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Collaborative science brings together diverse stakeholders to share knowledge and form networks that in turn can be foundational to policies and practices to increase socio-ecological resilience. In this article, we present results from a collaborative science project that employed collaborative learning methods to develop a network of local, regional, state and academic stakeholders. These stakeholders had little social interaction prior to the project and represented a diversity of views, positions and responsibilities. They shared in common a concern for the effects of climate change on a coastal socio-ecological system and the desire to reduce vulnerabilities and enhance resilience. Through ethnographic and survey methods, we found that collaborative science and learning promoted the exchange of cultural and environmental knowledge and expertise among individuals who previously had no sustained interaction. Stakeholders perceived these exchanges as worthwhile in that they allowed individuals to express viewpoints and share knowledge and expertise, which was seen to have the potential to increase socio-ecological resilience. Our results suggest that social networks can emerge from collaborative science and learning projects and can become formally organized and help foster opportunities to enhance socio-ecological resilience.

Michael Paolisso is pursuing a mixed-method project, funded by NOAA through the University of New Hampshire, to examine the socio-ecological system of the Deal Island peninsula in Maryland

Faculty Associate Michael Paolisso and colleagues examine how diverse communities under severe threat from climate change impacts view climate change

Sacoby Wilson is Co-Investigator on an EPA-funded regional project focused on increasing Best Management Practices in a sensitive ecological zone