Chapter Synthesis

Often environmental regulations and the demands of conservation law press scientists to address and answer questions they may consider "unscientific." Likewise, law and policy require an integrated, interdisciplinary approach that conservation biologists may publicly endorse but are privately unprepared to adopt. And environmental problems, especially on a worldwide scale, may require a much greater level of organization and coordination than has historically been characteristic of the independent nature of science and scientists. For example, the U.S. federal government spends about 5 billion dollars per year to support research on global climate change and toxic waste disposal, yet such research has had only a very limited effect on national environmental decisions (Tarlock 1994). And, as conservation biologists Gary Meffe and Stephen Viederman have noted, "We now understand that much of what we do in conservation biology is worthless if it is not translated into effective policy" (Meffe and Viederman 1995).

In the past, much of the management activity associated with conservation was focused on outcomes that were predictable effects of their management actions. Goals such as sustained yield were based on an expectation of certain return. Today, conservationists are less concerned about certainty of return than about managing risk and determining the boundaries of biological uncertainty. Historically, environmental law has favored policies consistent with our past understanding of the rule of law (i.e., the consistent application of fixed rules that will yield a final, single decision that represents an absolute, moral ideal) (Tarlock 1994). As a result, individual environmental laws have tended to be based on individual scientific premises, and have then continued the application of those premises regardless of what new studies uncovered. Today such legal certainties are inconsistent with the state of our knowledge of ecosystems. Conservation biologists' best estimates of genetic diversity, minimum viable populations, and community ordination are also uncertain estimates. Modern conservation law and policy must mature to the point that they can deal effectively with such uncertainty, rather than simply ignore or reject it.

The development of conservation law and policy demonstrates consistently repeated themes. First, in democratic societies, the scrutiny of a free press and the involvement of a well-educated populace enables private organizations and private citizens to make a great deal of difference in how things turn out. Second, at the international level, even failed attempts at international legislation, such as the Rio Summit, may produce positive results, and must continually be pursued toward the eventual goal of a comprehensive and coordinated system of international conservation legislation. Third, paths to programs of lasting effectiveness in conservation are strongly affected by economic incentives and disincentives, as evidenced by the efforts to save dolphins from tuna fishing and sea turtles from shrimp boats.

For conservation biology and conservation biologists, the new millennium offers two concurrent challenges. On one hand, conservation biologists must become increasingly informed and astute in their understanding of conservation law and policy to make their research and management effective in achieving conservation goals. At the same time, conservation biologists must become increasingly sophisticated in learning how to change laws and policies, and formulate new ones, that will make conservation law more consistent with the scientific findings of how populations, communities, and ecosystems really work. Failure on the first front will make conservation biology an interesting but irrelevant discipline. Failure on the second front will lead to irreconcilable conflicts between the scientific and political communities, and the eventual disconnection of conservation science from conservation law and policy.

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