Stakeholder Involvement

Who are the stakeholders who should be engaged in the project?      

Homeowners, K-12 and college students, municipalities, land management agencies, special interest groups (e.g., recreation and conservation groups), fire departments, businesses.  

Why stakeholder participation is particularly important in pursuing enhanced natural climate solutions.

Simply put, ‘doing something positive’ is an essential part of preventing unacceptable heating of our planet . This global problem requires local solutions to be successful. Having stakeholders receive a combination of physical and mental benefits from participating in these actions has been advocated by many, with youth programs receiving particular attention (Trott 2022).  However, there appear to be two challenges.  First, stakeholders need to understand the value of the activity, i.e.,  “We contend that psychological and organizational climate influence perceptions relevant to expectancy, that in turn determine: a) whether or not stakeholders will participate in a project, b) whether they will help or harm the project, and c) whether a stakeholder is motivated to complete these actions.” (Purvis et al. 2015).  Second and equally important, stakeholders must have actual, doable activities that allow them to participate in ways that are compatible with current life-styles. While opportunities do exist for those that can spend the time searching for these, surprisingly few appear to undertake this exercise.  We need to make climate actions more transparent and easier. This goal was initiated in our Stage 1 planning, using the Center for Sustainable Landscapes and Communities web pages to both educate and promote existing climate actions.  This will be expanded as part of the Stage 2 actions to involve stakeholders in the actionable science activities.