Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

CSTPR Noontime Seminar: Meaghan Daly, Eric Lovell, Mara Goldman, and Lisa Dilling

Wednesday February 5 2014 @ 12:00 pm
to 1:00 pm

February

5

Wed

2014

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Event Type
Seminar
Availability

Open to Public

Audience
  • CIRES employees
  • CU Boulder employees
  • General Public
  • NOAA employees
  • Science collaborators
  • Host
    CIRES

    Knowledge Production, Access, and Use for Climate Adaptation at Local Scales in Northern Tanzania
    Meaghan Daly, CSTPR and Environmental Studies Program, CU Boulder
    Eric Lovell, Geography Department, CU Boulder
    Mara J. Goldman, Geography Department and Institute for Behavioral Sciences, CU Boulder
    Lisa Dilling, CSTPR and Environmental Studies Program, CU Boulder
    Abstract: Adaptation to climate change is a rapidly expanding area of research. Much emphasis has been placed on producing scientific data and tools to support adaptation planning, with less consideration of how such knowledge can actually be linked with local adaptation decision-making. Additionally, the exclusive use of scientific knowledge has often excluded other forms of knowledge (e.g., local, indigenous), which have much to offer toward adaptation decision-making. In response, there have been increased calls to more effectively incorporate multiple forms of knowledge within adaptation planning. However, there are distinct challenges to bringing together different kinds of knowledge, including varying conceptions of what constitutes 'valid' knowledge across epistemologies and scales, as well as uneven power relations among stakeholders. Co-production of knowledge has been offered as a means of addressing these challenges, but questions remain about how best to facilitate processes of co-production. This talk will present a theoretical perspective and methodology, drawing on modified Actor Network Theory and Knowledge System Criteria (Cash et al. 2003), to examine production, access, and use of knowledge for climate adaptation across institutional scales (village, national, and international) and epistemologies in Tanzania. Researchers will share preliminary findings from the first phase of data collection, emphasizing the multiple dimensions of knowledge production, access, and use at local scales in northern Tanzania that must be considered within knowledge co-production efforts.
    Bios:
    Meaghan Daly is a Ph.D. student in the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research explores the dimensions of knowledge production, access, and use within climate adaptation decision-making in East Africa.
    Eric Lovell is a second year Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography at the University of Colorado Boulder. His focus is on the politics of mapping complex human-environment interactions in savanna ecosystems. Particularly, he is interested in the relationship between land-use planning/mapping and the movement of people, livestock, and wildlife within and across territorial boundaries.
    Mara J. Goldman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and a research associate in the Environment and Society Program at the Institute for Behavioral Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Mara's research lies at on the interface of human-environment relations and critical geographies of conservation and development, with a regional focus in East Africa.
    Lisa Dilling is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, a Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She studies decision making, the use of information and science policies related to climate change, adaptation, and carbon management. Her current projects examine drought in urban water systems, water governance and climate change, municipal adaptation to hazards, and public lands management in the context of climate change.