Congress should establish a Joint Committee on the Environment (analogous to the Joint Economic Committee).

4. Scientists need training in environmental policy, and policymakers need training in understanding science. The President should require all appointees to attend science workshops.

5. The government should have formal processes in place through which to develop consensus on policy recommendations based on the current state of knowledge (modeled on the National Institutes of Health consensus panel process). This could possibly be one function of a resurrected Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), which is also recommended.

6. Congress should resurrect the Office of Technology Assessment.

7. Congress should create a Bureau of Environmental Statistics (analogous to the Bureau of Labor Statistics).

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