The construction of biodiversity as a political and scientific problem

Abstract

Drawing on an on-going survey, we examine the construction of biodiversity as a public problem, in the fields of both science and policy and, more precisely, as an interface problem between science and policy. In the first part, we review the process, from the invention of the term biodiversity in the mid 1980s to the very recent decision (June 2010) to create a structure for global governance of biodiversity, the International Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). We suggest dividing this process into three stages and highlight the role of scientists in the first. The second part deals with the relations between researcher participation in defining biodiversity as a public problem and the transformations of their professional practices and identities. We show that the development of biodiversity studies has progressed in step with the modernisation of the natural sciences, an increase in warnings on an environmental crisis and increasing relations between academia and the economic and financial world.