Co-Producing Policy-Relevant Science and Science-Based Policy: The Case of Regulating Ground-Level Ozone

Abstract

This chapter presents a study examining how science-based policy and policy-relevant science are co-produced while formulating and developing policies for ground-level ozone regulation. The importance of science in regulation of the environment and of political considerations in the expert community is shown by examining changes in scientific understanding of the environmental effects of ground-level ozone. Configuration of the science–policy relationship within the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP), where co-production of science and policy has taken place, is described. The role of monitoring technologies and mapping activities in shaping and understanding the environmental problems, including ground-level ozone, is also discussed. The scientific measurement of the environment provides the basis for effective environmental regulation because a scientifically measured environment is viewed as scientifically valid in the political community.