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El Ni ñ o Knowledge and Sustainable Development in the Pacific Rim

El Ni ñ o Knowledge and Sustainable Development in the Pacific Rim A Usable Science Workshop coordinated by Michael H. Glantz NCAR (USA) Jose Luis Santos CIIFEN (Ecuador) and Puerto Ayora, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador 13-16 September 2004

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El Ni ñ o Knowledge and Sustainable Development in the Pacific Rim

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  1. El Niño Knowledge and Sustainable Development in the Pacific Rim A Usable Science Workshopcoordinated by Michael H. Glantz NCAR (USA) Jose Luis Santos CIIFEN (Ecuador) and Puerto Ayora, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador 13-16 September 2004

  2. NCAR, CIIFEN, NSF, ISDR, NOAA, Galapagos National Park, Charles Darwin Foundation, WMO, IAI, UNESCO, IOC, and other participating agencies[WHO, UNDP, IRI, Exploratorium] Supporting sponsors &organizations

  3. Coincidentally, this workshop is a 30th anniversary workshop! • December 1974: Guayaquil Workshop on the Phenomenon known as “El Niño” • Supported then by UNESCO, IOC, NSF and FAO • Involved Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru • Its Goals • Identify questions to allow understanding and prediction of El Niño • Devise regional cooperative research program • Develop a plan to study El Niño-fisheries interactions

  4. Monday, 13 September 8:30am – 9:30: Welcome to the workshop 9:30 – 10:00: Why we are here 10:00 – 10:30: Linking application to science; Linking science to application 10:30 – 11:00 Break 11:00 – 12:15pm: ENSO Science: El Niño & La Niña 12:15 – 2:00: Lunch 2:00 – 2:45: ENSO-related hotspots in the Pacific region 2:45 – 3:45: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Constraints (SWOC) Review 3:45 – 4:00 Break 4:00 – 4:45: Plenary discussion Tuesday, 14 September 8:30am – 9:15: El Niño forecast cascade: Hazards 9:15 – 10:00: El Niño forecast cascade: Health 10:00 – 10:45: El Niño forecast cascade: Agriculture 10:45 – 11:15: Break 11:15 – 12:00pm: El Niño forecast cascade: Fisheries 12:00 – 12:30pm: WCDR (World Conference on Disaster Reduction 2005) 12:30 - Lunch Free afternoon 5:30pm – 7:30: Galapagos Public Roundtable Wednesday, 15 September 8:30am – 9:15: Linking disaster reduction and development policies 9:15 – 10:00: Are there Lessons to be learned … from lessons already learned? 10:00 – 10:30 Break 10:30 – 11:15: Media and early warnings 11:15 – 12:00pm: Mid-workshop review 12:00 – 2:00: Lunch 20:00 – 2:45: Vulnerability and resilience 2:45 – 3:30 From Hurricane Fifi to Hurricane Mitch: An Example of Climate Affairs 3:30 – 4:00: Break 4:00 – 4:45: Climate change and the Pacific Rim Thursday, 16 September 8:30am – 9:00: Right-sizing El Niño early warnings 9:00 – 9:45: Linking across the Pacific: Is the Pacific Ocean a barrier or a bridge? 10:30 – 11:00: Break 11:00 – 12:15pm: Where should we go from here? 12:15pm: Adjourn 12:30 pm: Lunch El Niño Early Warning for Sustainable Development Agenda

  5. Participants’ Round-the-Table Introductions

  6. *Monday*8:30am - 9:30am 13 September 2004 • Welcome to the workshop and the Galapagos by Ecuador, GNP, CDRS, Puerto Ayora and the sponsoring agencies • Around-the-table Introductions Opening Ceremony

  7. 9:30am - 10:00amWhy we are here • To investigate the notion of “El Niño Knowledge” • To identify the value of linking between … • Early warning and sustainable development • Disaster risk reduction, response and development • El Niño and climate-related hazards (i.e., teleconnections) • Identify El Niño information uses for development purposes • Early warning effectiveness: pronouncements vs. actions • The Asian side of the Pacific and the Western Hemisphere • High-risk sectors and segments of society • To share experiences • (including lessons identified at other locations and times)

