Effectively communicating the multi-scale effects of climate change to improve natural resource adaptation in the U.S. northern Rockies

Mon, 02 Dec 2013 19:00:00 -0500

Discovery: The interdisciplinary mixed-methods workshops conducted by the Northern Rockies Research Team, and described in this Highlight, represent a novel approach to understanding and effectively communicating climate change science. Developing an integrated theoretical and methodological framework allowed the research team to understand the cognitive and organizational factors that underlie the use of climate change science in land management decisions. This achievement advances the frontiers of knowledge in climate change communication research, and emphasizes collaborative opportunities and potential benefits related to understanding and effectively communicating the salience of this now universal issue. Furthermore, the research process, methods, and findings lend themselves well to future longitudinal research possibilities and broad applications. Findings from the team’s work will advance understanding of more effective ways to communicate increasingly complex climate science such that it can reach people making on-the-ground management decisions. The team’s detailed quantitative and qualitative assessment of the workshops highlights specific recommendations about the scales and type of climate change science that are most salient to land managers in the Rocky Mountain west. Other groups or individuals seeking to bridge the research-management boundary and more effectively communicate information needed for climate change adaptation on public lands may implement these findings. Secondary Goal: Learning. The opportunity for these graduate students to conduct research and work in an interdisciplinary setting involving very diverse stakeholders allowed personal and professional development and problem solving that would not have been possible in a traditional disciplinary approach to graduate education. The gains in scientific literacy across multiple and integrated disciplines has provided the students and faculty with a foundation from which to better address the issue of climate change at local, regional, and global scales. The research team is currently working towards two refereed journal publications with plans for more in the future – and their work has been presented at over half a dozen professional conferences to date. The work of the IGERT students involved in this project should have a broad and lasting impact in the realm of climate change science and communication, while the public outreach nature of the workshops provided broad exposure of salient and current science to diverse audiences. Learning was achieved at a broader level within the participants of the climate change workshops. Advancing the scientific and climate change literacy of public and private land managers was another objective of this project. Many land managers, though very experienced in natural resource sciences, have received little to no education specific to climate science within their background. These workshops were designed to get audience members of all backgrounds up-to-speed on the science behind the issues, and provided an interactive chance for key stakeholders of the northern Rockies region to ask questions and be provided with detailed answers. Small group discussions within the workshops allowed for peer-to-peer information sharing and education, with many innovative ideas for climate change adaption being fostered and recorded through the process. These and other findings are currently being synthesized by the research team for dissemination to, and education of, the larger land management community of the western U.S.