Use of Science in Gulf of Mexico Decision Making Involving Climate Change
Funder: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA)
This multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research project will assess how representative stakeholder groups currently use science information about global climate change in their decision-making processes, how this varies across stakeholder groups, and what unfilled information needs these groups have. Research questions about information and stakeholder decision making will be investigated in the context of regionally relevant topics. The study is designed to allow maximum variation across Gulf regions and endpoints. The expected outcomes of the research are 1) data on the decision-making processes and information needs of stakeholders that is generalizable across the Gulf and 2) recommendations for strategies to facilitate the use of this information in stakeholder-based decision making, thereby improving stakeholders' ability to respond to both the opportunities and challenges presented by those changes.
The research team is led by principal investigator and ISTPP director, Dr. Arnold Vedlitz, and includes researchers from four universities—Texas A&M University's Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy in the George Bush School of Government and Public Service, the University of New Orleans' Center for Hazards Assessment, Response and Technology, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Center for Socioeconomic Research, and Florida A&M University's Environmental Sciences Institute.