  8. Knowledge: a few definitions • the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning <www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn> • remembering of previously learned material. This may involve the recall of a wide range of material, from specific facts to complete theories <www.edu.uleth.ca/courses/ed3604/conmc/glsry/glsry.html> • information evaluated and organised in the human mind so that it can be used purposefully <www.aslib.co.uk/info/glossary.html> • The sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned. <www.jfcom.mil/about/glossary.htm> • Knowledge is information with guidance for action based upon insight and experience. <www.itilpeople.com/Glossary/Glossary_k.htm> • understanding the significance of information. <www.cio.gov.bc.ca/other/daf/IRM_Glossary.htm> • the final goal of the understanding in combining intuitions and concepts <www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/ksp1/KSPglos.html> • It is internalized by the knower over a long period of time, and incorporates so much accrued and embedded learning <www.ichnet.org/glossary.htm>

  9. Something to think about “I said that I wasn’t clever. I was just noticing how things were, and that wasn’t clever. That was just being observant. Being clever was when you looked at how things are and used the evidence to work out something new.” (Mark Haddon, 2002)

  10. Expectations for Early Warning Systems • What should we expect from an early warning system (EWS)? • Hype vs. Hope in the use of an EWS • Do we need to lower expectations about what an EWS can do for society • or should we raise them?

  11. Shanghai Report: Brief Review(www.esig.ucar.edu/warning) • Warning systems looks great on paper, but each one has difficulties with efficiency in its own ways. • Creeping environmental changes need early warning because slow-onset incremental but cumulative changes may be more costly in the long run than quick onset hazards. • Distinguish between what is desirable for an effective early warning system and what is essential. • Stakeholders can provide important insights into how warnings might best be prepared and delivered. • EWSs need to be treated as subsystems embedded in larger socioeconomic and political systems… • An EWS is important to a government to achieve sustainable development (SD. In fact, SD prospects are very dependent on the effectiveness of various EWSs. • A key media problem is that disasters are media-friendly while creeping changes are not. • The selection of indicators is very important because monitoring will center on them. The wrong indicators can lead to wasted time, effort, and resources. • Discounting the value of information has a negative effect on the many lessons identified from the impacts of previous hazards and disasters. • Climate change will add to the list of yet-unknown underlying processes that can affect hazards and societal vulnerability and resilience.

  12. 10:00am - 10:30amLinking Application to Science Sustainable Development (www.un.org/esa/sustdev) "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” * Indicators of sustainability vary from … • definition to definition • country to country • sector to sector • culture to culture • time to time • [World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987, p. 43]

  13. Linking Science to Application • Why Sustainability Science? (www.earthethics.com/Sustainability%20Science.htm) • Science needs "a fundamentally different approach" if the goal of sustainability is to be achieved. • Modern science could be described as "islands of understanding in oceans of ignorance." Many environmental problems are the “direct result of applying narrow specialized knowledge to complex systems.” • Instead we need to work backwards from undesirable outcomes to identify pathways to avoid these problems. • “Scientists and practitioners have to work together to produce trustworthy knowledge that combines scientific excellence with social relevance.“ {Prof. Ian Lowe, Australia, Interview, 27 June 2001, “Science in the News”}

  14. Searching for sustainability indicators at all levels • Finnish set of sustainable development indicators (SDIs) • Environmental and SDIs for Canada • SDIs for the USA • UK Government's core set of indicators of sustainable development • SDIs for Wales • SDIs for China • SDIs for Sweden • Scottish SDIs • SDIs for Southeast Asia • SDIs for urban water systems • Gender and SDIs • SDIs in the Mineral Industries • Indicators of Sustainable Development for Estonia • Jamaica Sustainable Development Network Programme • The APEC Development Network

  15. 11:00am-12:15pm ENSO Science: El Niño & La Niña • ENSO Science: • What is El Niño? • What are the indicators? • How reliable is forecasting? • How credible are the models? • Whose responsibility is it for an overarching ENSO EWS? For the science, for the forecasts, for communication among components, for responses, for oversight/review, for accountability?

  16. 2:00pm -2:45pmENSO-related Hotspots in the Pacific Region • What is a hotspot? • What constitutes an El Niño-related “hotspot” in the Pacific? • hot, hotter, hottest spots • Hotspots can result from a singular event or a combination of political, economic environmental, health, demographic, meteorological, and cultural factors, among others (e.g., complex environmental crises)

  17. 2:45 – 3:45pm Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and constraints (SWOC) of El Niño knowledge (including forecasts) as early warning for sustainable development (SD) Participants divide into two groups for the SWOC discussions Group A: suggest strengths & weaknesses Group B: identify opportunities and constraints

  18. 4:00 – 4:45pmPlenary discussion The SWOC assessment for El Niño knowledge (and forecasts) as EW for SD in the Pacific region • Group A --- Strengths and Weaknesses • Group B --- Opportunities and Constraints

  19. *Tuesday*8:30 – 9:15am El Niño forecast cascade: Hazards • What are hazards and hazard-related concerns? • How similar are they from country to country? From East and Southeast Asia to South, Central and North America? • How does El Niño generate or influence them (positively or negatively)? • First-order impacts • Second-order impacts To what extent do El Niño forecasts stimulate downstream forecasts?

