Adversaries and science: Environmental planning and the social construction of science and spatial information in British Columbia's Central Coast

Science and spatial information are essential to achieving sustainable land use plans, but adversarial science can increase conflict. This thesis combines environmental planning, GIs, and philosophy of science to investigate such situations. B.C.'s Central Coast Land and Resource Management Planning process has taken place amidst market campaigns, scientific disputes, and conflicting social values relating to conservation of the world's largest remaining temperate rainforest. An analysis of policy debates over grizzly bear management and protected area network design reveal how adversarial science fashioned the terms of the debate, as well as the means for compromise. The establishment of an independent information team played a key role in the emergence of consensus recommendations in 2004. While this team achieved only limited success in providing clear scientific direction, it served effectively as a dispute resolution strategy by establishing a separate process where the social construction of science could be acknowledged and engaged.