Lecture 38 - Science Communication and Policy Integration

Science Communication and Policy Integration

Objectives

• Describe strategies and considerations for effective science communication, including targeting the "informed non-specialist" audience.
• Explore how messages are communicated with conservation policymakers to achieve biodiversity goals.
• Introduce the recent efforts to increase conservation of genetic diversity globally via the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Goals of Science Communication

• To inform, educate, and engage the audience on new knowledge, issues, and debates.
• In a way that is informative, accessible, and empowering.
• A solid communication strategy involves:
  1. Clarifying an appropriate message.
  2. Tailoring the message to the target audience.
  3. Choosing an appropriate communication medium.

Be Clear About Your Message

• Address the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the issue.
• Determine which aspects listeners will care about most and if all aspects are relevant.
• Keep the goals in mind:
  • To inform / educate / engage on new knowledge / issues / debate.
  • In a way that is informative / accessible / empowering.
• Consider the purpose of reaching as many people as possible.

Know Your Audience

1. The "informed non-specialist" generally.
2. Policymakers in particular.
3. The general public / media.

• Everything about your presentation must keep your audience in mind.
  • Content: level of detail, assumed knowledge
  • Style: visuals, tone (e.g., level of formality), body language, notes.
• Focus on the most interesting and relevant aspects to your audience and introduce them early.

Choosing the Right Medium

• Consider the following when designing a strategy:
  • Where is my audience likely to see the message? How can I get it “on their desk”?
  • Is the message better suited to a real-time open dialogue, or information sharing?
  • How will the audience engage? What do I expect to happen next?
  • How technical should I be? How detailed?
  • What is the timeframe? Are there any uncertainties?
• Communicating a common message across multiple media can help.

The Message: Helping Make Conservation Happen!

• For a particular wildlife conservation issue:
  • Setting appropriate conservation goals.
  • Providing evidence-based recommendations for conservation actions.
  • Discussing new ideas or perspectives.
  • Stakeholder engagement to learn about or advocate for community values.
  • Clarifying sources of conflict and conflict resolution.

Conservation Policy

• May involve passing legislation or many other activities associated with the implementation of that legislation:
  • Generating species assessments or recovery plans.
  • Preparing management guidelines.
  • Analysis, reporting, or benchmarking.
  • Developing or testing new methods or metrics.
  • Developing and assessing goals/objectives.
  • Facilitating discussion, consultation, and debate.
• The types of communication and engagement you undertake will depend on whether your role is as a:
  • Government employee.
  • Contract scientist / consultant.
  • Research scientist / expert advisor.
  • Indigenous representative.
  • Representative of a community interest group.
  • Environmental impact manager for a company with relevant economic interests.
  • Member of the general public.

Is Conservation Science Used in Policy?

• Yes! Scientists and policymakers have many differences, but this doesn't mean that they can't work together.
• Policymakers are often motivated to use the latest data in their decisions, but might not be subject-matter experts (although some are!).
• Scientists can share their knowledge with policymakers through meetings, testimonies, open forums, formal presentations, focused documents.

The Audience: Who Has Influence/Responsibility?

• Government agencies.
• Non-profit groups or NGOs.
• Societies and community interest groups.
• Universities.
• Who are you actually talking to?
  • Individuals, small teams, large teams or their representatives, organizations, society at large
• Group audiences will be diverse and comprise multiple roles.
• Legislation and guidelines may be generated by:
  • Local government (e.g., city councils).
  • State government (e.g., NSW Office of Environment and Heritage).
  • Federal government (e.g., Australian Department of Agriculture Water and the Environment).
  • International treaties (e.g., Convention on Biological Diversity, or Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).

Talking to “Informed Non-Specialists” Such as Policymakers

• Experts who have extensive knowledge/experience in one aspect of an issue (e.g. policy implementation) but not necessarily another (e.g. population genetics).

  • Species experts, general subject-matter experts, technical (methodological) experts, local (landscape) experts, etc.

• Includes policymakers, as well as your colleagues in related organizations or disciplines, or other areas (e.g. environmental lawyers)

• They usually have background/ fundamental knowledge that relates to the problem at hand, but might not have seen all the angles yet.

• Usually highly motivated audience, who expect your message to connect with something they already know a lot about.

• They generally already have a good sense of “why” this topic matters; they will want to know why your particular detail matters.

• They are looking for the “new knowledge” you bring, that will help them solve their problems!

Talking to Informed Non-Specialists: Advice

• Take time to reflect in advance on likely assumed knowledge; emphasize the most relevant background information (don’t “preach to the choir”).
• Use shared baseline knowledge as a starting point to build from (bring everyone to the “same page”).
• Be clear on how your message fits into a broader knowledge base. What does your message add to others’ knowledge?

