title: Knowledge systems for sustainable development.
abstract: The challenge of meeting human development needs while protecting the earth's life support systems confronts scientists, technologists, policy makers, and communities from local to global levels. Many believe that science and technology (S&T) must play a more central role in sustainable development, yet little systematic scholarship exists on how to create institutions that effectively harness S&T for sustainability. This study suggests that efforts to mobilize S&T for sustainability are more likely to be effective when they manage boundaries between knowledge and action in ways that simultaneously enhance the salience, credibility, and legitimacy of the information they produce. Effective systems apply a variety of institutional mechanisms that facilitate communication, translation and mediation across boundaries.
authors.affiliation: John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. david_cash@harvard.edu
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Cash
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Alcock
authors.forename: Nancy M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Dickson
authors.forename: Noelle
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Eckley
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Guston
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jäger
authors.forename: Ronald B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Mitchell
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control; D000818:Animals; D003142:Communication; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003657:Decision Making; D005398:Fisheries; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D007391:International Cooperation; D019359:Knowledge; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D011640:Public Policy; D012106:Research; D018581:Technology Transfer; D014881:Water Supply; D014887:Weather