2nd Planning Meeting Report
Responding to Change Workshop
2010 Open Science Discussion at AGU
International Study of Arctic Change (ISAC)
For further information, please contact:
Maribeth S. Murray
Email: murray [at] arcticchange.org
On 13 December 2010, the International Study of Arctic Change (ISAC)
held a second open meeting for planning an international workshop on
Responding to Arctic Change. Responding to change is a key component of
the ISAC science program as described in the ISAC Science Plan; the
emphasis is on science for society--for problem solving and for managing
and adapting to future arctic changes. Implementation of the Responding
to Change component of ISAC is planned through a series of workshops
focused on different issues. The first planning meeting was held in Oslo
and the report of that meeting is available via keyword search at:
http://www.arcticchange.org.
Fifteen people attended the second planning meeting, which was held
during the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, and the discussion
focused on refining the focus of the first workshop. Participants
discussed whether or not responding to change within the ISAC program
was limited to consideration of just human response to change, or more
broadly defined to include the adaptive response of all aspects of the
arctic system. The research community needs to determine the extent to
which responding to change is limited by current knowledge of the system
and/or the ability of the scientific community to communicate that
knowledge to stakeholders for decision-making purposes. The diversity of
the stakeholder community necessitates careful planning and probably an
ongoing series of implementation activities to capture the needs of the
varied constituencies.
ISAC is positioned to build on the activities and assessments of the
Arctic Council working groups and other entities by engaging in science
that can further those initiatives and inform future ones, including
those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). There was
general agreement that in order to make progress and to ensure a
productive first workshop with useful outcomes there should be emphasis
placed in several key areas:
- Development of a clear definition of what is meant by responding
to change within the context of ISAC.
- Improved synchronization between science and stakeholders with
respect to identification of the societal problems stemming from
arctic change.
- An assessment of homogeneity of stakeholder needs for information
and of the information needed for decision-making.
- The itemization of information necessary for decision-making now
and in the future.
- An assessment of scientific capacity to provide the necessary
information to stakeholder communities and the identification of
areas where progress in research now enables the scientific
community to move forward with recommendations to decision makers.
- A blueprint for providing the scientific information on components
of the arctic system that are of direct societal concern to decision
makers in a form that is easily understandable.
- Expanding research capacity for responding to change research that
incorporates the decision-making, communication, health, and
engineering sciences.
The next stage in workshop planning will begin in January 2011 and will
include distribution of a working document further detailing workshop
goals and objectives. If you are interested in contributing to the
ongoing discussion on Responding to Change, please contact:
Maribeth S. Murray
Email: murray [at] arcticchange.org