IAI at UNFCCC 8th Research Dialogue of SBSTA-44

sbsta44-thIAI participated at the UNFCCC SBSTA-44 Eighth Research Dialogue (RD8), held in Bonn on May 19th, 2016. Decision 1/CP.21 of the Paris Agreement recognizes the need for “effective and progressive response to the urgent threat of climate change on the basis of the best available scientific knowledge”. The UNFCCC Research Dialogue is a forum for climate change research and capacity building, and for conveying research findings and lessons learned from activities undertaken by regional and international research programmes and organizations.

Foto 2 E Castellanos poster Bonn 19 may 16_HTEdwin Castellanos, IAI investigator and member of delegation of Guatelama to UNFCCC, Eduardo Calvo (Peru) IPCC Task Force Co-Chair and Pascal Girot (Costa Rica) Climate Change Commissioner photo courtesy ENB/Kiara Worth.


IAI has participated in the UNFCCC SBSTA Research Dialogues over the past 10 years, contributing scientific information to Parties to the Convention. IAI principal investigator Edwin Castellanos [IAI SGP-CRA2060] and Ione Anderson from the IAI Directorate attended this year’s event to highlight the capacity-building implemented by Castellanos’ research network in Mesoamerica, and to show how IAI works with government and other stakeholders. Farmers in Mesoamerica face many challenges from climate change and global development patterns, and are suffering the impacts of extreme weather events.

part2_iai__castellanos_posterPoster: Combining local and scientific knowledge to increase adaptive capacity to global changes among farmers in Mesoamerica (download PDF)

 

Activities carried-out by IAI’s collaborative networks and the Directorate aim at linking local experience with scientific knowledge for effective decisions. During the SBSTA, Castellanos showed delegates how global and regional changes, including climate change that farmers are confronting are bigger than anything experienced by them in the past.

My participation in this forum was very rewarding as I had the chance to interact with other scientists doing excellent work in the climate change arena. I was also pleasantly surprised by the interest that the event raised among delegates, so much that we had to move to a larger room for the discussion part of the event”, Castellanos said. His presentation emphasized the importance of complementing local knowledge (traditional or indigenous) with current scientific knowledge to improve the adaptive capacity of vulnerable populations.

3publications-th3 publications to help small coffee growers face global change successfully

 

In her presentation Connecting Science to People, Ione Anderson emphasized the role of IAI in scientific networks such as the one led by Castellanos in engaging a variety of stakeholders. She encouraged UNFCCC delegates to communicate their research needs to IAI member country representatives noting that IAI can assist member countries in identifying regional concerns that require integrated natural and social science research to solutions.

To be effective, science must be communicated to stakeholders at three levels: high-level decision makers, including political leaders; practitioners in supporting organizations and mid-level technical officers in governments; and local people directly impacted by multiple stressors.

This is a challenge to scientists: each of these groups needs a particular communication strategy, and scientists often do not have the time or skills to do both science and communication. It is therefore important that funding agencies recognize these communication needs and provide funds accordingly.

IAI can work with national funding agencies in the region to, for instance, co-fund research on the impacts of 1.5 degree temperature increase and on feasible economic and technical pathways to stay within this limit.

Agenda: Posters and presentations
Summary report on the eighth meeting of the research dialogue Bonn, Germany, 19 May 2016 (PDF)

Excerpts from report

(b) The poster presented by Mr. Edwin Castellanos, Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), Guatemala, showed the results of recent research on how capacity-building combining local and scientific knowledge increases adaptive capacity to global changes for farmers in Mesoamerica. The current global and regional changes, including climate change, that farmers are confronting are bigger than anything experienced by them in the past. Science must be communicated to stakeholders … scientific teams must work together with communication specialists and this additional expense should be supported by funding organizations.

59. Ms. Ione Anderson then gave a presentation on the work of the IAI in connecting science and people. She highlighted the role of IAI in scientific networks such as the one led by Mr. Castellanos (see above) in engaging a variety of stakeholders at the regional level to inform decision-making, given that the problems faced cannot be tackled by one nation as their impacts affect the region as a whole.

60. She highlighted that, to be effective, science must be communicated to stakeholders at three levels: high-level decision makers, including political leaders; practitioners in supporting organizations and mid-level technical officers in governments; and local people directly impacted by multiple stressors. This is a challenge to scientists: each of these groups needs a particular communication strategy, and scientists often do not have the time or skills to do both science and communication. It is therefore important that funding agencies recognize these communication needs and provide funds accordingly. She provided an example in regards to the sustainable development goals (http://old.iai.int/?page_id=36630).

61. Ms. Anderson encouraged UNFCCC delegates to communicate their research needs to IAI member country representatives noting that IAI can assist member countries in identifying regional concerns that require integrated natural and social science research to solutions. She stated that IAI can work with national funding agencies in the region to, for instance, co-fund research on the impacts of a 1.5 °C temperature increase and on feasible economic and technical pathways to stay within this limit.