Co-production of future scenarios of policy action plans in a science-policy-industry interface – The case of microfibre pollution from waste water treatment plants in Norway

Abstract

One of the ambitions of the UN Decade of Ocean Science is stakeholder interaction to co-produce new ideas and solutions for policy action plans to ensure that environmental challenges are mitigated in a timely manner. Regulations around the release of microfibres are largely lacking, and we are at an excellent point of departure to test integrative methods of such co-production. We co-designed conceptual maps and Bayesian Belief Networks with probabilistic future scenarios within both inter- and intra-sectoral workshops with industry and scientific stakeholders to gain comparable results of policy action scenarios for curbing the challenge of microfibre pollution within this context. We found that when scientists worked on this alone, their focus was different than when working together with industry directly. Scientists focused on methods for avoiding release into the environment from a technical vantage point, whereas industry emphasized regulatory requirements needed to avoid ambiguity within the sector.