Twelve guidelines for biological sampling in environmental licensing studies

Abstract

Environmental licensing is a decision-making process that requires scientific information and has far-reaching political and economic consequences. Sound science leads to informed decisions; unfocused science leaves an information void that is easily filled by power struggles. In the last few years, Brazil has seen a lively debate between two alternative approaches to the science behind environmental licensing: one centers on detailed methodological prescription with broadly defined goals; the other builds on the precise definition of questions that focus the scientific work and allows case-by-case flexibility in methodological choices. This essay offers twelve guidelines for pursuing the second approach, formulated around the key questions of why, what, and how to sample. These guidelines illustrate how it is possible to set scientific standards of operation without tying the hands of practitioners to omnibus protocols that may serve the purpose of accumulating data but won't necessarily produce knowledge to inform rational licensing decisions. The guidelines are formulated in the context of Brazilian environmental licensing, but they should apply wherever a regulatory agency needs to elicit scientific answers to urgent environmental questions. © 2012 ABECO.