TY - JOUR
T1 - New climate change information modifies frames and decisions of decision makers
T2 - an exploratory study in forest planning
AU - Petr, M.
AU - Boerboom, L.G.J.
AU - Ray, D.
AU - van der Veen, A.
PY - 2016/7/24
Y1 - 2016/7/24
N2 - Information helps decision makers to address and to decide about environmental problems. In the context of climate change adaptation, often knowledge is missing on how the available information from impact models affects the decision-making process. The main aim of this study was to explore the extent of ambiguity and how new climate change information influenced decision of forest planners. We investigated changes in decisions of planners about forestry actions representing species choice and forest tourism and expiry dates of these actions leading to environmental constraints in the provision of ecosystem services. Forest planners evaluated expiry dates using four forest ecosystem services: forest production, stand yield class, sequestered carbon, and potential tourism. Data were collected during workshops with eleven forest planners from three forest districts in Scotland. Presented climate change information modified the understanding and frames of planners about forestry actions assessed with accompanying expiry dates. Changes in the frames of planners often result in both earlier and later expiry dates. Ambiguity of planners was found to be dependent on diversity in frames and difficulty in evaluating multiple ecosystem services. These findings imply that due to ambiguity forest planners might find it hard to choose climate change adaptation measures and researchers can struggle to convince planners with new research findings.
AB - Information helps decision makers to address and to decide about environmental problems. In the context of climate change adaptation, often knowledge is missing on how the available information from impact models affects the decision-making process. The main aim of this study was to explore the extent of ambiguity and how new climate change information influenced decision of forest planners. We investigated changes in decisions of planners about forestry actions representing species choice and forest tourism and expiry dates of these actions leading to environmental constraints in the provision of ecosystem services. Forest planners evaluated expiry dates using four forest ecosystem services: forest production, stand yield class, sequestered carbon, and potential tourism. Data were collected during workshops with eleven forest planners from three forest districts in Scotland. Presented climate change information modified the understanding and frames of planners about forestry actions assessed with accompanying expiry dates. Changes in the frames of planners often result in both earlier and later expiry dates. Ambiguity of planners was found to be dependent on diversity in frames and difficulty in evaluating multiple ecosystem services. These findings imply that due to ambiguity forest planners might find it hard to choose climate change adaptation measures and researchers can struggle to convince planners with new research findings.
KW - METIS-311040
KW - ITC-HYBRID
KW - ITC-ISI-JOURNAL-ARTICLE
KW - UT-Hybrid-D
UR - https://ezproxy2.utwente.nl/login?url=https://webapps.itc.utwente.nl/library/2016/isi/boerboom_new.pdf
U2 - 10.1007/s10113-015-0827-9
DO - 10.1007/s10113-015-0827-9
M3 - Article
VL - 16
SP - 1161
EP - 1170
JO - Regional environmental change
JF - Regional environmental change
SN - 1436-3798
IS - 4
ER -