Research, Monitoring, Assessment and Policy: All Links Must be Strong Thomas Rosswall

1. Research, Monitoring, Assessment and Policy: All Links Must be Strong Thomas Rosswall Presentation to the UNESCO/ICSU/TWAS WCS Follow-up Symposium 4 March 2005 UNESCO-ICSU-TWAS WCS Follow-up Symposium

2. Science for Policy • Policy decisions must be based on best available knowledge • Scientific knowledge is important, but traditional knowledge must increasingly be acknowledged • Scientific agendas should be developed through participatory approaches UNESCO-ICSU-TWAS WCS Follow-up Symposium

3. Science for Policy (II) • Scientific research is necessary, but not sufficient for policy development • Monitoring is necessary for both science and policy • Assessments have played increasingly important roles to link science to policy • Policy development slowly involves civil society and the private sector UNESCO-ICSU-TWAS WCS Follow-up Symposium

4. Monitoring • Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) adopted by the 3rd Earth Observation Summit • UN agencies and ICSU currently sponsor GCOS, GOOS, and GTOS • Importance of also focussing on socio-economic data • Quality control, data centres (WDCs, etc.) and open access UNESCO-ICSU-TWAS WCS Follow-up Symposium

5. Assessments • Often initiated from international research programmes and summary of knowledge (e.g., SCOPE) • Intergov. Panel on Climate Change • International Arctic Climate Assessment • Millennium Ecosystem Assessment • International Assessment of Agricultural Research and Technology for Development UNESCO-ICSU-TWAS WCS Follow-up Symposium

6. Assessments (II) • Governments and other stakeholders cannot see the forest for all the trees • Transparency and quality of peer review is paramount • There is assessment fatigue in the science community • There is a need to balance legitimate concerns of governments to own the process with necessity of multi-stakeholder involvement (hybrid model) UNESCO-ICSU-TWAS WCS Follow-up Symposium

7. Science for Policy • Need for internationally planned and coordinated research programmes • The scientific and technical communities must underpin development of global observing systems • Research and monitoring provides the basis for assessments • The S&T community must be involved in major policy fora (e.g., WSSD, WSIS) UNESCO-ICSU-TWAS WCS Follow-up Symposium

8. Scientists for Policy • What is the division of responsibility between governmental (UNESCO, UNEP, etc.) and NGOs (ICSU. TWAS, etc.) in relations to:- International Research Programmes- Monitoring Systems- Assessments- Policy fora (e.g, WSSD, WSIS)? UNESCO-ICSU-TWAS WCS Follow-up Symposium

9. All links must be strong • Better collaboration UNESCO-ICSU for internationally planned and coordinated research • Ensure proper involvement of the science community in the design and development of GEOSS through ICSU an others • Strengthen the science base of UNEP as a basis for assessments • Better ICSU-TWAS-UNESCO coordination in preparation for policy fora UNESCO-ICSU-TWAS WCS Follow-up Symposium

10. WWW.ICSU.org UNESCO-ICSU-TWAS WCS Follow-up Symposium