Is a science-policy nexus void leading to restoration failure in global mining?. Issue 72 (June 2017) - Stevens, Jason
Highlights: The increasing legacy footprints of resource development are placing extreme pressures on biodiversity. " Beyond Compliance " resource companies are driving policy development through visionary investment in scientific research and have achieved restoration outcomes well beyond regulatory compliance levels. Establishing contemporary environmental restoration policy in complex systems will require policy makers to understand evolving scientific principles and directly engage with scientific providers. Abstract: The assumption underpinning the US$958 billion global resource sector is continued access to deposits of which an increasing number are targeting pristine, often biodiverse regions of the planet. Regulation of resource access, through leading policy frameworks, is currently based on the expectation that the resource sector has capacity to restore the system to pre-disturbance biodiversity levels despite knowledge voids for most ecosystems. Failure to arrest biodiversity losses is estimated to result in annual economic losses of US$14 trillion by 2050 (CBD, 2014 ). Here we highlight how the science-policy nexus is currently failing global restoration yet provides the most effective mechanism to overcome capacity limitations and drive scientific innovation to deliver evidence-based decision-making.