Evaluating the Impact of Climate Science Produced in the Southwest Climate Science Center on Resource Management Agency Decisions

The mission of the Department of the Interior (DOI) Climate Science Centers is to provide DOI resource managers with the tools and information they need to address the impacts of climate change on natural and cultural resources. Each CSC funds projects that link climate scientists and resources managers in an effort to produce science relevant to and usable in management decisions – a process sometimes referred to as co-production of knowledge. Co-production in this project is defined simply as a process that involves a stakeholder and researcher in mutually identifying a problem or research question and iteratively working to address the problem or question. But, how can we be sure that the science is both usable and used to inform management policies, plans, or other decisions? Looking at a selection of projects funded by the Southwest Climate Science Center between 2012-2015, this project seeks to develop a set of metrics to assess 1) the requirements or criteria for a successful co-production of knowledge approach 2) whether “success” in a project can be measured and if so, how and 3) the criteria for choosing a co-production of knowledge approach for a particular project. The presentation will explore initial findings and results from the first year of data collection.