Bridging the Gap

Successful environmental policies need to be underpinned by relevant and reliable information. There is often a divergence, however, between the information available and that needed for sound policymaking - this is the focus of the Bridging the Gap series of conferences.

In May 2008, the next conference in the series took place in Portorož, Slovenia hosted by The Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia. It was titled "Bridging the Gap: Responding to Environmental Change – From Words to Deeds" and further information is available from the conference website ( http://www.bridgingthegap.si).

Dublin, 2004

In April 2004, some 350 delegates from 37 countries met in Dublin for ‘Bridging the Gap: Information for Action’, a conference to mobilise knowledge for a better environment. The conference, a key event during Ireland’s EU Presidency, was co-hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency of Ireland and the European Environment Agency; it built on progress made at earlier related events in London (1998) and Stockholm (2001).

It provided the opportunity to review progress to date, and to identify those areas still requiring work to ‘bridge the gap’ between, on one hand, monitoring, reporting and research, and, on the other hand, sound and effective policymaking for environmental protection and more sustainable development.

The conference combined 65 presentations over a three-day period.

Day 1: Wednesday 28th April began with Changing the World: what moves us to action? Keynote speakers shared examples from their own experience of instances of information being used in such a way as to promote effective policy actions, ultimately making for a better environment. In the afternoon the conference focus moved to a more in-depth consideration of areas that the Bridging the Gap process aims to tackle: monitoring, reporting and research, and how these impact on the relationship between the science and policy processes. The session was called Taking stock and charting progress.

Day 2: Thursday 29th April was titled Framing Knowledge: Tracking Progress and Tools for Change. Five parallel sessions examined what has worked well to date in bridging the gap, what has not worked well, and the current state of the communications interface between scientists and policymakers and the public. The sessions also considered the action gap. The five sessions were:

Session 1 : Environment and human health;

Session 2 : Climate change : managing impacts and communicating issues;

Session 3 : Impact assessment : the environmental dimension;

Session 4 : Biodiversity : policies, research and information for action;

Session 5 : Environmental information needs 2010 and beyond.

Day 3: Friday 30th April began with presentations from each of the previous day’s rapporteurs, and reflections on this by DG Environment, DG Research and the European Environment Agency (EEA). Following this, the theme Looking forward to the future: civic involvement and fruitful co-operation between scientists, policymakers and politicians for a better environment was discussed by a number of keynote speakers. Finally, the Director General of the EPA delivered the Chairperson’s Conclusions.