Knowledge uncertainties in environmental conflicts: how the mussel fishery controversy in the Dutch Wadden Sea became depoliticised

J.R. Floor*, C. S. A. (Kris) van Koppen, Jan P. M. van Tatenhove

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

3 Citations (Web of Science)

Abstract

Policy-makers and scientists often expect that controversies in public policy can be solved by gathering more knowledge, even though this linear model of expertise is widely criticised in social studies of science. To shed more light on this expectation, the role of scientific uncertainties in controversies on mussel fishery in the Dutch Wadden Sea (1990–2016) is investigated. The analysis shows that mussel fishery regulation decisions were primarily based on government authority, not on scientific knowledge. Expectations of policy-makers and scientists on conflict resolution by more research were not met, because the knowledge debate was politicised over ambiguous knowledge claims. The controversy was depoliticised by a political covenant between the conflicting parties. The case study confirms that science-based knowledge fails to guide policy-making as expected in the linear model, and demonstrates how science plays important strategic, procedural and instrumental roles in structuring interactions between stakeholders in nature protection conflicts.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1236-1258
Number of pages23
JournalEnvironmental Politics
Volume28
Issue number7
Early online date20 Nov 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Keywords

  • epoliticisation, knowledge expectations, knowledge uncertainties, science-policy interactions, mussel fishery, Wadden Sea
  • mussel fishery
  • Depoliticisation
  • knowledge expectations
  • science-policy interactions
  • Wadden Sea
  • knowledge uncertainties

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Knowledge uncertainties in environmental conflicts: how the mussel fishery controversy in the Dutch Wadden Sea became depoliticised'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this