Knowledge management: a tool for improved knowledge communication and decision-making

Knowledge management is now an accepted concept that is often confused with information management. Therein lies the likely root cause for the knowledge communication problems between experts and decision makers. This paper differentiates the two concepts. It describes the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge. It explains how the capabilities to acquire, transfer, and exchange knowledge leads to knowledge conversion. Finally, it shows how, when combined with the ability to transcend ones own limited perspective or corporate boundaries, knowledge management leads to the co-production of new knowledge and to improved decision-making.

Integrity and Conflict of Interests: An Ethical Perspective on the Researcher's Responsibility

Community-level assessments of climate change and variability

After completing an overview of hydro-climatology in British Columbia, several communities requested that the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC) complete assessments of climate change at their local level. These assessments contain attractive graphics and maps, which convey pertinent information to community members and decision makers. Although materials were targeted to the small-scale, the ability of the community to assimilate this information was uncertain.

Communities that PCIC staff have worked with to date include: Whitehorse; Atlin; Dawson City; the Cariboo-Chilcotin and the South Coast. Information was tailored to suit the needs of communities after discussion with local technical staff and representatives, such as staff of the Northern Climate Exchange, the City of Whitehorse or the Integrated Land Management Bureau at the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. The number of people involved in crafting these assessments was highly variable, and interaction took place remotely via phone conversations or through hands-on involvement in processes, such as Charrettes. Thereby, the needs of communities were explored through engagement with local representatives coming from different backgrounds and responsibility levels, who participate in decision-making.

The results show a strong desire by community-level decision-makers to understand the consequences of global climate change and regional impacts that can be applied to their community. However, there is frequently confusion between the consequences of climate change as compared to climate variability. Although technical information is needed, the methodology is often not appreciated. Furthermore, there is a need for a broad explanation of climate mechanics in Pacific North America. These limitations demand additional time for personal interaction, repetition of concepts, and concrete examples or demonstrations of the issues. Ultimately, the driving theme of these interactions was the need for community members to address the question, “What does this mean for us?” in terms of water supply, energy requirements and infrastructure.

Adapting to global climate change using a regional approach: the ouranos consortium

A Modest Attempt to Take the "I" out of the "Hydro-Illogical" Cycle

A great deal has been written regarding the inefficiencies of current approaches to preparing for and responding to droughts. Normally politicians, scientists, public servants, institutions, and private sector decision makers expend an intense amount of activity during a drought or extreme event only to stop almost all activities when the drought ends. Consequently knowledge is lost, opportunities for advanced preparation are squandered, and resources are needlessly wasted. This process has been facetiously described as the hydro-illogical cycle. Scientists involved in the CFCAS funded Drought Research Initiative are exploring ways to link their research results to the decision-making processes of their operational partners. Ideally this will help identify ways to facilitate enhanced drought preparation and response both physically and socio-economically. This presentation will describe how this effort builds on work done in Canada, the United States, and Australia and extend it. The presentation will also discuss how these activities could become part of the operational risk management and warning system of Agriculture Canada's climate unit and its Federal and Provincial partners. Furthermore, the presentation will consider how this approach could potentially support efforts to proactively address and enhance drought responses under current and projected future conditions, both domestically and with U.S. and Mexican partners.

The need for more detailed precipitation forecasts in order to support decision making

During the past two years members of the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) national service office have met with a variety of users to learn more about how they make critical weather related decisions. The users include officials from emergency management teams, public utilities, municipalities and aviation groups. The stories and discussions during these visits highlighted the universal need for more detailed precipitation forecasts. Current meteorological forecasts of precipitation were deemed too general by many of these decision makers. Participants have asked for more detail in the timing of the onset and duration of precipitation along with more detailed information on precipitation rate and precipitation amount. Of these factors, precipitation rate was identified as being particularly important because of its link with local flooding, municipal engineering design standards and public safety.

The new DAI (Data Access and Integration): changes and improvements to the website

Qualitative quality: Social science benefits service development efforts at Environment Canada

As Environment Canada endeavours to improve weather information tools to reflect the evolving needs of Canadians, one innovative team chose a social science, qualitative approach to service development. Members of the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) national service office focused on a subset of the public who make critical decisions that affect the lives of many other Canadians – municipal officials. Rather than counting web hits or using numerical, computer-generated surveys to evaluate the usage of different tools, the team made informal, interactive presentations about existing weather information to small groups of municipal staff from the parks, engineering, roads and public works departments of local communities. The discussions, stories and connections that emanated from this initial interpersonal outreach led to consistent discoveries about how municipalities use weather information to improve safety for Canadians, and how MSC might improve products and services to support them. This validation of the social science approach to service development will inform future efforts targeting other Canadian decision makers.

