Environmental Decision Making

From Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP)

An important end use for Earth observational data is to support better informed decisions and policies in the commercial and public sectors. Observations (both real-time and historical) play an important role in reducing the uncertainty inherent in environmental-related decisions. Scientific models provide further value in predicting future states and scenarios, such as those associated with increased greenhouse gas emissions.

This Wednweday afternoon forum elicits contributions in topics such as:

  • the economic value of Earth science data in decision settings;
  • data requirements for environmental decisions, policies, and IPCC;
  • decision making under deep environmental uncertainty;
  • collaborative environments for assessing scenarios and consequences of decisions involving multiple stakeholders;
  • case studies in environmental decision-making;
  • integrated physical-economic models;
  • perceptions of long-term climatic uncertainty;
  • tools, services, models, and associated standards for data-driven decision support.

Ideas discussed in this Forum can run over into the open meeting sessions on Thursday. If you would like to give a presentation, please enter your name and title of talk (or contact Rob.Raskin@jpl.nasa.gov). An expected outcome of the Forum is the formation of an ESIP Cluster on Economics, Decision Making, and Policies.

Presenters include:

  • Rob Lempert, Senior Scientist, RAND Corp, "Decision Making Under Deep Uncertainty" (30 min)
  • Molly Macauley, Resources for the Future (30 min)
  • Lawrence Friedl, NASA Program Manager "Data Needs for Applied Earth Science" (30 min)
  • Menas Kafatos, Chapman U., "Business and Economic Opportunities Emerging from Climate Change" (30 min)
  • Noah Molotch, UCLA/JPL, "Estimation of Snow Water Equivalent Data for Water Resource Planning" (15 min)
  • Tyler Stevens, GCMD, "CEOS Climate Diagnostics Portal" (15 min)
  • Stephanie Granger, JPL, "Western States Climate Change Decision Support Center" (15 min)
  • Rob Raskin, JPL, "Spatial Decision Support Consortium" (15 min)
  • Others to be added

Resources of Interest

NOAA Economics Web Site
IPCC