Research and Networks for Decision Support in the NOAA Sectoral Applications Research Program (2008) / Chapter Skim
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2 Climate Forecasts as Innovations and the Concept of Decision Support
2 Climate Forecasts as Innovations and the Concept of Decision Support
Pages 17-26
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From page 17... ...
."1 The capacity of NOAA and SARP to meet this objective depends on the adequacy of its science, including the full representation and utilization of social science (Anderson et al., 2003) .2 In this chapter we first make explicit an important aspect of climate information that often goes unaddressed: that useful climate information is a type of innovation that must pass through a process of adoption by individuals and organizations that can be slow and difficult.
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From page 18... ...
for which they improve hydrological forecasts" relative to forecasts that do not use the climate information (Wood et al., 2005)
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From page 19... ...
In addition, the usefulness of climate information depends on the decision-making contexts in which it is used. We discuss this issue further below, in the context of multilevel, multi-actor governance.
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From page 20... ...
. It is worth emphasizing that credibility of the information to scientists, which is the focus of major efforts to improve the skill of climate forecasts and related decision support products, does not necessarily confer credibility with potential users.
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From page 21... ...
Thought about in another way, getting climate information used, and used appropriately, depends on transcending boundaries in knowledge-action systems (Gieryn, 1995; Guston, 2001; Jasanoff, 1987) , such as between scientific and policy communities, between disciplines, between organizations and jurisdictions, and so forth.
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From page 22... ...
This view presumes that climate scientists know which products will be useful to which decision makers and that the potential users will make appropriate use of decision-relevant information once it is made available to them. Adherents of this view typically emphasize the importance of developing what are called "decision support tools," such as models, maps, and other technical products intended to be relevant to certain classes of decisions.
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From page 23... ...
It may also result in decision-relevant information that would not otherwise have been produced because scientists may not have understood completely what kinds of information would be most useful to the target decision makers. In the broader definition of decision support, the central issue is not the development of new tools or other products, but of social systems or networks that get decision-relevant climate information produced and used.
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From page 24... ...
Science-driven climate forecasting efforts, in particular, have been criticized as inaccessible and unhelpful to their potential beneficiaries, especially highly vulnerable populations, and as drains on resources that could be applied to more effective ways to reduce climate vulnerability (Lemos and Dilling, 2007)
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From page 25... ...
For example, the flood hazard analysis module uses such characteristics as frequency, discharge, and ground elevation to estimate flood depth, flood elevation, and flow velocity and thereby calculate estimates of physical damage and economic loss from a flood event. Many decision makers for whose benefit the HAZUS model was developed have com
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From page 26... ...
2 DECISION SUPPORT IN THE NOAA SARP plained that the model demands too much detailed data -- with significant up-front investment of time and financial resources -- to get useful output. For example, the state of Hawaii's initial investment of $8 million to develop data for the seismic model has yielded considerable dividends, but the high cost may not be bearable by many other users.
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