Workshop report: 'The worlds of ecology and environmental policy: Never the two shall meet?'

The need for better integration of ecological science into policy-making has been highlighted recently by various commentators including scientists (e.g. Dayton 2008) and policy-makers (Banks 2009). There is a breadth of existing knowledge about how to integrate science and policy better (e.g. Briggs 2006; Ross & Dovers 2008), and it is clear that a good starting point is often to bring together people from varied institutions to identify collaboratively the most effective form of managing the complex interrelations between science and politics (Koetz. et al. 2009).