Managing uncertainty in environmental decision-making: The risky business of establishing a relationship between science and law

This thesis focuses on the developing interrelationship between science, law and risk in the context of environmental decision-making in Canada, and the resultant climate of regulatory uncertainty.; The primary presumptions are that: (a) the dynamics of the existing relationship between the legal and scientific communities in the context of legal environmental decision-making institutions and processes have created problems in Canadian environmental decision-making institutions and processes; (b) the problems arising create a latent but very significant internal or systemic uncertainty with respect to the decisions which may be produced by the legal system in addressing a environmental issues; (c) the nature and sources of a number of these problems can be identified by means of empirical research and scholarly inquiry; and (d) viable solutions to a number of these problems can be proposed which should enable Canadian legal environmental decision-making institutions and processes to more effectively carry out their responsibilities and reduce the level of internal or systemic uncertainty.; To evaluate these presumptions the thesis undertakes the following: (a) An overview of the use of scientific information in legal environmental decision-making institutions and processes in Canada for the purpose of establishing the context within which these legal and scientific issues arise. (b) An examination of the experience based observations of the author and advisory team, and in the current legal and scientific literature which addresses problems arising in the use of scientific and technical evidence in environmental decision-making. (c) Provides original empirical research for determining the validity of the problems identified by the experience based observations of the author and advisory team and as identified in the legal and scientific literature. (d) Selects, analyses and offers solutions to a series of three major problem areas identified by the experience based observations of the author and advisory team, the legal and scientific literature and the original empirical research. (e) Offers some overall conclusions which suggest that these problems may be creating latent but very significant internal or systemic uncertainty with respect to the decisions which may be produced by the legal system in addressing any given issue, and that any solutions require interdisciplinary understanding and cooperation between the legal and scientific communities.