How to balance business and research interests in marine environmental monitoring data was a subject of debate at the 5th International Conference on Ocean Energy held at the World Trade and Convention Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia on 4-6 November 2014. Held for the first time in North America, this conference brought together industry, government, […]
Information Use & Influence
How Do We Improve Communication of Science to the Public? Paul Zehr Has a Suggestion
Most people would agree that good decisions are made when there is evidence to support a course of action. Policy-making is no different. Evidence-base policy-making is held up as the highest standard of decision making – in contrast to ideological or partisan decision-making. To make decisions in an information vacuum can easily be a recipe […]
How Policy and Decision-makers Retrieve and Use Environmental Information
It is well known that many of the world’s environments are being degraded. However, it is less well known that the volume of literature and research generated each year in an attempt to understand environmental degradation is increasing. In short, there is a paradox between our constantly improving knowledge of the environment and its continuously […]
Coastal Zone Canada 2014 Highlighted the Interdisciplinary Nature of Oceans Management
Coastal Zone Canada is an international conference that attracts a variety of scientists, researchers, stakeholders, and professionals who share a common interest: the health and wellbeing of the world’s coastal zones. The 2014 conference held in Halifax, Nova Scotia included keynote speeches, concurrent sessions, and panel discussions that discussed challenges faced by coastal zones. The […]
Vital Global Ocean Reports Must be Noticed to Have Influence
Reports written and published by major ocean organizations, by definition grey literature, may be very influential if given coverage by the press, are noticed by politicians, policy makers and marine resource managers, and offer proposals for positive action. One such example is the recent report by the Global Ocean Commission (GOC) “From Decline to Recovery: […]
Information DOES Matter: Bridging the Gap Between Science and Policy
The value of evidence-based policy making cannot be overstated, according to speakers at the special session “Does Information Matter? A Critical Question for the Future of Coastal Zone Management” at the Coastal Zone Canada Conference 2014. This session was organized by the EIUI team and brought together eight scholars to address questions such as: Where […]
Farley Mowat (1921-2014): A Voice from the North
Last week’s Coastal Zone Canada Conference 2014 drew attention to one of the most pressing issues of our time: the health of the world’s oceans. In May of 2014, the oceans lost a valuable ally with the passing of Farley Mowat, a man who spent much of his prolific writing career raising awareness for environmental […]
Environmental Information: Use and Influence (EIUI) Featured in Dalhousie Faculty of Management Magazine
Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Management’s annual magazine features EIUI in an article entitled “Dams, drugs, dissemination and demographics” that discusses a range of research work pursued in the Faculty’s four schools. Special mention is given to the Environmental Information: Use and Influence research program, which is lauded for its interdisciplinary approach: the EIUI “makes the […]
Successes and Challenges in Evidence-Based Policy-Making in Canada: a Book Review
If you are a scientist, policy-maker, or somewhere in-between, Evidence-Based Policy-Making in Canada is a must-read. As editor Shaun P. Young observes in his introduction, publications discussing evidence-based policy-making (EBPM) generally focus on single policy fields and view policy issues from a single rather than a holistic perspective. This book “represents a humble, initial effort to […]
Climate Change Communication: Sustaining the Planet’s Climate through Public Engagement
Climate change is now unequivocally recognized as a consequence of human actions and choices; therefore, in order to mitigate the impacts of climate change, it is necessary to engage both governments and citizens in discourse about solutions to climate change. The George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication is a unique initiative that conducts […]