Provides an overview of the important role that environmental experts play at the science-policy interface, and the complex challenges they face.

Esther Turnhout is a Professor at the Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group of Wageningen Universiteit, The Netherlands. Her research program, 'The Politics of Environmental Knowledge', includes research into the different roles experts play at the science-policy interface, the political implications of policy-relevant environmental knowledge and the interaction between science, society and citizens.

List of contributors; Preface; List of abbreviations; 1. Introduction: the plight of the environmental scientist Willem Halffman, Esther Turnhout and Willemijn Tuinstra; 2. What is science? (And why does this matter?) Willem Halffman; 3. Frames: beyond facts versus values Willem Halffman; Case A. Framing climate change Mike Hulme; 4. Science, politics and the public in knowledge controversies Esther Turnhout and Thomas Gieryn; Case B. What does 'climategate' tell us about public knowledge controversies? Silke Beck; Case C. Whose deficit anyway? Institutional misunderstanding of fracking sceptical publics Laurence Williams and Phil Macnaghten; 5. The limits to knowledge Willemijn Tuinstra, Ad Ragas and Willem Halffman; Case D. Angry bulbs Ad Ragas and Marga Jacobs; 6. Usable knowledge: science, policy and society Willemijn Tuinstra, Willem Halffman and Esther Turnhout; Case E. Expertise for European fisheries policy Willem Halffman and Martin Pastoors; 7. Interdisciplinarity and the challenge of knowledge integration Esther Turnhout; Case F. Knowledge integration in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Clark Miller; Case G. Integrated assessment for long-range transboundary air pollution Willemijn Tuinstra; 8. Lay expertise Esther Turnhout and Katja Neves; Case H. Lay expertise and botanical science: a case of dynamic interdependencies in biodiversity conservation Katja Neves; Case I. The Loweswater Care Project Claire Waterton; 9. Environmental Experts at the science-policy-society interface Esther Turnhout; Case J. Group Think and whistle blowers in CO2 capture and storage Heleen de Coninck; 10. Environmental knowledge in democracy Esther Turnhout, Willem Halffman and Willemijn Tuinstra; 11. Conclusion: science, reason and the environment Willem Halffman, Willemijn Tuinstra and Esther Turnhout; Inde