TY - JOUR

T1 - Better evidence, better decisions, better environment: emergent themes from the first environmental evidence conference.

AU - Cooke, S.J.

AU - Johansson, Sif

AU - Andersson, Karolin

AU - Livoreil, Barbara

AU - Post, Gerald

AU - Richards, Rob

AU - Stewart, Ruth

AU - Pullin, Andrew

PY - 2017/5/31

Y1 - 2017/5/31

N2 - The first international Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (CEE) conference took place in August 2016 at theSwedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm with nearly 100 participants from 14 countries. This conferencereflected and contributed to the growth of a global network of people interested in the production and use ofevidence syntheses in environmental management. The conference also provided an opportunity to identify emergingthemes and reflect on those ideas and perspectives to help direct future activities of the CEE and the broadercommunity. An increasingly engaged community of practice was evident but there is uneven distribution of experience,resources, capacity, and commitment to evidence synthesis in different sectors and regions. There is muchopportunity to bring academics, practitioners, and other partners together which will help to further demonstrateimpact of evidence synthesis activities and enhance relevance. As the discipline evolves there is growing interest inrapid evidence synthesis but the benefits and risks of that approach remain unclear. There was also a recognition thatimprovements in empirical science will enhance the likelihood that more studies can be fully exploited as part ofevidence synthesis. There are opportunities for capacity building, engaging the next generation (e.g., students), andenhancing connections within and beyond the CEE community to advance evidence-based environmental management.It is our desire that this paper will serve as a template for future CEE activities (i.e., where to invest resources) butalso as an invitation to those that were unable to attend to participate in CEE and the evidence-based environmentalmanagement movement in whichever ways resonate with them.

AB - The first international Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (CEE) conference took place in August 2016 at theSwedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm with nearly 100 participants from 14 countries. This conferencereflected and contributed to the growth of a global network of people interested in the production and use ofevidence syntheses in environmental management. The conference also provided an opportunity to identify emergingthemes and reflect on those ideas and perspectives to help direct future activities of the CEE and the broadercommunity. An increasingly engaged community of practice was evident but there is uneven distribution of experience,resources, capacity, and commitment to evidence synthesis in different sectors and regions. There is muchopportunity to bring academics, practitioners, and other partners together which will help to further demonstrateimpact of evidence synthesis activities and enhance relevance. As the discipline evolves there is growing interest inrapid evidence synthesis but the benefits and risks of that approach remain unclear. There was also a recognition thatimprovements in empirical science will enhance the likelihood that more studies can be fully exploited as part ofevidence synthesis. There are opportunities for capacity building, engaging the next generation (e.g., students), andenhancing connections within and beyond the CEE community to advance evidence-based environmental management.It is our desire that this paper will serve as a template for future CEE activities (i.e., where to invest resources) butalso as an invitation to those that were unable to attend to participate in CEE and the evidence-based environmentalmanagement movement in whichever ways resonate with them.

U2 - 10.1186/s13750-017-0092-0

DO - 10.1186/s13750-017-0092-0

M3 - Article

VL - 6

SP - 1

EP - 5

JO - Environmental Evidence

JF - Environmental Evidence

SN - 2047-2382

M1 - 15

ER -