Steve Rayner, professor of science in society at the university's Saïd business school, said scientists must stop allowing themselves to be aligned with governments' failure to make decisions. Governments were hiding behind the excuse that "more research is necessary" and scientists should refuse to go along with this until there was action.
"At Johannesburg, scientists may have more impact on policy by declaring the opposite and telling policy makers at the summit that they will not offer new information on the state of the planet until we see some action on what we already know," said Professor Rayner today.
"Politicians representing the world's 'haves' often argue for deferring effective environmental policy-making until better information is available that can guarantee that policies are efficient. I agree that better knowledge is generally a good thing, but we already know enough to start taking decisive steps to protect the planet and address the needs of its poorest citizens."
He added: "Many politicians are susceptible to the myth of the "perfectibility" of science. That is, that we will have a better idea in the future of what needs to be done. There may have been some justification for this thinking at Rio, but progress in science over the past decade has been rapid and wide ranging. Science has already told us a great deal and certainly enough to now act decisively on issues such as climate change."
Professor Rayner is one of the original advocates of what have become known as "Type 2" approaches to environment and development involving local communities and business.
He continues: "Private sector partnerships, local communities and regional and local authorities need to be encouraged to take direct action on a more localised basis. While diplomacy and legislation (the Type 1 approach) provide an important framework, Type 2 measures, which I and a number of colleagues have been advocating since the mid-1980s, are empowering, directly relevant to the individuals concerned and potentially more effective in actually changing behaviour."
