14. Making Science Count: Climate Change and the Science/Practice Interface

There is mounting evidence that global warming is producing variations in local weather patterns and water supplies, disturbing ecosystems and soil landscapes and impacting economic production and social conditions. Important changes in rainfall patterns, increases in temperatures and more intense and severe climate events have already been observed, with negative impacts for people’s livelihoods. The multiple impacts of climate change could be a considerable source of risk, affecting patterns of development and local livelihoods, but they could also provide new opportunities (i.e., expansion of cultivated areas). In this perspective, climate change has been defined as a “wicked” problem for which there is no easy solutions and no simple approaches. It requires not only a multiplicity of perspectives to understand the phenomenon in all its complexity but also an increasing proximity between university researchers, policy-makers, industry, and citizen sector organizations to manage the risks and opportunities. A significant challenge, nevertheless, has been the limited integration between researchers and those government agencies that play a central role in the everyday management of development and natural resources. There are significant institutional and cultural barriers between researchers and policy-makers that hinder the transformation of scientific knowledge into plans and actions able to strengthen adaptive capacity. The chapter discusses climate governance and the science/practice interface in terms of the process of climate knowledge mobilization. Based on the dissemination experience of two multi-disciplinary policy-oriented projects, the presentation applies the lessons learned and compares these lessons to a variety of insights found in the related literature.