Stakeholder involvement in climate assessment: bridging the gap between scientific research and the public

Climate Research

Richard J. Bord¹  Ann Fisher¹  Patti J. Anderson¹  Robert E. O¹Connor¹ 

关键词: Stakeholders;    Climate change;    Regional assessment;    Mid-Atlantic states;   

DOI  :  10.3354/cr014255

来源: Inter-Research Science Publishing

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT: Stakeholder participation is a crucial component of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Assessment (MARA) of Possible Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. We involved stakeholders for 6 reasons: to ensure that the assessment addressesstakeholder concerns, to enhance the technical quality of the assessment, to provide a forum for stakeholders with diverse constituencies to share ideas, to facilitate dissemination of assessment findings, to sensitize stakeholders to possible impacts aswell as adaptation strategies, and to legitimize the process to third parties. The key means for involvement is an Advisory Committee that represents a myriad of experiences and perspectives, including members from mining companies, non-governmentalvoluntary organizations, and government as well as researchers. In the first phase members attended workshops and, approximately bimonthly, received (via e-mail, fax, or regular mail) updates on the MARA team¹s progress, with a request for feedback onitems such as work plans for specific topics (e.g., forestry, coastal zones), outlines of working group reports, draft scenarios that would serve as the basis for assessing impacts, or early materials for the draft preliminary report. Stakeholderinvolvement affected the focus of the assessment and the quality of the report. Stakeholders modified the MARA focus to include concerns that might have been ignored and improved the technical analysis of possible impacts.

【 授权许可】

Unknown