BSPC President Carola Veit hold a speech at the Baltic Sea Science Congress on 15 June 2017 in Rostock about the role of evidence-based science in decision-making.
During their symposium „Science meets Policy”, the Baltic researchers were primarily concerned with the question to what degree scientific findings can be included in political processes in a more systematic fashion than before.
Considering the background of political decisions becoming more and more complex, as Veit said in her speech, evidence-based science required a central role. This applied in particular on the international level to questions dealing with environmental policy, such as happens in the BSPC. As part of the 26th annual conference of the Baltic Sea Parliamentarians, hosted by the Hamburg Parliament in September, the members would accordingly devote themselves in-depth to dealing with the topic of “Science and Research”.
Carola Veit, though, warned not to bring excessive expectations to the table by noting, “In pluralistic societies, politics means the encounter of diverse interests and the orientation along majorities as part of political decision-making processes, to find compromises.” Maximum demands from science therefore could not always be implemented as that in the political reality, also because they generally are in competition with other recommendations in terms of their contents and financial requirements. She encouraged the scientists nonetheless to continue accompanying the work of the parliamentarians in their countries as she considered this the only way to create the best possible foundation for political decision-making.
The biennial Baltic Sea Science Congress (BSSC) gathers more than 200 leading scientists from the Baltic Sea Region. It was established 20 years ago, joining the research communities of Baltic Marine Biologists, Baltic Marine Geologists and the Conference of Baltic Oceanographers and is, until today, the main international forum addressing a broad interdisciplinary spectrum of Baltic Sea research.
The 11th Baltic Sea Science Congress “Living along gradients: past, present, future was held on June, 12 – 16, 2017 in Rostock, Germany, hosted by the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research and the University of Rostock.