Event Title

Conference on China and Global Climate Change : Reconciling International Fairness and Protection of the Atmospheric Commons

Location

AM310, Lingnan University

Start Date

19-6-2009 11:00 AM

End Date

19-6-2009 12:30 PM

Language

English

Description

As science increasingly plays a vital role in global environmental governance, localness has become the focus in scientific interpretation of nature in terms of policy legitimacy and social communication. However, localness would not germinate until the issue of global change is linked locally, a social construction process which shapes the way of interpreting nature/society interaction and affects local ecological cognition. Localness thus indicates not only legitimacy but also an imperative for responsive actions in a society. It might be argued that although political consideration, with special respect to its stance in international negotiation, determines the extent to which national policy complies with environmental orders set by global regimes, local relevance established in domestic knowledge communication can facilitate policy adjustment. It is therefore crucial for further understanding the emerging and absence of the issues evolved in research agendas. This paper focuses on global warming issues in China and Taiwan for the purpose of mutual reference, and analyzes how ecological localness evolved in the problematization of climate science. Co-word analysis is employed to depict and evaluate the issue structure of the scientific domains and to highlight the relevant local issues which might be taken up by the local scientific community in order to fulfill its accountability as regards place-based communication.

Document Type

Presentation

Recommended Citation

Chen, S.-J. (2009). Ecological localness and legitimacy of science policy: Mapping climate issue in research over China and Taiwan. In China and global climate change: Proceedings of the conference held at Lingnan University, Hong Kong, 18-19 June 2009 (pp. 485-501). Centre for Asian Pacific Studies and the Environmental Studies Programme, Lingnan University, Hong Kong.

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Jun 19th, 11:00 AM Jun 19th, 12:30 PM

Ecological localness and legitimacy of science policy : mapping climate issue in research over China and Taiwan

AM310, Lingnan University

As science increasingly plays a vital role in global environmental governance, localness has become the focus in scientific interpretation of nature in terms of policy legitimacy and social communication. However, localness would not germinate until the issue of global change is linked locally, a social construction process which shapes the way of interpreting nature/society interaction and affects local ecological cognition. Localness thus indicates not only legitimacy but also an imperative for responsive actions in a society. It might be argued that although political consideration, with special respect to its stance in international negotiation, determines the extent to which national policy complies with environmental orders set by global regimes, local relevance established in domestic knowledge communication can facilitate policy adjustment. It is therefore crucial for further understanding the emerging and absence of the issues evolved in research agendas. This paper focuses on global warming issues in China and Taiwan for the purpose of mutual reference, and analyzes how ecological localness evolved in the problematization of climate science. Co-word analysis is employed to depict and evaluate the issue structure of the scientific domains and to highlight the relevant local issues which might be taken up by the local scientific community in order to fulfill its accountability as regards place-based communication.