Scott Higgins

Eutrophication at the Science-Policy Interface: Whole-ecosystem science, advocacy, and the challenge of translating knowledge into policy

Thursday, May 28

Despite more than half a century of intensive scientific research, eutrophication remains the most widespread water quality problem affecting lakes globally.  Harmful algal blooms now occur in approximately half of lakes across Asia, Europe and North America with widespread consequences for ecosystem health, drinking water, and human well being.  Managing eutrophication is a quintessential wicked problem: nutrient enrichment arises from multiple interacting drivers, scientific disagreements continue over which nutrients are necessary to manage, endpoints and thresholds vary among systems, stakeholders hold conflicting values and priorities, governance spans jurisdictions, and no single technological solution exists.  

In this joint plenary, we bring together perspectives from whole-ecosystem experimental science and science-based advocacy.  Drawing on long-term whole-lake experiments at the IISD -Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), we summarize what decades of research have conclusively demonstrated about the causes and control of eutrophication, as well as the key scientific uncertainties that remain.  In parallel, we examine how this evidence is translated - and often constrained -within real-world management, policy, and public decision making, drawing on experience from the Lake Winnipeg Foundation.

Together, we explore why robust scientific understanding does not automatically lead to effective action, how scientific uncertainty and disagreements can lead to inaction, and how sustained collaboration among scientists, advocates, communities and decision-makers can help bridge the persistent gap between knowledge and policy.  We conclude by highlighting the shared responsibility of research and advocacy in advancing durable, evidence-based solutions to eutrophication. 

Speaker Bio

Scott Higgins is a Senior Research Scientist at the IISD-Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA), a whole-ecosystem research program based in northwestern Ontario, Canada focused on finding solutions to water-quality problems. His primary research interests focus on algal ecology and the effects of climate change and contaminants on freshwater ecosystems and he has participated in large collaborative research projects on lake eutrophication, climate change, fish productivity, water diversion, and contaminants such as diluted bitumen, antimicrobial agents and microplastics.  A full biography, publication list, and contact information can be found on his IISD webpage.