Stakeholder engagement with environmental decision support systems: The perspective of end users

Abstract

Environmental decision support systems (EDSS) are designed to assist natural resource managers and stakeholders to assess problems and select options for change. EDSS that combine community engagement in developing future scenarios with computer‐based land use planning and modelling tools are widely used internationally. However, these EDSS are often not used after the research and development phase. To best understand why the EDSS are not being used in the long term, the end users of the EDSS should be consulted—a perspective that is lacking in the literature. The research reported here presents the perspectives of stakeholders involved in a community climate change adaptation project in western Canada. Evidence from the community suggests that this project was successful in instigating change. However, the EDSS was not used after the project's end. Our findings indicate that, from the end users’ perspective, the project could have had much greater and sustained success had there been ongoing engagement and communication with them, particularly in the form of continued support for the use of EDSS after the development project.

End‐user involvement to improve predictions and management of populations with complex dynamics and multiple drivers

“…This can be achieved through an integrated approach in which scientists and stakeholders collaborate in the process of deciding on objectives, data, models, and analyses (Nichols et al 2007, Cook et al 2014 a , Parrott 2017) as well as identifying forthcoming problems, opportunities, and surprises (Sutherland et al 2014). Such participatory or collaborative modeling approaches that involve stakeholders have been forwarded as a way of ensuring direct relevance and uptake of modeling outcomes by end users (Parrott 2017, Reiter et al 2018, Reiter et al 2019). This involves all aspects of the research process from simple information and data sharing to development of model structure or interpretation of its output (Parrott 2017, Reiter et al 2018, Reiter et al 2019).…”

“…Such participatory or collaborative modeling approaches that involve stakeholders have been forwarded as a way of ensuring direct relevance and uptake of modeling outcomes by end users (Parrott 2017, Reiter et al 2018, Reiter et al 2019). This involves all aspects of the research process from simple information and data sharing to development of model structure or interpretation of its output (Parrott 2017, Reiter et al 2018, Reiter et al 2019).…”

“…Different tools and approaches exist to facilitate model use by management (Gregory et al 2012, Scheele et al 2018, Schwartz et al 2018). However, involvement of end users at the development and research stage, as well as in ongoing engagement and communication, are considered important (Reiter et al 2018, Reiter et al 2019). We used a Strategic Foresight Protocol (Cook et al 2014 a , Ims and Yoccoz 2017) to incorporate the knowledge, views and needs of major stakeholders in joint decisions on what should be the structure and purpose of the model.…”

Climate change adaptation in the Canadian wine industry: Strategies and drivers

“…Since winegrowers largely tend to learn from one another (Holland and Smit 2013; Pickering et al 2015), the adaptation strategies presented in this paper can enable knowledge transfer for winegrowers across the country. Moreover, ongoing engagement and communication of end users, winegrowers in this instance, can enhance and sustain success of environmental decision support systems (Reiter et al 2019).…”

A Platform for GHG Emissions Management in Mixed Farms

“…Additionally, aligning sustainability practices with the economic aspects of farming is crucial to fostering adoption. The output from these systems should be clear and actionable, ideally summarized in a detailed report that pinpoints issues, such as high GHG emissions, and proposes effective mitigation strategies [42].…”