Role of Science for Conservation—A Personal Reflection

Abstract

The opinion article presented here argues that good science may contribute to a solid technical basis for management and conservation, although scientists are increasingly being criticized for not providing the needed facts. However, since management and conservation is a societal activity done by people for people, which happens outside the scientific domain of convergent problem solving, political and sectorial interest are often far more decisive for management outcomes than is the technical basis these decisions were supposedly based upon. This field of conflict is exemplified with the Galapagos archipelago.