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Enhancing Decision-Making Through Integrated Climate Research: Alaska Region Meeting

By Juniper Neill, Program Manager, NOAA/OGP

Map of Alaska

Map of Alaska (Courtesy of USGS)

Melting permafrost, loss of sea ice, increased severe storms, rapid land cover change, fisheries health, coastal erosion, infectious disease, decline of subsistence hunting: these are just a few of the challenges facing communities and decision-makers in Alaska. From a climate research perspective, how could an integrated assessment approach, focused on the needs of stakeholders, help increase Alaska’s regional adaptive capacity to climate change and variability? And what role could NOAA play in meeting the needs of this region for climate information and services?

From February 18-19, 2004, NOAA's Office of Global Programs (OGP), Climate and Societal Interactions Division, Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) program sponsored the workshop: "Enhancing Decision-Making Through Integrated Climate Research: Alaska Region Meeting" in Anchorage, Alaska. Co-sponsored by the National Weather Service, Climate Services Division in Anchorage; USGS-Alaska Science Center; and the National Park Service-Alaska Region, over 75 Alaskans attended the event representing academic, federal and state government, Alaska Native, and NGO communities.

Native Village of Shishmaref

Facing massive coastal erosion, the Native Village of Shishmaref, on the Chukchi Sea in Alaska voted to relocate the entire community inland away from danger. (Courtesy of Tony Weyiouanna, Sr.)

The purpose of this workshop was to 1) identify the needs in Alaska, in a variety of sectors, where climate information could help decision-makers expand their range of response options in the face of climate change and variability; 2) document opportunities for integrated, multi-disciplinary research on issues important to regional stakeholders; and 3) share the RISA program methodology with Alaskan researchers and stakeholders in order to initiate new collaborations and potential partnerships.

NOAA/OGP currently funds eight RISA programs at universities across the United States. RISA researchers from Washington, Colorado, Arizona, and Hawaii participated in this event by sharing their research experience in the area of climate science for decision-making.

The information gathered during this workshop (one of a series of meetings to be held in the US over the next two years) will help NOAA/OGP prioritize future program development and communicate critical regional needs for this type of funded research to NOAA. Key sectors of interest with a climate change and/or variability connection discussed at the meeting included: land and natural resource management; public health; transportation/infrastructure and safety; costal erosion and communities at risk; ocean science and health; community development; fisheries; forest management/fire control; subsistence, etc

Graph shows shows a warming trend over the past century in Alaska's interior boreal forest.

Research shows a warming trend over the past century in Alaska's interior boreal forest. (Courtesy of Terry Chapin, University of Alaska, Fairbanks)

Through focused presentations by both Alaskan researchers and stakeholders, as well as current RISA researchers, a foundation was laid to map a course for helping NOAA Research and the RISA program respond to the obvious needs for climate information in this region which had undergone rapid change with average temperatures increasing more than anywhere else in the United States over the last thirty years.

Alaskan Native subsistence hunters depend on their traditional knowledge of sea ice extent and thickness during the hunting season. With changing climate conditions, sea-ice conditions are less predictable and pose a serious public safety risk as well as threatening indigenous lifestyles. (Courtesy of the Alaska Native Science Commission)

A meeting report will be available within the next few months, and included on the OGP website for public comment from meeting participants and other interested parties.For more information, including meeting presentations, see our webpage at http://www.ogp.noaa.gov/mpe/csi/events/risa_021804/index.html.

For information on the RISA program, go to http://www.risa.ogp.noaa.gov (work in progress). For details on the Alaska-RISA meeting, contact:

Juniper Neill
Program Manager, Climate Variability and Human Health; Program Officer, RISA
NOAA/OGP
Juniper.neill@noaa.gov
301-472-2089 ext. 176

The Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) Program supports research that addresses complex climate sensitive issues of concern to decision-makers and policy planners at a regional level. The research team members are primarily based at universities though some of the team members are based at government research facilities. A few of the researchers are affiliated with non-profit organizations or private sector entities. Traditionally the research has focused on the fisheries, water, wildfire, and agriculture sectors. The program has begun to support research into climate sensitive public health issues. Recently, coastal restoration has also become an important research focus for some of the teams.

[3/22/04]

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