Science informing decisions: the Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Group

Since its founding in 1995, the Climate Impacts Group (CIG) at the University of Washington has achieved remarkable success at translating global- and regional-scale science into forms and products that are useful to, and used by, decision-makers. From GCM scenarios to research on the connection between global ocean variability and regional droughts or floods, to original research on connections between PNW climate and hydrology, CIG's strong physical science foundation is matched by a vigorous and successful outreach program. As a result, CIG is deeply involved in advising all levels of government on adapting to climate variability and change. This talk will showcase some of the decision support tools CIG has developed and the ways these tools are being applied.

Socioeconomic and Environmental Benefits of a Revolution in Weather, Climate and Earth-System Prediction - A Weather, Climate and Earth-System Prediction Project for the 21st Century

This document was prepared by scientists from the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)-World Weather Research Programme (WWRP), World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), and the natural-hazards and socioeconomic communities. It is intended to inform policy makers, national academies of science and users of weather, climate and environmental information of the urgent necessity for establishing a /Weather, Climate and Earth-System Prediction Project/ to increase the capacity of disaster-risk reduction managers and environmental policy makers to make sound decisions to minimize and adapt to the societal, economic and environmental vulnerabilities arising from high-impact weather and climate.

This endeavor is comparable in scale to the Apollo Moon Project, International Space Station, Genome Project and Hubble Telescope, with a socioeconomic and environmental benefits-to-cost ratio that is much higher. It will provide the capacity to realize the full benefits from the observational, modeling, prediction and early-warning system components of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and to accelerate major advances in weather, climate and Earth-system prediction and the use of this information by global societies. Delivering the benefits from this ambitious endeavor will require building upon the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) as an international organizational framework to coordinate the proposed/ Project/ across the weather, climate, Earth-system, natural-hazards and socioeconomic disciplines. Moreover, it will require investments in: i) maintaining existing and developing new observational capabilities; ii) advanced high-performance computing facilities with eventual sustained speeds of more than 10,000 times that of the most advanced computers of today, linked to a network of research and operational-forecast centers and early-warning systems world wide; iii) education, science and technology transfer projects to enhance the awareness and utilization of weather, climate, environmental and socioeconomic information; iv) infrastructure to transition/ Project/ research achievements into operational products and services.

IPCC: Past, Present and Future

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was created in 1988 with the purpose of providing objective information on the causes of climate change, its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences and the adaptation and mitigation options to respond to it. Over the past 20 years, the IPCC has provided this objective information through four major assessment reports and a series of technical and special reports that has been instrumental in shaping the international policy response to the challenge of global climate change. With the completion of the Fourth Assessment Report in 2007, which very clearly concluded that warming of the climate system is unequivocal and very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gases, the IPCC needs to scope out future activities to remain policy relevant while remaining firmly rooted in its core function: science assessment. This talk will illustrate how the IPCC has been at the forefront of science-policy interface over the past 20 years and suggest ways in which the IPCC can keep itself policy-relevant over the next 20 years.

From Trout Creek to the IPCC: Linking Climate Change Scenarios, Adaptation, and Sustainable Development

Successful application of climate change science in decision making is about more than reducing uncertainty in climate models or in detecting precipitation trends. An important element is the translation of climate scenario information into “the damage report” accounting for both changes in the biophysical environment and changes in land use, water use, development and governance that can alter relationships between climate and society. This requires an interdisciplinary approach in which teams with various research and professional skills apply a range of analytical tools to a set of common scenarios. This is supported by dialogue with local practitioners who can offer insights into the management and planning of climate-sensitive systems. This experience can lay the foundation for assessment of effectiveness of response options for individual cases, as well as for communication of these concerns to communities and governments. Examples are offered from a case study of Okanagan water management, and participation in the IPCC Third and Fourth Assessments.

Discussion about the Scientists Involvement in Decision-Making Processes

In order that we can discuss all the questions raised during the session about the scientists involvement in decision-making processes, a discussion period will be held after all the talks.

All speakers are invited for a 45 minutes discussion, which will allow us to elaborate on points raised and respond to any questions which we did not have time to address previously. We would like to encourage you to think about these questions and, during the discussion, comment and share your ideas. All contributions are welcomed and will be compiled and will be available on this web page.