Suchergebnisse

Water management challenges in an arid region: key policy issues / Katharine L. Jacobs and Bonnie G. Colby -- Shaped by water: an Arizona historical perspective / Jack L. August, Jr., and Grady Gammage, Jr. -- Balancing competing interests: Institutional context: the history of state and federal water laws / Michael J. Pearce -- The water supply of Arizona: the geographic distribution of availability and patterns of use / Mark T. Anderson, Donald R. Pool, and Stanley A. Leake -- Drought, climate variability, and implications for water supply and management / Gregg Garfin, Michael A. Crimmins, and Katharine L. Jacobs -- Water transactions: enhancing supply reliability during drought / Bonnie G. Colby, Dana R. Smith, and Katherine Pittenger -- Sustaining people, habitats, and ecosystems: the challenge of integrating water policy and the environment / Patrick J. Graham -- The disconnect between water law and hydrology / Robert Glennon -- Protecting the supply: Arizona's water quality challenges / Karen L. Smith and Charles G. Graf -- Implications of federal farm policy and state regulation on agricultural water use / George B. Frisvold, Paul N. Wilson, and Robert Needham -- Urban growth and water supply / James M. Holway -- Water supply and management in rural Arizona / Katharine L. Jacobs and Linda S. Stitzer -- Arizona's recharge and recovery programs / Sharon B. Megdal -- Tribal water claims and settlements within regional water management / Dana R. Smith and Bonnie G. Colby -- Lessons for semiarid regions facing growth and competition for water / Bonnie G. Colby, Katharine L. Jacobs, and Dana R. Smith.

Abstract
In many regions around the world, Regional Climate Outlook Forums (RCOFs) provide seasonal climate information and forecasts to decision-makers at regional and national levels. Despite having two decades of experience, the forums have not been systematically monitored or evaluated. To address this gap, and to better inform nascent and widespread efforts in climate services, the authors propose a process-oriented evaluation framework derived from literature on decision support and climate communication around the production and use of scientific information. The authors apply this framework to a case study of the Caribbean RCOF (CariCOF), where they have been engaged in a collaborative effort to integrate climate information and decision processes to enhance regional climate resilience. The authors' examination of the CariCOF shows an evolution toward the use of more advanced and more diverse climate products, as well as greater awareness of user feedback. It also reveals shortfalls of the CariCOF, including a lack of diverse stakeholder participation, a need for better understanding of best practices to tailor information, undeveloped market research of climate products, insufficient experimentation and vetting of communication mechanisms, and the absence of a way to steward a diverse network of regional actors. The authors' analysis also provides insight that allowed for improvements in the climate services framework to include mechanisms to respond to changing needs and conditions. The authors' process-oriented framework can serve as a starting point for evaluating RCOFs and other organizations charged with the provision of climate services.

The first Global Assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) found widespread, accelerating declines in Earth's biodiversity and associated benefits to people from nature. Addressing these trends will require science-based policy responses to reduce impacts, especially at national to local scales. Effective scaling of science-policy efforts, driven by global and national assessments, is a major challenge for turning assessment into action and will require unprecedented commitment by scientists to engage with communities of policy and practice. Fulfillment of science's social contract with society, and with nature, will require strong institutional support for scientists' participation in activities that transcend conventional research and publication. ; National Science Foundation (NSF): DBI-1415669. Chilean government agency 'National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research' (CONICYT): AFB170008. National Climate Adaptation Science Center (US Geological Survey).