Government decision-makers often struggle with how to make decisions in
the face of scientific uncertainty, especially in the context of
environmental assessments of large-scale resource projects. Public
expectations are high when the protection of the environment is in
question, and the perception of risk is usually fuelled by prevailing
social culture and other values, more than the objective science.1 The
social acceptance of decisions will ultimately be based on how well
government agencies reconcile the public perceptions of risk with the
available science. Published in the
2014 Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada by Thomson Reuters Canada Limited.
Bennett Jones