ABSTRACT
Science in global environmental governance refers to the underlying knowledge about environmental problems. The main political controversies for science, however, arise from the legitimacy and authority it has within political debates. For many environmental scholars, scientific debates have to be clearly demarcated from political debates in order to gain a politically neutral understanding of environmental change, and to provide a compelling basis for environmental policy (Pielke 2007). But many other analysts-including both supporters of environmental policy and those resistant to it-argue that science has either been misused by political interests, or cannot escape from political and social influences. Consequently, various analysts argue there is a need to make science more transparent and open to governance. This requirement also applies to the expert groups that produce or summarize research such as epistemic communities or certain boundary organizations.
