Radioactive Waste Disposal at Sea: Public Ideas ... - IMO
Radioactive Waste Disposal at Sea: Public Ideas ... - IMO
Radioactive Waste Disposal at Sea: Public Ideas ... - IMO
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Transn<strong>at</strong>ional Coalitions 57<br />
about the n<strong>at</strong>ure and scope of the ocean dumping problem, as well as the<br />
costs of specific control str<strong>at</strong>egies, and would consult the ecological epistemic<br />
community for advice. By providing the authorit<strong>at</strong>ive and legitim<strong>at</strong>e<br />
scientific understanding of the ocean dumping problem, the ecological epistemic<br />
community would shape policy as well as institutional and organiz<strong>at</strong>ional<br />
arrangements. The epistemic community would develop a coherent<br />
view and common understanding of this environmental problem through<br />
intern<strong>at</strong>ional scientific conferences as well as other forms of exchange and<br />
communic<strong>at</strong>ion of scientific understanding and knowledge. Common understanding<br />
among the members of the ecological epistemic community would<br />
guarantee th<strong>at</strong> its members in various countries would give consistent, uniform<br />
scientific advice to decision makers. Reflecting the beliefs of the ecological<br />
epistemic community, domestic decision makers would then design<br />
and implement a global policy to protect the oceans against dumping.<br />
These scholars maintain th<strong>at</strong> an epistemic community’s political influence<br />
remains unab<strong>at</strong>ed as long as it can advise policy makers in a consistent<br />
and persuasive way, and as long as its claim to expertise remains unchallenged.<br />
Its political influence might end, however, should new Torrey<br />
Canyon–size oil spills, ozone depletion over Antarctica, Chernobyl nuclear<br />
accidents, or shifts in scientific understanding result in rejection of the paradigm<br />
advanced by the epistemic community (Haas 1990b, p. 353). 58 In<br />
the absence of ecological or environmental crises, or erosion of its authorit<strong>at</strong>ive<br />
claim to policy-relevant knowledge, it thus is expectable th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
global ocean dumping regime, through advice and pressure, would largely<br />
develop consistently with the interests of an epistemic community. But<br />
reflective scholars and epistemic-community theorists downplay the significance<br />
of public opinion and environmental groups in their understanding<br />
of cooper<strong>at</strong>ion on environmental protection.
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