Making Stakeholders Matter: Involving Diverse Stakeholders through Narrative and Transdisciplinary Approaches

NATHAN M. BELL; CHRISTOPHER B. ANDERSON; J. BRITT HOLBROOK; ROBERT FRODEMAN

Portland

Congreso; Ocean Sciences Meeting; 2010

American Geophysical Union

One widely proposed model for assessing broader impacts of science, known as the Public Understanding of Science (PUS), holds that if the public better understood the science underlying societal questions it would be better able to arrive at rational solutions. This approach, however, has suffered major attacks from sociologists of science, who argue that it ignores context, that knowledge doesn't necessarily change behavior, and that increased information sometimes leads to criticism of science. One way proponents advocate avoiding some of the pitfalls of the PUS is to emphasize "Stakeholder Participation", which is a strategy used by the Coastal Services Center (CSC) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The CSC's definition of stakeholder as "those who have an interest in or are affected by a decision" opens the way for broad consideration of and input from people affected by scientific research and policy. Their distinct methods for stakeholder participation and evaluation provide a useful and relevant model for integrating real stakeholder concerns. However, this model can be supplemented by two things mentioned only briefly in NOAA's forthcoming Next Generation Strategic Plan (NGSP). The NGSP notes that prediction scenarios for the future should be both narrative ("stories that explore possible linkages between diverse ingredients") and multidisciplinary ("explore anything that might really matter to the shape of the future, from geopolitics to the environment"). These two elements, touched on cursorily in the plan, could help supplement the CSC's overall work on stakeholder participation and create a useful model for broader impacts and outreach in ocean research. Regarding multidisciplinarity, what is really needed is an approach that is transdisciplinary, or an integrative dialogue between various disciplines and the public. One example of an approach that is both narrative and transdisciplinary can be seen at the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve in Chile (CHBR). At the CHBR, conservation is approached in a way that considers both the ecosystem and the human culture tied to a particular place. Broader impacts are approached here through a narrative that communicates the past, present and future of the place and its human and non-human inhabitants. The narrative approach has in this case been used by academics to successfully engage various constituencies from the local to the international levels to reconcile a plan for development and conservation. This transdisciplinary engagement provides a truly collaborative and dialectic effort between scientists, academics, policy makers, and stakeholders. Using CHBR as an example, it can be shown have narrative approaches and interdisciplinarity can be used together to achiever broader impacts and better stakeholder participation.