Collaborative Research: Co-producing Understanding of Drivers and Consequences of Environmental Arctic Change: Science Support for SEARCH

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The Arctic is home to Indigenous Peoples and other residents who rely on the productivity of Arctic ecosystems for their livelihood and for subsistence hunting and gathering that is vital to health; wellbeing; and cultural, landscape, and social connections. The Arctic is also an important driver of climate globally as part of the earth system. Decision makers at the local, regional, state, and national level often lack consistent access to actionable knowledge about environmental change in the Arctic, despite the growing body of scientific understanding and the profound knowledge held by Indigenous Peoples. Responding to rapid and unprecedented loss of sea ice and other environmental changes in the Arctic requires policies informed by scientific research and expertise in social, economic, and ecological systems. This project brings together a complex collaboration of scientists, Indigenous Peoples, and decision makers (from government and business) to both create comprehensive understanding of the processes and consequences of Arctic environmental change and to make that understanding broadly accessible to decision makers and wider audiences. Information will be brought together across scientific disciplines and Indigenous Knowledge systems in a co-produced synthesis. This contributes to NSF’s mission by increasing scientific understanding of the drivers of Arctic environmental change and the consequences of these changes in terms of health, prosperity, welfare, and national security using a convergent approach to combine knowledge systems and interdisciplinary research. The project will broadly disseminate the outcomes to further the ability of multiple scientific disciplines and Indigenous Knowledge holders to produce actionable knowledge in collaboration with decision makers.This project uses a convergent approach termed ‘complex collaboration’ to co-produce and share actionable knowledge to inform decisions about socio-ecological systems in the Arctic and lower latitudes. The project goals are to (1) build and sustain complex collaborations among Arctic experts including scientists, Indigenous People, and decision makers; (2) co-produce a conceptual framework of the Arctic system including drivers of change; (3) apply the framework to identify drivers and consequences of Arctic change in terms of natural, social, geopolitical, and economic environments; and (4) share holistic understanding in formats accessible and specific to scientific, Indigenous, and decision-making audiences. The project brings together diverse networks of co-PIs, Indigenous People, and partner organizations into three co-production teams focused on understanding and predicting the processes of Arctic environmental change and the consequences in holistic, actionable terms for human well-being and geopolitical and economic stability. A co-produced conceptual framework of the Arctic system (goal 2) will establish the basis for syntheses that identify drivers and consequences of Arctic change (goal 3). The holistic understanding achieved by synthesizing across epistemologies will be shared in distinct products tailored to specific audiences including policy makers, members of Arctic communities, and scientists (goal 4). The project builds on past work by members of this team to increase collaborations with Indigenous Peoples and advance approaches to co-production of knowledge by sharing lessons learned with other Arctic researchers and by adding to the growing body of literature on successful co-production of knowledge. The project will contribute a framework for complex collaboration on urgent environmental issues that address economic sustainability and racial equity in the face of climate change in the Arctic.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.