Openness in the Face of Systemic Constraints : On Science, Public Participation and the WesternAustralian Regional Forest Agreement

This book explores the role of science and public participation in an environmental policy-making process in Western Australia. The focus is on the Regional Forest Agreement (RFA), a Federal Government initiative designed to resolve a long-running dispute over native forest use and management. The analysis reveals a systemic failure in the management of the RFA, pointing towards a process and governing structures which constrained opportunities for stakeholder input and science-based decision-making. A range of cultural, socio-political and personality-based issues are shown to have given rise to the precess constraints compounded by a dominant economic rationality subtly driving the systemic closure of both political structures and processes. Based on the research findings, this book outlines the lessons to be learned from the Western Australian experience as they relate to the design of participatory and science-informed policy processes for the future management of natural assets.