6th Open Meeting of the Human Dimensions
of Global Environmental Change Research Community
Elizabeth McNie
Center for Science and Technology Policy Research, University of Colorado
Maria Carmen-Lemos
School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan
Overview: Climate Science Policy Assessment and Research
The results of climate research play an important role in many climate-change policy decisions. But how do we know if ongoing research is meeting the needs of policy makers? The conventional understanding of the flow of scientific information between scientists and decision makers holds that it is ‘linear’; scientists develop hypotheses, conduct research, produce data, and publish their findings in journals. Decision makers then sort through and select from the available information to use in their decisions. This linear model often leads to the under-utilization of scientific information in the policy process: 1) Scientists may not produce the ‘right’ information that is needed by decision makers, or produce too much of the ‘wrong’ kind. 2) Decision makers often have specific information needs that go unfulfilled, or they are unaware of potentially useful existing data. A better model for connecting science and decision making is to enhance and strengthen the linkages between the supply of scientific information and the context-specific demands of information users. The purpose of this panel is to explore these issues under three specific areas: 1. How is climate science information used by decision makers and what can we learn from the nature of users’ information needs? 2. How do scientists determine what climate information to produce and what consideration do they give to users’ needs in shaping climate science policies? 3. What do we know about the ‘boundary’ between science and policy and the role of ‘boundary spanning organizations’ that facilitate the production of credible, legitimate and relevant climate science that is also useful to policy decisions?
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488 UCB