Science is widely regarded as being necessary for effective international environmental decision-making and risk assessment processes. However, it is equally well recognized that uncertainties or the complexity of phenomena under study mean that science may only offer partial knowledge for environmental problems in many circumstances. ‘Democratization’ of science is often proposed as a solution to this dilemma. This may involve incorporating a wider spectrum of expert views and public inputs in risk assessments of new technologies, public participation in science through so-called ‘citizen science’ initiatives or the application of the precautionary principle. This reply reviews these approaches and contrasts them with another tantalizing possibility offered by Anna-Maria Hubert’s article; a human rights-based approach drawing on the ‘oft-neglected’ right to science. It assesses the extent to which a rights-based approach, utilizing the right to science, offers a way to bridge the gap between science and democracy in contested international environmental legal decision-making processes. While it concludes that there are important potential benefits to the application of the right to science in international environmental law, it is far from clear that it provides a panacea given the limitations on the right expressed in the international human rights instruments in which it is found, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Instead, the right to science can be seen as placing another thumb on the scales – alongside the precautionary and participatory approaches – in favour of enabling broader, more democratically accountable decision-making in cases of uncertain science and contested environmental risks.

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国际环境法中科学与政策界面民主化的“权利”方式？对安娜-玛丽亚·休伯特的回复

科学被广泛认为是有效的国际环境决策和风险评估过程所必需的。然而，同样公认的是，所研究现象的不确定性或复杂性意味着，在许多情况下，科学可能只能提供有关环境问题的部分知识。科学的“民主化”经常被提议作为解决这一困境的方法。这可能涉及在新技术的风险评估中纳入更广泛的专家意见和公众意见，通过所谓的“公民科学”举措或预防原则的应用公众参与科学。这篇回复回顾了这些方法，并将它们与 Anna-Maria Hubert 的文章提供的另一种诱人的可能性进行了对比；一种基于人权的方法，利用“经常被忽视”的科学权利。它评估了基于权利的方法在多大程度上利用科学权在有争议的国际环境法律决策过程中提供了一种弥合科学与民主之间差距的方法。虽然它的结论是科学权在国际环境法中的应用具有重要的潜在利益，但鉴于在其中发现科学权的国际人权文书中表达的权利的限制，它是否提供灵丹妙药还远未明确，例如《经济、社会和文化权利国际公约》。取而代之的是，科学权可以被视为在尺度上放置另一个拇指——与预防性和参与性方法一起——有利于促进更广泛的、