Governing environmental risk, particularly large-scale transboundary risks associated with climate change and pollution, is one of the most pressing problems facing society . This book focuses on a set of key questions relating to environmental regulation: How are activities regulated in a fragmented world - a world of nation states, regulators, domestic and international law and political contests - and one in which a range of actors, such as governments, corporations and NGOs act in order to influence regulations in specific policy areas? How are complex and trans-boundary environmental issues managed? What role does expert knowledge play in regulating this kind of issues? What give rules authority? In short, how do actors try to render an issue governable? Drawing on regulation theory, discourse theory and science and technology studies, and employing original research, the authors analyse the regulation of four kinds of complex and trans-boundary environmental issues: oil protection in the Baltic Sea, mobile phones and radiation protection, climate change adaptation and genetically modified crops. The outcomes include insights for policymakers, regulators and researchers into how dominant frames are constructed, legitimate actors are configured and authority is established. This in turn exposes the conditions for, and possibility of, developing regulation, making authoritative rules and shaping relevant knowledge in order to govern complex environmental risks.

In this text, the difficult relationship between science, society and the environment is explored. Drawing upon sociological studies of scientific knowledge and of the "risk society", the author argues that "sustainable development" will not be possible without attention to questions of citizenship and citizen knowledge. Building upon a critical discussion of the relationship between science and environmental policy-making, he considers the existence of more "contextual" forms of knowledge and understanding. Irwin suggests that both environmental policy and environmental understanding need to be informed by such expertise. Irwin discusses the relationship between scientific understanding and the different ways in which people "make sense" of environmental concerns. In conclusion, the book considers the practical possibilities for sustainable development which emerge as a consequence.

We are all concerned by the environmental threats facing us today. Environmental issues are a major area of concern for policy makers, industrialists and public groups of many different kinds. While science seems central to our understanding of such threats, the statements of scientists are increasingly open to challenge in this area. Meanwhile, citizens may find themselves labelled as `ignorant' in environmental matters. In Citizen Science Alan Irwin provides a much needed route through the fraught relationship between science, the public and the environmental threat.

Misunderstanding Science? offers a challenging new perspective on the public understanding of science. In so doing, it challenges existing ideas of the nature of science and its relationships with society. Its analysis and case presentation are highly relevant to current concerns over the uptake, authority and effectiveness of science as expressed, for example, in areas such as education, medical/health practice, risk and the environment, and technological innovation. Based on several in-depth case studies, and informed theoretically by the sociology of scientific knowledge, the book shows how the public understanding of science raises questions about the epistemic commitments and institutional structures that constitute modern science. These key aspects are usually ignored in standard treatments of the subject. The book suggests that many of the inadequacies in the social integration and support of science might be overcome if modern scientific institutions were more reflexive and open about the implicit normative commitments embedded in scientific cultures.