ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an analytical framework for the biodiversity problem that places the problem in two different contexts: first, in the context of the evolution of ideas about environmental protection; and second, in the context of public decision-making on environmental problems. It includes a typology of the relationships between science and policy-making. The chapter discusses a model of how an environmental issue emerges and evolves. This model is built on the idea that many environmental issues emerge as the result of the production of an "environmental message", which often originates from scientific research and from scientists. The chapter explains the interactions of science with political institutions and social actors in making environmental policies. Science (and scientists) interacts with politics and public policy in many ways. The Convention on Biological Diversity is an important landmark in the landscape of international environmental policy. Uncertainty is an important feature of biodiversity.
