Institutionalized Knowledge Challenges in Pesticide Governance: The End of Knowledge and Beginning of Values in Governing Globalized Environmental Issues

Abstract

This paper looks at the particular challenges that cross-level interdependence has for the use of knowledge in decision-making for environmental governance. Analytical questions surrounding knowledge generation, use, and flow and the role of institutions in shaping these arise in a multi-level context. By using results from a study on pesticide use in developing countries, some of the particular challenges in relying on scientific knowledge for governance of globalized environmental issues are illustrated. The case involves a situation with significant mismatches between access to and need for knowledge by decision-makers at the different governance levels. The exploration of various strategies to address such mismatches allow discussions not only on the role of knowledge and institutional design but also their limitations and how more inclusive values would serve a system of multilayered governance.