By Eileen Shea, East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii

Plans for the Pacific Islands Regional Assessment assume that we are addressing both of the dual objectives of the U.S. National Assessment Program along the lines discussed at the 1997 Aspen Summer Institute on the National Assessment:

• developing a more complete understanding of the local/regional implications of climate variability and change in the context of other economic, social, and environmental stresses -- i.e., a scientific effort whose initial goal is to explore in some detail the regional character, impacts and socio-economic challenges and opportunities associated with climate variability and change and produces periodic reports summarizing the results of that work; and
• establishing and maintaining a continuing, interactive dialogue among scientists and affected businesses, communities, and government agencies -- a dialogue which supports continuous, two-way information flow between the providers of information about climate variability and change (primarily, but not exclusively within the scientific community) and the users of that information in the public and private sectors.

An interactive dialogue among the providers and users of climate information (Figure 1) is essential to promoting long-term planning and encouraging pro-active rather than reactive decision making related to mitigation of negative impacts. It also enhances opportunities to capitalize on potential opportunities associated with climate variability and change and guides future research priorities by identifying critical information needs.

Strategy for Success

For the Pacific Islands Regional Assessment, "outreach" is defined broadly as this process of establishing and sustaining the partnerships necessary to produce, communicate and use new information and shared insights to address the challenges and opportunities presented by climate variability and change. Thus, for the Pacific Islands Region, "outreach" is the programmatic backbone of the assessment process and the central support structure around which a new regional climate information service is taking shape. To be most successful, assessment activities should be set in the context of a long-term program of capacity building. With adequate resources, this program not only supports the production of a scientifically rigorous Pacific Islands regional contribution to National Assessment reports, but also takes steps to establish and sustain a new level of interaction and dialogue between scientists and the potential beneficiaries of their work outside the scientific community. In addition to the development of new scientific insights about the regional consequences of climate variability and change, Pacific Islands stakeholders are also excited about exploring the challenges of implementing a new paradigm of collaboration to facilitate the integration of information about climate variability and change into practical decision making. This collaboration will also help guide future research by providing valuable insights into critical information needs. The successful and sustained engagement of stakeholders, particularly those outside the scientific community, is dependent on their belief that the regional and national assessment process represents more than, to paraphrase a member of the Pacific Workshop Steering Committee, "the production of a one-time inside-the-beltway report."

Getting Started

A program of structured interactions will allow participating individuals and institutions to combine their experience and expertise to collectively assess the consequences of climate variability and change, identify critical information needs, and develop strategies to enhance the production and use of climate information to support practical decision making. Assessment workshops and small-group roundtable discussions will provide opportunities for in-depth exploration of individual issues/sectors and joint problem solving--thus broadening as well as deepening the involvement of interested and affected individuals and institutions focused on a particular topic. The participants will both: (1) contribute their own expertise and the interests of their home community in assessment activities; and (2) serve as a conduit for conveying assessment results/information back to interested individuals and organizations. In this context, the Pacific Islands regional assessment process will provide a critical scientific and decision support bridge. This bridge will help develop and convey new scientific insights that link global-scale processes to local impacts, and provide an opportunity to integrate the individual skills and combined assets of experts, decision makers, and information brokers along a continuum of time and space scales.

To support this effort, the Pacific Islands assessment will build on and leverage existing outreach and education efforts of participating institutions and programs. Recognizing the importance of addressing climate in the context of existing challenges opportunities to participate in scheduled meetings of scientific organizations, sectoral associations, regional economic development and environmental organizations, resource management bodies, and interested public interest groups will be sought. For example, a small stakeholder workshop with coastal managers was conducted as part of the 16th Annual Pacific Basin Coastal Zone Management Conference, which took place in Guam in late January 1999. Discussions are also underway regarding possible collaboration with the Pacific ENSO Applications Center, the South Pacific Geosciences Commission, and the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme in their efforts to address drought and water resource management issues.

The Pacific Islands assessment will therefore provide an exciting early opportunity to coordinate, focus and leverage the assets and expertise of diverse institutions and individuals throughout the region in the context of a new climate information partnership designed to:

• clarify the information needs of identified stakeholders;
• provide access to critical data sets and information products;
• translate/interpret research results into useful and usable information to address specific needs;
• improve access to information through the use of innovative communication and decision support tools; and
• provide expanded education and training opportunities to enhance the cadre of individuals in the Pacific Islands Region skilled in the development and use of climate information to support decision making; and
• identify critical information needs to guide future research.

Finally, the review process the Pacific Islands assessment report will provide an opportunity for input from interested individuals and institutions who might not have participated directly in the development of the assessment documents, thereby enhancing awareness and ownership of the assessment process. Broad dissemination of assessment reports and information products -- with mechanisms for user feedback and evaluation -- will help identify new issues and future assessment participants.

For more information, contact:
Eileen Shea, East-West Center, Program on Environment; 1601 East-West Road, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96848; phone: (808) 944-7253; email: sheae@ewc.hawaii.edu.