Decision support experiments and evaluations using seasonal to ...

in climate and weather (Garfin and Emanuel,
2006); stewards are encouraged to participate in
drought impact monitoring through Arizona’s
Local Drought Impact Groups (GDTF, 2004;
Garfin, 2006). MWS enhances the capacity for
communities to deploy new climate information
and to build expertise for assimilating scientific
information into a range of watershed management
decisions.
4.3.6 Funding and Long-Term
Capacity Investments Must
Be Stable and Predictable
Provision of a stable funding base, as well as
other investments, can help to ensure effective
knowledge-action systems for climate change.
Stable funding promotes long-term stability
and trust among stakeholders because it allows
researchers to focus on user needs over a
period of time, rather than having to train new
participants in the process. Given that these
knowledge-action systems produce benefits
for entire societies, as well as for particular
stakeholders in a society, it is not uncommon
for these systems to be thought of as producing
both public and private goods, and thus, needing
both public and private sources of support
(Cash and Buizer, 2005). Private funders could
include, for example, farmers whose risks are
reduced by the provision of climate information
(as is done in Queensland, Australia, where the
individual benefits of more profitable production
are captured by farmers who partly support
drought-warning systems). In less developed
societies, by contrast, it would not be surprising
for these systems to be virtually entirely
supported by public sources of revenue (Cash
and Buizer, 2005).
Experience suggests that a public-private funding
balance should be shaped on the basis of
user needs and capacities to self-tailor knowledge-action
systems. More generic systems that
could afterwards be tailored to users’ needs
might be most suitable for public support, while
co-funding with particular users can then be
pursued for developing a collaborative system
that more effectively meets users’ needs. Funding
continuity is essential to foster long-term
relationship building between users and producers.
The key point here is that—regardless of
who pays for these systems, continued funding
of the social and economic investigations of the
Decision-Support Experiments and Evaluations using Seasonal to
Interannual Forecasts and Observational Data: A Focus on Water Resources
use of scientific information is essential to ensure
that these systems are used and are useful
(Jacobs et al., 2005).
Other long-term capacity investments relate to
user training—an important component that
requires drawing upon the expertise of “integrators”.
Integrators are commonly self-selected
managers and decision makers with particular
aptitude or training in science, or scientists who
are particularly good at communication and
applications. Training may entail curriculum
development, career and training development
for users as well as science integrators, and
continued mid-career in-stream retraining and
re-education. Many current integrators have
evolved as a result of doing interdisciplinary
and applied research in collaborative projects,
and some have been encouraged by funding
provided by NOAA’s Climate Programs Office
(formerly Office of Global Programs) (Jacobs,
et al., 2005).
4.3.7 Adaptive Management for
Water Resources Planning—
Implications for Decision Support
Since the 1970s, an “adaptive management
paradigm” has emerged that is characterized
by: greater public and stakeholder participation
in decision making; an explicit commitment
to environmentally sound, socially just outcomes;
greater reliance upon drainage basins
as planning units; program management via
spatial and managerial flexibility, collaboration,
participation, and sound, peer-reviewed
science; and finally, embracing of ecological,
economic, and equity considerations (Hartig
et al., 1992; Landre and Knuth, 1993; Cortner
and Moote, 1994; Water in the West, 1998;
May et al., 1996; McGinnis, 1995; Miller et
al., 1996; Cody, 1999; Bormann et al., 1993;
Lee, 1993). Adaptive management traces its
roots to a convergence of intellectual trends
and disciplines, including industrial relations
theory, ecosystems management, ecological
science, economics, and engineering. It also embraces
a constellation of concepts such as social
learning, operations research, environmental
monitoring, precautionary risk avoidance, and
many others (NRC, 2004).
Adaptive management can be viewed as an alternative
decision-making paradigm that seeks
Regardless of who
pays for these
systems, continued
funding of the social
and economic
investigations of
the use of scientific
information
is essential to
ensure that these
systems are used
and are useful.
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