University+of+Idaho-led+projects+to+study+climate+change - Idaho Business Review

University of Idaho-led projects to study climate change | Idaho Business Review

— A University of Idaho-led project will receive $6 million in competitive funding to investigate how people in rural communities perceive the extent of climate change — specifically extreme heat, wildfires and drought — and how this perception affects their ability to adapt.

MOSCOW, Idaho — A University of Idaho-led project will receive $6 million in competitive funding to investigate how people in rural communities perceive the extent of climate change— specifically extreme heat, wildfires and drought — and how this perception affects their ability to adapt.

An understanding of how human perceptions drive decision making can guide policy making that improves the resilience of how we use resources — resources that are central to global stability, a news release stated. The study will focus on rural communities, which provide the majority of food, energy and water for the United States and have been effectively left out of climate adaptation dialogues.

“The reality of a changing planet is often at odds with perception and adaptation for everything from human health to national security. We know that producing endless graphs doesn’t change perception, so what does?” said Lil “Doc” Alessa, the research project principal investigator and co-director of U of I’s Center for Resilient Communities, in the release.

Over four years, the funding will provide $2.44 million to U of I with University of Nevada, Reno(UNR) and University of South Carolina(UofSC) each receiving $1.78 million, according to the release. The project, titled “Where We Live (W2L) Local and Place Based Adaptation to Climate Change in Underserved Rural Communities,” will bring researchers from the three universities together to tease apart how perception drives adaptive capacity (the potential to take action to minimize the negative effects of climate change) and adaptation (actually taking action).

“Our adaptive capacity is currently quite high, but implementing those changes falls short for a variety of reasons. The good news is that successful adaptation is entirely possible. It’s the will to do so that is dependent on perception,” Alessa said in the release.

Under the National Science Foundation(NSF) Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) RII Track-2 program, the researchers will partner with local, state, tribal and federal organizations in rural communities, the release stated. These communities constitute nearly 84% of the United States land area and are home to only 14% of the population. These areas serve as critical sources of food, freshwater, habitat and energy as well as supporting carbon sequestration, education, recreation and tourism. The RII Track-2 award process is highly competitive with only 11 awarded across the nation in 2023.

Researchers will compare the differences between individual and community-scale perceptions of their changing environments with measured records of those changes, the release stated. They will model the difference between perception and measured changes, which will build highly precise futures under different scenarios of climate change.

These projections also will show the outcomes of a range of community responses, the release stated. The project team will also look at differences in perception and adaptation across the country, as Idaho, Nevada and South Carolina are experiencing varied types of effects from environmental change — drought, heat and wildfire.

This project, RII Track-2: Where We Live (W2L) Local and Place-Based Adaptation to Climate Change in Underserved Rural Communities, will be funded by a National Science Foundation award. The FY24 funding for U of I is $1.2 million for a total intended award amount of $2.44 million, which amounts to 100% of the federal share."