Welcome to the Winter Meeting for the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP)! The 2017 theme is Strengthening Ties Between Observations and User Communities. The theme is based on one of the goals in the 2015 - 2020 ESIP Strategic Plan, which provides a framework for ESIP’s activities over the next three years.
The rapid pace of large-scale environmental changes around the globe has underscored the value of long-term data sets for understanding the context of scientific observations, for forecasting future conditions, and making informed decisions on how to adapt to these large-scale challenges. ESIP’s contributions to White House initiatives (such as the Partnership for Resilience and Preparedness, the Climate Resilience Toolkit, and the Climate Data Initiative) and the emerging All Hazards Consortium’s Data Driven Decision Making (D3M) initiative underscore the importance of making earth science data and information relevant to climate-resilience decisions. This breakout session will provide an overview of how data, models, and information can be used in the context of Structured Decision Making (SDM) to support such decisions. We shall also see how a web-based decision-analysis tool initially developed for the EPA was used to evaluate the social, environmental, and economic trade-offs in a stakeholder-driven workshop to inform climate resilient solutions for the community of Dania Beach, FL. This ESIP session will also examine the application of SDM for watershed and coastal management for the U.S. Interagency Coral Reef Task Force project on Guánica Bay, PR. This session shall be used to seek input on a draft framework that integrates key concepts from (a) climate resilience and disaster reduction planning, (b) data driven decision making, and (c) Structured Decision Making.
