Voicing Concerns about Regional Climate Change

and Community Vulnerability along the Oregon Coast

Tim Nyerges, University of Washington Dawn Wright, Oregon State University

Robert Aguirre, Robert W. Aguirre, PLLC Tanya Haddad, Oregon Ocean and Coastal Management Program

Jeff Weber, Oregon Ocean and Coastal Management Program

Coastal Zone ‘09Boston MA

www.climateconcerns.org

Vulnerability MappingProject funded by NOAA-CPO-SARP:• Phase 1. On-line elicitation of stakeholder

concern-indicators about climate change and variability along the Oregon Coast

• Phase 2. Data compilation from Oregon Coastal Atlas (www.coastalatlas.org) used for vulnerability mapping of concern-indicators

• Phase 3. On-line deliberative mapping of stakeholder vulnerability concerns-indicators

From H-M Füssel and R. J.T. Klein (2006), “Climate change vulnerability assessments: An evolution of conceptual thinking.” Climatic Change 75: 301-329.

1 2 3

Phase 1

From valued-concerns to indicators, creating… stakeholder-driven database design

1. climate concern -> keyword/phrase

2. keyphrase -> category

3. category hierarchy -> path

4. concern-indicator path -> data unit

5. report

From concerns to indicatorsKnowledge,information,& datacoupling

1. climateconcern ->keyword

2. keyword -> category

3. category hierarchy-> path

4. concern-indicatorpath -> dataStakeholder-driven database design

Phase 2. Database compilation in…

Phase 3. Deliberative Mappingof Vulnerability Scenarios

Web interface for MapChat 2…to be integrated

Stakeholder created report

Regional Climate Change

and Community Vulnerability along the Oregon Coast

Compiled from all previous input

Conclusions• Implementing online structured participation techniques

fosters shared understanding of complex problems such as climate change indicator (database) design

(NRC 1996, 2005, 2009)

• Access to relevant data will undoubtedly be a major challenge; but identifying data for stakeholder-elicited indicators is a step toward operationalizing public concerns.

• Deliberative mapping tools show potential for… “getting the right science, and getting the science right” to support mitigation and adaptation policy making.

(NRC 1996)

Thank you for listening!

Acknowledgement: Research funded by the National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration, Climate Program Office, Sectoral Applications Research Program #NA07OAR4310410.

Project personnel are responsible for the content and claims.

www.climateconcerns.org