How communicative materials design affects the risk-informed process of stakeholders' engagement: A case study in Taiwan

Abstract

<p>Disaster reduction and climate change adaptation often aim to provide tailored solutions for area and population-specific problems. Research projects and practitioners must explore meaningful ways to ensure voices of the broader communities are represented in the decision-making process. Therefore, stakeholder engagement is widely recognized as a critical enabling element to promote local planning and actions. However, stakeholders' various professions, cultures, and educational backgrounds posed complications for an effective risk-informed discussion.</p> <p>This study reviews the stakeholder communication mechanism in Taiwan's Climate Change Projection Information and Adaptation Knowledge Platform project (TCCIP), which is one of the pilot projects for adaptation research in Taiwan. To improve local climate change data, hazard maps, and impact chains for sectors of Taiwan, this project selected demonstration sites to test the usability of scientific research results and tools in real-life settings. Stakeholders were engaged in interviews and meetings and presented with multiple forms of disaster facts and climate change projections. Further analyses are made on the responsiveness of first-line stakeholders in the local communities toward different types of scientific evidence (graphical or narrative-based). User-end feedback weres collected from these processes to later serve as a basis for improvement on the presentation of local scientific data for stakeholders' dialogue. Additional benefits of such communicative help in communicating uncertainties and limitations of projection research.</p>