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Next Steps in Linking the Global to the Local: Challenges for Research, Assessment and Decision making in a Multi-Level World

A report from a workshop at the Open Meeting of the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Research Community
7 October 2001
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Summary by David Cash

The workshop was held to explore the challenges and opportunities in linking science to decision making, and doing so across multiple levels. The workshop was organized in response to our realization that a variety of systems currently exist (as evidenced, in part, by what was presented at the Open Meeting) that already are struggling with addressing the consequences of global change at regional and local scales (and the consequences of regional and local activities for global change.) The workshop was characterized by informal but intensive exchange of views among some of the principals involved with these systems, and scholars who study them. While the discussion was bounded by a short timeframe, the workshop pushed participants' individual and collective understandings of the characteristics of effective systems for linking science and decision making across levels, and the obstacles which stand in the way of creating dynamic, innovative, and effective systems. In so doing, a variety of issues were raised, discussed, and highlighted as important to be addressed by the community of scholars and practitioners in our continuing work, including:

• Identifying outcomes that indicate effectiveness of these systems;

• Boundary organizations are a useful concept for understanding linkages, but they need to be better conceptualized;

• What is the role of education, and how it is structured, for people who play roles in boundary organizations is critical?;

• It is important to critically examine participation (not just "more is better");

• Access to information can vary depending on the level of interest;

• Question the assumption that more scientific knowledge is always better;

• Who has the power to design and build a network (and what are the implications of the process by which a network is built);

• Saliency, credibility, and legitimacy operate differently at different levels;

• How are formal and informal networks linked?

One outcome of the workshop was the establishment of a listserv that can act as a common area to discuss our ongoing work. If you are interested in subscribing to this listserv, contact David Cash at david_cash@harvard.edu.

Participants:

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