Building a transformative partnership for climate services across the Mountain West

Abstract:

Research and boundary organizations increasingly aim to provide climate tools and services that can assist decision-makers in responding to climate risk. While growth in, and appetite for, these connections are encouraging, more needs to be done to coordinate and harness capacities to align with decision-maker needs and budgets. In the Mountain West region of the United States a partnership of climate service providers has formed to expand access to and use of enabling resources that can support climate-resilient planning and implementation at local and regional scales. Called the Mountain West Climate Services Partnership, we focus on the particular needs of small and medium-sized communities to provide a platform for members to: 1) proactively identify and fulfill needs for technical assistance or implementation support; 2) respond to inquiries or requests for support received from communities; and 3) facilitate peer learning among and between researchers, service providers, and local community leaders. As this Partnership grows, it seeks to help scale the impact of resources and experiences of long-established organizations, networks, and programs that have been working in these areas for many decades. This presentation will elaborate on the conceptual design of this endeavor as a potential model for building transformative partnerships to advance decision-relevant science as well as share ways AGU members can participate.