  20. 9:15 – 10:00am El Niño forecast cascade: Health • Health and health –related concerns in the region of the Pacific • The role of El Niño knowledge and forecasts in health early warnings and societal responses to the forecasts and to the impacts

  21. 10:00 – 10:45amEl Niño forecast cascade: Agriculture • The use of El Niño knowledge (‘climatology’ and forecasts) in agriculture and range management

  22. 11:15 – 12:00 noonEl Niño forecast cascade: Fisheries • The impacts of El Niño on fish populations and on fishing sectors • The use of El Niño knowledge and forecasts to foster sustainable fishery development processes

  23. 12:00 – 12:30pmWorld Conference on Disaster Reduction 2005 • CIIFEN project summary • Overview of the goals of the WCDR World Conference on Disaster Reduction (Kobe, Japan); January 2005 • Potential input to the Plan of Action of the WCDR

  24. Galapagos Public Roundtable5:30pm - 7:30pm El Niño's impacts on flora and fauna in the Galapagos • Convenors: • Dr. J-L Santos, CIIFEN • Mayor Alfredo Ortiz Cobos Mayor of Isla Santa Cruz • Roundtable participants: • A. Barnston, IRI • Galapagos National Park representative • Charles Darwin Foundation representative

  25. *Wednesday* 8:30 – 9:15am15 September • The influences of disaster responses on: • mid-term development prospects • sustainable development • Identifying good practices and gaps to reduce El Niño-related impacts Linking disaster reduction and development policies

  26. 9:15 – 10:00amLessons to be learned … from lessons already learned • What might Pacific Rim countries and islands learn from other regions that have coped with El Niño [forecasts, impacts, and responses]? • Does the “Once Burned, Twice Shy” report supply any usable lessons? [NCAR/UNEP/UNU/WMO]

  27. 10:30 – 11:15amMedia and early warnings: for quick-onset and for creeping environmental changes • Role of the media in El Niño early warning in the region. (Should the media be expected to educate the public and policy makers about El Niño's impacts in a region?) • Reporting on El Niño • Ad hoc, intermittent • Sustained reporting on the El Niño phenomenon • What are the sources of the warnings? Which ones are to be believed and acted upon?

  28. 11:15 – 12:00 noonMid-workshop review • Where have we been? • Where are we? • Where are we going?

  29. 2:00 – 2:45pmVulnerability and Resilience Underlying aspects of Vulnerability … Vulnerability • Political • Economic • Cultural • Stability • Environmental Resilience • How is resilience related to vulnerability? • Is the notion of resilience useful in El Niño impacts studies?

  30. 2:45 – 3:30pmFrom Hurricane Fifi to Hurricane Mitch: An Example of Climate Affairs • From Hurricane Fifi to Hurricane Mitch • Who to help? • When to help? • How to help? • Why to help? • What issues does this case study raise?

  31. Something else to think about “He said that it was difficult to become an astronaut. I said I knew… But I said that you could still want something that is very unlikely to happen” (Mark Haddon, 2002)

  32. 4:00 - 4:45Climate Change & the Pacific Rim • Projected climate change impacts • in the Pacific Rim countries & islands • Extreme events • Droughts, floods, fires, infectious disease, etc. • Sea level rise • Island nations • Non-island low-lying coastal areas • Rural • Urban

  33. *Thursday*8:30 – 9:00am16 September • What is the right scope for early warnings related to El Niño in the Pacific Basin? • Geographical Scope • National, regional, hemispheric, global • Functional Scope • Socio-economic Sector Right-sizing El Niño early warnings

  34. 9:00 – 9:45amSWOC groups on the prospects of linking across the Pacific • Participants divide into two groups Group A: suggest strengths & weaknesses Group B: identify opportunities and constraints

  35. 9:45am - 10:30amLinking across the Pacific: Is the Pacific Ocean a barrier or a bridge? • Discussion of the SWOC for linking • EWS + SD; Asia + Western Hemisphere • Problems and Prospects of linking across the Pacific • Is it worth the effort? • Words vs. actions

  36. 11:00am - 12:15pmWhere should we go from here? • Next Steps? • Reports in English and Spanish • ENSO/EWS/Sustainibility science-related research and application needs of Pacific Rim countries and islands

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