|
Southwest Drought Summit
A “Southwest Drought Summit” will be held at NAU May 12-13, 2003 to
bring together regional experts and decision makers to assess drought
impacts and potential response scenarios. An emerging concern is that
the drought may be the long-term norm and the Southwest is emerging
from an unusual “wet” period of several decades. The environmental
consequences of a new precipitation regime have tremendous policy
implications for municipal, regional and land management decision
makers.
We propose a unique and proactive strategy to
address emerging water and land management issues. Our goal is to
synthesize current scientific and policy information and engage
scientists and decision makers in the process. An oft-cited complaint
from the scientific community is that science is undervalued in policy
making. Policy makers have observed that scientific information is
complex and inaccessible to decision makers. This summit seeks to make
useful, substantive scientific information accessible and useful for
decision makers.
Summit participants will complete three
important goals
- Synthesize data on the drought that both analyzes
current conditions, and predict future conditions for northern
Arizona ecosystems.
- Assess the drought from a long-term climatic
perspective. What can we learn from the past to predict the future?
How long can we expect the drought to last? Is this a return to a
“normal” precipitation regime?
- Consider long-term strategies that may involve
modifying land management and water-use policies in order to
maintain future sustainability. Propose alternative scenarios for
five-year to thirty-year policy plans.
Format
The first day of the summit will involve environmental science and
policy experts from universities and agencies sharing information on
drought impacts and assessing long-term climate scenarios. Topical
presentations will precede cross-disciplinary working groups whose
charge is to distill information and highlight implications that may
be useful for decision makers. Scientists working in concert with
policy people will parse out salient points and try to use language
that is meaningful and applicable.
The second day will start with a synthesis
presentation from the first-day findings to federal, tribal, state,
county and city decision makers. The charge for this group is to
discuss the issues, ask clarifying questions and identifies potential
areas of concern or policy changes that can anticipate mitigate and/or
avoid crises driven decision-making. We anticipate a white paper that
can be published for wider distribution throughout the region. We are
urging both short-term and long-term consideration of the drought and
any impacts that will affect management plans.
How to Participate
Interested persons can register and find updated information at
http://www.mpcer.nau.edu/megadrought/index.html
Summit Coordinators
Neil Cobb - Neil.Cobb@nau.edu,
928-523-5528 (Ecology & Climatology).
David Ostergren -
David.Ostergren@nau.edu, 928-523-0701 (Environmental
Policy).
Charles Schinger -
Charles.Schlinger@nau.edu, 928-523-0652 (Hydrology & Water
Policy)
|
