Keywords
Numerical model management, transparency, knowledge management
Start Date
26-6-2018 2:00 PM
End Date
26-6-2018 3:20 PM
Abstract
Numerical models have become central tools for public sector environmental decision making. While modelling has been the foundation of environmental assessment in academia, its literature reflects little concern for how the operational aspects of numerical models are governed as part of the organizational workflows by the public sector. Organizations continue to face governance challenges in the lack of procedural guidance. Based on a review of academic findings on modelling processes, this research report outlines the watershed management context of the Province of Ontario and its rural/urban divide that is reflected in institutional capacity. Based on five interviews with watershed managers on model management procedures, the paper elaborates challenges and opportunities for standardizing modelling studies from a procedural perspective. Especially rural agencies, which lack in-house modelling capacity and in-depth methodological knowledge, would benefit from standardized procedures and tools for contracting out modelling studies. Also, the handling of uncertainty & associated risk in decision making processes deserves further clarification.
Policy instruments in support of the management of numerical models in public sector organizations: A case study of Ontario
Numerical models have become central tools for public sector environmental decision making. While modelling has been the foundation of environmental assessment in academia, its literature reflects little concern for how the operational aspects of numerical models are governed as part of the organizational workflows by the public sector. Organizations continue to face governance challenges in the lack of procedural guidance. Based on a review of academic findings on modelling processes, this research report outlines the watershed management context of the Province of Ontario and its rural/urban divide that is reflected in institutional capacity. Based on five interviews with watershed managers on model management procedures, the paper elaborates challenges and opportunities for standardizing modelling studies from a procedural perspective. Especially rural agencies, which lack in-house modelling capacity and in-depth methodological knowledge, would benefit from standardized procedures and tools for contracting out modelling studies. Also, the handling of uncertainty & associated risk in decision making processes deserves further clarification.
Stream and Session
Stream C: Integrated Social, Economic, Ecological, and Infrastructural Modeling
C15: Does Data and Science Make a Difference for Better Decisions in Environmental Management?
Organizers: Willem Vervoort, Suzanne A Pierce, Joseph Guillaume, Tony Jakeman, Ioannis Athanasiadis, Gabriele Bammer, Amy Richmond