Our team is able to leverage longstanding connections to stakeholders, especially through various University of Arizona and NCAR outreach and communication efforts. This means that we do not have to start from scratch in identifying and building relationships with stakeholders but can work with colleagues who already have relationships of trust and interaction with water, agricultural, and ecosystem managers, especially in the SWUS. We are able to diffuse our climate science results through existing networks, workshops and conferences such as those of the University of Arizona hosted Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS), Southwest Climate Science Center (www.doi.gov/csc/southwest), and UA Water Resources Research Center (https://wrrc.arizona.edu). For the most part, these programs and networks operate in collaboration with stakeholders, respecting their knowledge and asking them what information is most useful. We also plan to work with outreach networks in Mexico and other study regions.
An important component of our EASM project is the evaluation of all outreach and communication efforts, tracking the use and impact of knowledge, and feeding back user responses to the climate science aspects of our project. One activity connects the EASM evaluation work to IRAP (http://irap.iri.columbia.edu) - a joint initiative of the University of Arizona and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University – where we are evaluating communication and use of drought information and forecasts in the Caribbean and South Asia.
Academic Resources on Communicating the Science of Drought to Stakeholders
Boulahya, M., M.S. Cerda, M. Pratt, and K. Sponberg, 2005: Climate, Communications, and Innovative Technologies: Potential Impacts and Sustainability of New Radio and Internet Linkages in Rural African Communities. Climatic Change. DOI: 10.1007/s10584-005-5639-3 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10584-005-5639-3
Dow, K., R.L. Murphy, and G.J. Carbone, 2009: Consideration of User Needs and Spatial Accuracy in Drought Mapping. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 45(1):187-197. DOI: 10.1111 ⁄ j.1752-1688.2008.00270.x http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1752-1688.2008.00270.x/full
Drought and water crises: Science, technology, and management issues. Edited by Donald A. Wilhite, 2005. CRC Press, 406 pp. ISBN 0 8247 2771 1. Eur. Env., 16: 378–379. doi: 10.1002/eet.418 https://books.google.com/books?id=D0puBwAAQBAJ&dq=isbn:1420028383
Jacobs, K. L., Garfin, G. M. and Morehouse, B. J. (2005), CLIMATE SCIENCE AND DROUGHT PLANNING: THE ARIZONA EXPERIENCE. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 41: 437–446. doi: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2005.tb03747.x http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1752-1688.2005.tb03747.x/ab...
Moser, S. C. and L. Dilling (eds., 2007). Creating a Climate for Change: Communicating Climate Change and Facilitating Social Change, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. http://www.isse.ucar.edu/communication/book/
Steinemann, A., 2014: Drought Information for Improving Preparedness in the Western States, Bull. Amer. Met. Soc. DOI:10.1175/BAMS-D-13-00067.1 http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/BAMS-D-13-00067.1