ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the challenge through a case study of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which illustrates how developing a mutually beneficial relationship between science and policy is easier said than done. It looks at how knowledge and institutions interact and at the evolution of efforts to institutionalize scientific advice into multilateral environmental agreements and focuses on these efforts in the UNCCD. The chapter deals with lessons learned for operationalizing international organizations as both venues for and agents of knowledge diffusion. Several studies make clear that scientific knowledge is unlikely to be used unless the science is seen as credible, legitimate, and salient. In other words, for scientific knowledge to be seen as legitimate by policymakers it must not come from just one institutional source or it is likely to be perceived as politically biased. Numerous challenges face those involved in designing scientific advisory bodies to provide the scientific knowledge that policymakers need, understand, and trust.
