By allowing for the risk of technical failure and emphasising knowledge gaps, is there a risk that INFFER will steer environmental managers away from innovative projects?
The question implies that innovative projects are likely to have higher risks of technical failure. On the other hand, one would hope that they also have benefits in other areas (e.g. higher likely adoption by landholders, or greater expected impact). The overall assessment of a project involves consideration of all the relevant factors. Thus, even if an innovative project is judged to have a relatively high risk of technical failure, this can be offset by other benefits. If other offsetting benefits are not expected, then of course the project would not be assessed favourably, but obviously that is appropriate. It would not be sensible to fund a project with higher risks unless there were also grounds to expect that it could have higher benefits. This is basic risk management. Looking at the risk issue in a different way, imagine that you must choose one out of two projects that are identical in every respect except that one has a higher risk of technical failure than the other. Clear
