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

北极是土著人民和其他居民的家园，他们依靠北极生态系统的生产力来维持生计，并进行对健康至关重要的狩猎和采集；幸福;以及文化、景观和社会联系。作为地球系统的一部分，北极也是全球气候的重要驱动力。地方、区域、州和国家层面的决策者往往无法始终获得有关北极环境变化的可操作知识，尽管科学认识和土著人民拥有的深刻知识在不断增长。应对北极地区迅速和前所未有的海冰损失和其他环境变化，需要以社会、经济和生态系统的科学研究和专业知识为依据制定政策。该项目汇集了科学家、土著居民和决策者（来自政府和企业）的复杂合作，既要全面了解北极环境变化的过程和后果，又要使决策者和更广泛的受众广泛地了解这种理解。将把跨科学学科和土著知识系统的信息汇集在一起，共同制作一份综合报告。通过将知识系统和跨学科研究结合起来，采用融合的方法，增加对北极环境变化驱动因素的科学理解，以及这些变化在健康、繁荣、福利和国家安全方面的后果，这有助于NSF的使命。该项目将广泛传播成果，以进一步提高多个科学学科和土著知识持有者与决策者合作生产可操作知识的能力。该项目采用一种称为“复杂协作”的趋同方法，共同生产和分享可操作的知识，为北极和低纬度地区的社会生态系统决策提供信息。该项目的目标是(1)在北极专家（包括科学家、土著居民和决策者）之间建立和维持复杂的合作；(2)共同制定北极系统的概念框架，包括变化的驱动因素；(3)应用该框架从自然、社会、地缘政治和经济环境等方面确定北极变化的驱动因素和后果；(4)以科学、土著和决策受众可理解和具体的形式分享整体理解。该项目将不同的合作伙伴网络、土著居民和合作伙伴组织聚集在一起，组成三个合作制作小组，重点了解和预测北极环境变化的过程及其对人类福祉、地缘政治和经济稳定的整体、可操作的影响。共同制定的北极系统概念框架（目标2）将为确定北极变化的驱动因素和后果的综合研究奠定基础（目标3）。通过综合各种认识论获得的整体理解将在针对特定受众（包括政策制定者、北极社区成员和科学家）量身定制的不同产品中共享（目标4）。该项目以该小组成员过去的工作为基础，通过与其他北极研究人员分享经验教训和增加关于成功合作生产知识的日益增多的文献，加强与土著人民的合作，并推进共同生产知识的方法。该项目将为解决北极气候变化下的经济可持续性和种族平等等紧迫环境问题的复杂合作提供框架。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.