Environmental issues are in a constant interaction with social, economic,
cultural, administrative and political variables that affect each other in a
number of ways. As a result, environmental problems are complex problems and
their solutions require a holistic approach. In parallel, sustainable
development, as an environmental policy principle and objective promotes
policy integration to deal with complexity. In this context, data, knowledge
and evidence gathering activities play a major role in environmental policy
process, from problem definition to selection of alternatives and policy
implementation. It is impossible to develop a holistic approach and solve
environmental problems without resorting to facts. However, there is not a
straightforward line between the evidence, environmental policies and policy
change. According to interpretative approaches scientific evidence is socially
constructed, and subject to a number of challenges by competing theories and
methods. Policy process is not a gentlemen’s business where scientific
evidence is used to support political arguments and to legitimize a course of
action, rather it is frequently disregarded, side-lined or even discredited if
it challenges established practices and vested interests. However, this paper
does not aim to focus on the social construction of evidence, but to the
establishing a mechanism for the data collection. Public policies involve
actions and inaction of governments and inaction demonstrates the concern of
public authorities’. By focusing on problems in the development of air quality
monitoring systems in Turkey, the paper argues that lack of a sufficient data
gathering system is itself a sign of inaction or non-decision. In this case,
lack of evidence also counts as an instrument of power, because scientific
ambiguity or lack of evidence is used as an instrument of power to preserve
status quo and contributes to sustenance of environmental problems, like air
pollution, with an extra effect on every stage of policy process
