More than just talk: Connecting science and decision making

The movement toward integrating science into decisionmaking processes has its origins in several arenas: environmental regulations initiated in the 1970s that encourage participation from the public and other agencies on proposed federal projects; integrated assessments associated with the U.S. Global Climate Change Research Program; the U.S. Congress's demand for greater accountability in terms of science budgets that support "useful" science; and a general recognition that the more we know, the more we are daunted by the complexity in natural and social systems.