Ignorance, uncertainty and ecology: key themes

This book explores the relationship between science and policy. The particular emphasis is on the ecological sciences, and on the policy imperatives associated with sustainability. After the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED 1987) and 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and its outcomes (United Nations 1992), the world has struggled to implement the research and policy agenda of sustainability. This agenda integrates the traditional environmental issues of resource degradation and depletion, biodiversity, pollution and wastes with issues of security, economic development, poverty, and fairness to future generations.