Talking to Policymakers: Additional Advice

• Know the key issues policymakers are currently discussing.
• Keep your explanations straightforward and relevant.
• Think of actionable solutions to the problem.
• Think about the problem and solution in the context of the policymaker’s constituency.
• Be confident in yourself and what you know.
• Approach a meeting as a conversation, not a presentation.
• Create a one-pager with your message and key points.

The Medium: Getting the Message to the Audience

1. Recommendations within scientific papers.
2. Consultancy reports, policy briefings, and other “grey” literature documents.
3. Direct conversations, meetings, presentations, and networking.
4. Public debate via the media.

• Some considerations when choosing a strategy:
  • Differences between providing reference material versus facilitating multi-party dialogues, e.g., recommendations versus conversations.
  • Level of technical detail (and document length!) needs to be appropriate.
  • Are there matters of confidentiality to consider, e.g., preliminary or sensitive data.
  • Are there broader stakeholder groups to engage?
  • How will parties to the conversation engage with the material? Can they ask questions?

Recommendations in Scientific Papers

• Focused on the technical elements of the work.
• Present the evidence in a broader context.
• Recommendations are typically quite general.
• Not everyone needs all the information that’s in a paper.
• Reviews and meta-analyses bring together the findings of multiple papers to summarize evidence.
• Scientific papers can be outcomes of conservation research that enable broader reach beyond the study species/context.

Reports, Briefings, and Other Documents

• May be commissioned analyses/reports tailored to a particular issue.
• May also include policy briefs that accompany other major findings (such as scientific papers) – drawing focus to the policy implications.
• Short summary documents of lengthier technical documents.
• Elaboration documents that provide a more tailored context to another document.
• May be public documents or for internal use.
• Vary widely in the levels of technical detail, their length, their format.
• “Grey literature” – knowledge and evidence that’s not available to the broader scientific community through publications.

Networking and Presentations

• Public lecture series organized by a range of organizations and special interest groups.
• Conferences, including scientific conferences and community groups.
• Regular targeted meetings, such as recovery team meetings.
• Single-purpose networking or tailored meetings, e.g., targeting a specific project or challenge.
• Coming up with plans and priorities.
• Bringing stakeholder groups together to discover opportunities.
• Simply taking the opportunity for a coffee or chat when you can!

Engaging Via the Media and the General Public

• The media includes all means of “mass communication”: getting your message to as many people as possible.
• The “media” is not a homogenous group.
• Effectively communicating via the media increases the reach of scientific knowledge among the community, and rapid dialogue.

General Tips: Communication Style

• Be authentic; build trust via a style that comes naturally to you.
• Respect your audience, their knowledge, and why they are there.
• Are you an authority on a particular topic, or is your presentation of “general interest”?
• Think carefully about the use of humor: forcing or overdoing humor with the wrong audience can come across as strained, disingenuous, or insincere.
• Relying on notes or overly scripting a talk gives a rigid, unnatural delivery. If there are key details that you must present, consider putting those details on handouts/slides.
• Acknowledge others. Science takes teamwork: name your partners and contributors at appropriate points. Are formal references appropriate?
• Consider whether you need to be careful around preliminary results or other sensitive information.

Beyond Science Communication

• Dialogue, participation, and continuing the conversation.
• Directing your audience to other resources.
• Create opportunities for action, be specific in your messaging.
• Engaging with the media.
• Using social media to extend your reach and boost engagement.
• May be used before, during, and/or after other communication methods.
• Use social media to support your main message.
• Connect to other participants or additional online resources.
• Reiterate key take-homes.

The Convention on Biological Diversity

• Multilateral treaty (agreed by 196 states, including Australia).
  1. The conservation of biological diversity.
  2. The sustainable use of its components.
  3. The fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.
• Original Convention was effective 1993.
• Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, created in 2010, includes the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
• Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework was agreed in 2022.

Genetic Diversity Conservation

• Assertion: to meet global conservation goals, genetic diversity within all species, not just domesticated species and their wild relatives, must be conserved and monitored using appropriate metrics.
• New proposed indicators:
  1. The number of populations with effective population size above versus below 500.
  2. The proportion of populations maintained within species.
  3. The number of species and populations in which genetic diversity is monitored using DNA-based methods.
• Includes detailed theoretical and scientific rationale, as well as specific recommendations on implementation and measurement.

Policy Brief: Genetic Diversity Targets for the CBD Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

• Genetic diversity goals and metrics to assess genetic diversity (indicators) in the post-2020 biodiversity framework must be improved to prevent the irreplaceable loss of biodiversity and to meet the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) targets.
• Genetic diversity within all species must be conserved, measured, and monitored using appropriate metrics.
• Proposes a genetic Goal with a recommended Action Target and suggests three new genetic indicators, plus changes to current CBD indicators.
• Genetic diversity contributes to supporting human society and the life support systems of the biosphere. It is decreasing globally due to human actions.
• The