Science and environmental sustainability
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Abstract
The past half-century has seen profound changes in environmental research and governance. Knowledge about environmental systems and human–environment interactions has expanded enormously; policies and institutions have proliferated at all levels; the dominant concerns have shifted dramatically in scale and scope; and ‘the environment’ has become one of the most visible arenas in which science interacts with politics and policy-making. It is timely, after a decade of Environmental Research Letters (ERL), to reflect on what we—as scientists, policy-makers and interested citizens—expect of environmental science. If our expectations are not always realistic, we might ask, in addition, what we should expect, if science is to occupy its proper place in policy-making for environmental sustainability.