Typologizing Stakeholder Information Use to Better Understand the Impacts of Collaborative Climate Science

VanderMolen, Kristin; Meadow, Alison M.; Horangic, Alexandra; Wall, Tamara

doi:10.1007/s00267-019-01237-9

Cited by 22 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Producers of WCI presuppose that meteorological forecasters can develop products and services without involving the users or their needs and perceptions but anticipate that users will find the information usable and useful (Cash et al, 2006). While providing WCI that is tailored to the users' needs and demands may address some of the challenges highlighted, the user-driven process can be successful and translate to usability of the information if institutional support, dissemination, and communication strategy are put in place (Rasmussen et al, 2017;VanderMolen et al, 2020). According to Wilkinson et al (2015), a useful forecast is one which satisfies a user's need in regard to accuracy, timeliness, space, and time resolution and other user-sensitive attributes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Role of User Needs and Perceptions Related to Sub-Seasonal and Seasonal Forecasts on Farmers' Decisions in Kenya: A Systematic Review

et al. 2021

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One major challenge facing farmers and other end users of weather and climate information (WCI) in Kenya is the linkage between their perceptions, needs, and engagements with producers of the information. This is highlighted by increased interest in understanding the constraints on appropriate use of weather information by farmers in decision-making. The choice between sub-seasonal and seasonal forecasts can enable better decisions by farmers if the forecast information is reliable and integrated through a coproduction process. This study analyzes user needs and perceptions of crop farmers, pastoralists, and agro-pastoralists in relation to sub-seasonal and seasonal forecasts for five counties in Kenya. A total of 258 peer-reviewed articles and gray literature were systematically analyzed using Search, Appraisal, Synthesis and Analysis (SALSA) to understand how the needs and perceptions of users of WCI shaped access and use in decision-making. The study also evaluated factors influencing use and uptake of sub-seasonal and seasonal forecasts as well as the barriers to use. Results show that farmers' perceptions shaped the choice of WCI that is used and also highlight how sub-seasonal and seasonal forecasts were used for diverse applications. Gender, availability of resources, access, and mode of communication were key factors influencing the use of seasonal forecasts. For example, access to seasonal forecasts of farmers in drier counties enabled them to manage floods and reduce risk. One lesson learned was that farmers combined WCI with other coping practices such as agronomic practices and water efficiency management. Despite a number of challenges by forecast users such as insufficient resources and lack of access to information, there is potential to improve forecasts according to user needs through a coproduction process. This study recommends stakeholder engagements with producers in the development and evaluation of forecast products and communication pathways to improve uptake and use of forecasts in decision-making.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Role of User Needs and Perceptions Related to Sub-Seasonal and Seasonal Forecasts on Farmers' Decisions in Kenya: A Systematic Review

et al. 2021

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“…We found evidence of the use of co-produced climate change information by natural resource managers during the roughly year-long project that can be directly tied to the co-production process. This finding is notable since two challenges to evaluating the effectiveness of co-production efforts are that the use of information does not always happen immediately after it is produced and it can be difficult to attribute outcomes to particular activities (Bell et al 2011 ; VanderMolen et al 2020 ). The most notable use of co-produced climate change information was in the 2020 update of the Wyoming Statewide Habitat Plan (SHP), which was transformative in how it incorporated climate change.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evaluating co-production can be challenging in part because of complexities related to evaluating both the process and outcomes; nevertheless, a range of metrics have been proposed that cover several aspects of project context and design, implementation, outputs, outcomes, and impacts (Wall et al 2017 ). Outcomes and impacts criteria generally try to assess information use (Dilling and Lemos 2011 ), which is often categorized in terms of conceptual use (e.g., enhanced knowledge base, incorporation into planning), instrumental use (e.g., informed a new decision or action), or justification use (e.g., provided a rationale for a decision that was already made) (Pelz 1978 ; VanderMolen et al 2020 ). Greater documentation and evaluation of real-world co-production case studies is needed to facilitate learning about what works well (or not); such information can feed back into guidance on improving the actionability of knowledge and science, including within the field of climate change-informed natural resource management (Meadow et al 2015 ; Beier et al 2017 ; Lemos et al 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tackling the Science Usability Gap in a Warming World: Co-Producing Useable Climate Information for Natural Resource Management

Cross

Oakes

Kretser

et al. 2022

Environmental Management

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Developing scientific information that is used in policy and practice has been a longstanding challenge in many sectors and disciplines, including climate change adaptation for natural resource management. One approach to address this problem encourages scientists and decision-makers to co-produce usable information collaboratively. Researchers have proposed general principles for climate science co-production, yet few studies have applied and evaluated these principles in practice. In this study, climate change researchers and natural resource managers co-produced climate-related knowledge that was directly relevant for on-going habitat management planning. We documented our methods and assessed how and to what extent the process led to the near-term use of co-produced information, while also identifying salient information needs for future research. The co-production process resulted in: 1) an updated natural resource management plan that substantially differed from the former plan in how it addressed climate change, 2) increased understanding of climate change, its impacts, and management responses among agency staff, and 3) a prioritized list of climate-related information needs that would be useful for management decision-making. We found that having a boundary spanner—an intermediary with relevant science and management expertise that enables exchange between knowledge producers and users—guide the co-production process was critical to achieving outcomes. Central to the boundary spanner’s role were a range of characteristics and skills, such as knowledge of relevant science, familiarity with management issues, comfort translating science into practice, and an ability to facilitate climate-informed planning. By describing specific co-production methods and evaluating their effectiveness, we offer recommendations for others looking to co-produce climate change information to use in natural resource management planning and implementation.

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“…Bringing different perspectives and social sciences disciplines together over time, the social study of climate change has embraced inter-and later trans-disciplinary approaches to co-producing knowledge addressing cross-cutting issues such as resilience, risk, development, and security (Bremer and Meisch, 2017;Lemos et al, 2018Lemos et al, , 2019. While these efforts have advanced knowledge, there has been relatively less focus by social scientists on understanding and evaluating when, how and to what effect this collective knowledge has influenced or informed decision-making at the individual, national and international levels (see for example, Vang Rasmussen et al, 2017; Flagg and Kirchhoff, 2018;VanderMolen et al, 2020). This critical gap in our understanding of the impact of social sciences on decisionmaking and climate action means we lack sufficient empirical evidence upon which to base strategies to improve usability and use of social science knowledge.…”

Section: Harnessing Social Science Knowledge Toward Action and Resilimentioning

confidence: 99%

Grand Challenges for Climate Risk Management

et al. 2020

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Typologizing Stakeholder Information Use to Better Understand the Impacts of Collaborative Climate Science

Cited by 22 publications

References 70 publications

Understanding the Role of User Needs and Perceptions Related to Sub-Seasonal and Seasonal Forecasts on Farmers' Decisions in Kenya: A Systematic Review

Understanding the Role of User Needs and Perceptions Related to Sub-Seasonal and Seasonal Forecasts on Farmers' Decisions in Kenya: A Systematic Review

Tackling the Science Usability Gap in a Warming World: Co-Producing Useable Climate Information for Natural Resource Management

Grand Challenges for Climate Risk Management

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