This takes the wrong lesson from the CBD experience, I think. If the fundamental reason that science has played a weak role in helping improve the effectiveness of the CBD is that the constellation of political interests has been inauspicious, then a fundamental component of any realistic strategy has to be seeking ways around that problem. Moreover, it is not clear that the missing ingredient getting in the way of effective biodiversity protection is an action plan. The 1992 Global Biodiversity Strategy, prepared by the World Resources Institute, World Conservation Union, and United Nations Environment Program, remains an innovative, well-crafted blueprint. It might be more productive to seek other institutional fora within which to pursue effective action on behalf of biodiversity protection.
Science is supposed to help make politics more orderly, more collaborative, and more rational.
Let's hope he is right. But just in case he is not, it would be wise to experiment with alterna tive institutional forms where conditions are ripe. Because the management of environmental resources is at base a political task, the question of what role science plays in any particular issue area will always depend heavily on the nature of the political interests in that issue.