ex-staff and students invited to return for silwood diamond seminar

Ex-CPB staff and students are being invited to join us for a lecture by Professor Sir John Lawton CBE FRS, "Ecology, Politics and Policy" as part of the Silwood Diamond Seminar Series.

Ex-CPB staff and students are being invited to join us on Wednesday 27th June 2007 for a lecture by Professor Sir John Lawton CBE FRS entitled "Ecology, Politics and Policy", as part of the Silwood Diamond Seminar Series. If you would like to join us please contact Sarah Snellin to be added to the mailing list.

"The British Ecological Society aims to promote the science of ecology through research and the use of such research to educate the public and influence policy decisions which involve ecological matters." So goes the Society's statement in its annual accounts.  How successful have ecologists been in influencing UK and EU environmental policy? Many scientists hold to the 'deficit model' of turning science into policy, the view that if only politicians are told what the science reveals, 'correct' policies will automatically follow.  Nothing could be further from the truth. Politicians have all kinds of reasons, some valid, some less valid, not to adopt what often seem to us to be common sense policies to protect the environment. This lecture will explore the successes and failures of ecologists to influence UK and European environmental policy, and review the extensive literature (largely ignored by scientists) on the sociology of evidence-based policy making."