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3 Use-Inspired Science and Communication
Pages 27-47

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From page 27...
... Use-inspired science is especially important in the field of climate variability and change, in which the purpose of research is not only to satisfy curiosity about the operation of Earth, but also to provide a sound foundation for decisions by relevant practitioners (see, e.g., Clark, 2007)
From page 28...
... To make this information useful, managers would need to know how climate variability will affect outcomes of importance to them, such as snow pack, expected water levels at reference locations on the river, and their potential impacts on flooding, water availability, and salmon migrations. If available in time for critical decisions, this knowledge could affect conservation plans, plans for water releases from reservoirs, and coordination among managers.
From page 29...
... . Given the focus of the Sectoral Applications Research Program (SARP)
From page 30...
... Communication Processes As noted in Chapter 2, past research demonstrates the importance of effective two-way communication between the producers and users of climate science for producing information that is accepted as decision relevant and credible by the intended users. Decision support efforts using a one-way information transmission model have been at the root of many instances of elaborate efforts by scientists to characterize risks from various natural and technological hazards that were not credible to users because they addressed the wrong issues, relied on unrealistic assumptions, or produced advice that was impossible to follow (see, e.g., Wynne, 1989; National Research Council, 1996b)
From page 31...
... Is network-produced science integrated into individual and organizational decision routines in different, perhaps more effective, ways than "normal" science? How does the climate science community integrate and learn from interaction with the users and from the context-specific results generated?
From page 32...
... , as participants in other groups, and as citizens. Benefiting from improved climate information requires innovation in information gathering, thinking, and behavior.
From page 33...
... Adaptive organizations vary considerably in the processes they use for learning and for the diffusion of new knowledge throughout the organization. There is a sizable social science literature that offers conceptual models, frameworks, and other tools for characterizing and describing organizational learning processes.
From page 34...
... Understanding the role and impact of complex, multiple, and multilevel organizational fields will be critical to understanding how (and whether) climate science will be integrated into existing decision routines.
From page 35...
... The use of information about climate change and variation in multilevel governance processes presents both a research challenge and an opportunity. Making climate science useful requires negotiating this difficult terrain and continual modification of the form and content of information and the rationale for information adoption.
From page 36...
... Such networks are likely to be particularly important in making climate science useful because good decisions depend on insights from a very broad spectrum of scientific specialties, because many classes of decision makers do not have good sources for scientific information relevant to their decisions, and because networks can begin to establish the interorganizational understandings and norms that facilitate change in a complex, multi-actor system. The multidisciplinary nature of climate science cuts across traditional approaches and also across conventional institutional arrangements for conducting research and for informing policy.
From page 37...
... . This existing generic research suggests a host of questions that are worth exploring in the context of knowledge-action networks for incorporating information about climate variability and change into sectoral decisions.
From page 38...
... . As noted above, NOAA's seasonal forecasts were initially resisted by resource managers because they weren't accurate to the degree the managers desired for informing their decisions -- an instance of the supply of climate science being misaligned with decision makers' demand (e.g., Rayner et al., 2005)
From page 39...
... We recommend that the Sectoral Applications Research Program support research to identify and foster the innovations needed to make information about climate variability and change more usable in specific sectors, including research on the processes that influence success or failure in the creation of knowledge-action networks for making climate information useful for decision making. This research should be the major focus of the Sectoral Applications Research Program support over the next 3-5 years.
From page 40...
... We are recommending that SARP devote all its research resources in the near term to issues of social innovation for the use of climate science in selected sectors and not support other areas of use-inspired social and behavioral science research that are also important to its mission goals.
From page 41...
... In most sectors, making climate science usable will depend on developing knowledge-action networks that link people who have not previously worked together, introducing decision makers to decision-relevant information that they have not previously considered, and encouraging scientists to develop information relevant to pending and upcoming decisions. The Need As the RISA Program's activities demonstrate, it is worth investing in developing knowledge-action networks for decision support at a regional level.
From page 42...
... For example, coastal zone managers are already networked through professional associations, journals, and other dissemination mechanisms. Projects under SARP could tap into such knowledge networks to introduce climate science to coastal decision makers.
From page 43...
... Recommendations The need for social and behavioral science knowledge to support the general mission of NOAA, or even SARP's narrower sectoral mission, is much greater than can be adequately served by current or likely future budgets and other resources. Resource scarcity dictates a focus on three primary types of investments over the next 3-5 years in addition to the use-inspired sectoral social science research projects recommended above: workshops, research on the development of networks, and pilot projects.
From page 44...
... , and national professional associations, linking them and their constituents to good sources of climate-related information. In addition to building on existing networks, SARP should encourage workshop proposals for developing new networks involving types of decision makers not already well networked.
From page 45...
... Of course, the participants in such workshops should be informed in advance that the workshops have research purposes as well as practical ones and should give informed consent to participation in research. Pilot Projects We recommend that the Sectoral Applications Research Program, beginning no earlier than 1 year after funding the first workshop, support one or more pilot projects to create or enhance a knowledge action network for supporting climate-related decisions in a sector defined by resource or decision domain.
From page 46...
... We recommend that SARP not sponsor pilot projects for at least 1 year after funding the initial workshops in order to provide time to build experience and knowledge from the research and workshop activities. We emphasize the need for pilot projects to include a significant research component devoted to improving knowledge of the human dimensions of climate variability and change.
From page 47...
... The proportion of program dollars committed to use-inspired research may change in subsequent years as the portfolio of research, workshops, and pilot projects changes and other sources of support for the needed research are identified.


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