Science to policy – reflections on the South African reality
Date
2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Academy of Science of South Africa
Abstract
Research is a key resource in a knowledge economy and governance system. In order to enable
research to
benefit the nation and to contribute to growing the knowledge-based economy (the aims of the Global
Change Grand Challenge, and specifically the Society and Sustainability Research Programme), the
gap between research, knowledge production and policy and management (i.e. the knowing-doing gap1)
needs to be closed, yet closing this gap remains a complex challenge2. This year’s annual SANCOR
(South African Network for Coastal and Oceanic Research) Forum meeting addressed this gap through
consultation with a variety of stakeholders from the coastal and marine science community. Our
brief was to provide for reflection and discussion on aspects of the science–policy–management
interface within South Africa and this commentary provides a summary of the Forum discussions. We
detail some current challenges of integrating coastal and marine science into policy and decision-
making in South Africa, highlight ‘success stories’ and provide some thoughts on maximising overlap
and building a sound science–policy interface. Although couched in the context of marine and
coastal sciences, our findings will resonate with other scientific disciplines. Similarly, the
challenges in and opportunities for creating constructive dialogue for evidence-based
decision-making are not specific to South Africa, so we draw on national, international and
collective experience to provide an avenue for doing so. In this commentary we highlight current
examples of mismatch between science and policy by focusing on barriers resulting from legislation,
politics and a general lack of process for better integration. In particular, we focus on the
complexities of evidence-based decision-making at different scales, and how international
scientific engagement has helped shape policy in South Africa. We finish by providing some
perspectives, directions and examples to help narrow the gap and foster better science–policy
integration into the future.
Description
CITATION: Von Der Heyden, S., et al. 2016. Science to policy – reflections on the South African reality. South African Journal of Science, 112((11/12), Art. #0183, doi:10.17159/sajs.2016/a0183.
The original publication is available at http://sajs.co.za
The original publication is available at http://sajs.co.za
Keywords
Science–policy–management interface, Evidencebased decision-making, Transdisciplinarity
Citation
Von Der Heyden, S., et al. 2016. Science to policy – reflections on the South African reality. South African Journal of Science, 112((11/12), Art. #0183, doi:10.17159/sajs.2016/a0183