Space to Village: Connecting Science and Policy for Better Climate Decision-Making in the Developing World

Abstract:

As climate change is felt around the world, research indicates that developing countries bear the greatest impacts. Scientists have long been building models, applications, and tools to assist with climate change mitigation, adaptation and extreme event early warning systems, but too often these programs and products do not reach their intended user groups, or may not take into account the realities of developing countries. Less common are models and applications built or developed collaboratively with the intended users, particularly those at the local level. The SERVIR Program, a unique partnership between NASA and the US Agency for International Development (USAID),is attempting to change that. The SERVIR Program works to improve resilience to climate change by strengthening the capacity of governments and other key stakeholders to integrate Earth observation information and geospatial technologies into development decision-making. Working in partnership with regional institutions around the world, SERVIR develops geospatial tools and decision-support applications while concurrently building the capacity of local analysts and decision-makers to utilize them. In many cases, these same users are helping shape the tools that provide them with critical information. In this session we will present two case studies from the Eastern and Southern Africa and Hindu Kush-Himalaya regions that demonstrates the transformation of science into applied decision-making, and the impacts those decisions are having across geographic scales, from the regional and national level to the village level.