I’d like to share a blog post by Sarah Boon (Watershed Moments – Thoughts from the Hydrosphere, May 23, 2018). Her post is relevant to our community’s risk communication conversation and concerns the need for researchers to consider ensuring their research is communicated with the communities who are at risk.Sarah argues that there is a pressing need for our research findings to reach communities who may be impacted. It is important to enable a process for dialogue and develop ongoing relationships with communities so that risks can be discussed and expressed in ways that are meaningful to people affected.
Discussion at last week’s Expert Forum hosted by MEOPAR, WESTAC, and ICLR, Addressing Climate Risks for Coastal Transportation Infrastructure, centred around many of these questions – communicating risk, understanding risk, speaking with communities, engaging communities in solutions, and questions about the relationship between understanding of climate risk and on-the-ground planning efforts by industry and levels of government (including flood-plain development). Sadly, many of the expert forum invitees, were unable to attend the forum, because they were engaged in emergency management and response activities, relating to the BC Floods.
One of the broad goals of MEOPAR research, is knowledge mobilization – making a focused and concerted effort to ensure research findings are communicated beyond academic articles, and finding ways to engage communities, industries, stakeholders, partners – in conversation and the research process early on so that stakeholders are able to benefit more directly, from the process and findings. Another goal is to create forums for learning from each other, finding gaps in knowledge, sharing existing knowledge, and building capacity and best practices on specific areas of interest, with input from many different perspectives – these the aims of this Community of Practice. So have a read, and consider Sarah’s points. Feel free to comment here or, to Sarah directly.