Transborder Climate and Experiments in Climate Communication: Building a Foundation for Adaptation

In recent years, U.S.-Mexico border region stakeholders have consistently articulated needs for climate services to provide information, enhance preparedness, and better inform resource management decisions. We report on a NOAA-funded initiative in the U.S.-Mexico border region to not only provide information, but to build capacity for adaptation. The initiative augments the Border Climate Summary/Resumen del Clima de la Frontera PDF newsletter, through experiments in climate communication. We focus on Transborder Climate, a brief bulletin that gives a high-level overview of climate forecasts and research. We also report on experiments in the use of bilingual webinars and social media to increase knowledge exchange and build a foundation for adaptation to climate change. These experiments are being conducted by a consortium of collaborators from University of Arizona, UNISON, CIBNOR, CICESE, and the Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative. We report on the early stages of these experiments and the methods and metrics for evaluating the use of these media and their value to border region decision makers.